Years ago, when antique shoppers walked into the late Earnie Singleton’s antique store, they would see high walls with shelves holding Antique Dazey Butter Churns.
Earnie was the owner of Goldie’s Antiques in Seminole, Texas. Earnie passed away from injuries he suffered during a fire at his shop in September 2011. He was 68, and he owned and lived inside the Goldie’s Antique Store in downtown Seminole. He had been paralyzed in a car accident 20 years previously, and was considered quadriplegic,” said his daughter Shalea Addison. Read More
In 2008, Earnie reminisced about his beloved collection of 200 Dazey butter churns. “I have 10 to 20 of each style jar that Dazey made,” Ernie said. “Dazey started with the square metal churns in 1890 and stopped making butter churns in the early 1940s.”
Earnie’s passion for Dazey brand butter churns began in 1998. “I’m in a wheelchair so I let the internet do my walking,” he said.
He purchased the butter churns 4 to 5 at a time, and they usually came with mismatched lids and jars. He’d then place the proper lid with the proper jar. After doing some internet research and getting information from a lady who had already researched Dazey butter churns, he knew exactly which lids matched which jars.
Dazey Butter Churns Featured Different Styles
“There are 30 different styles, and my antique butter churn collection is 99 percent Dazey,” Ernie said. “There are 6 to 7 different styles of the metal and 2 styles of the Tulip jar. Most of the jars do not have the name Dazey written on them. They have a number one, two, three, four, six or eight written on the side. The numbers indicate the jar’s quart size.
Dazey’s manufacturing plant was located in the north in St. Louis, Missouri. The Dazey plant began making jars in 1917. In 1930 they started manufacturing the round “tulip” jar with the “football” lid.
People in other states, who could afford the jars, bought the Dazey jars through mail-order catalogs. Poorer people would churn their creme by shaking it in a fruit jar or using a butter crock with a wooden churn.
When the economy went down in the 1930s, Dazey began selling these glass jars to funeral homes so they could store embalming fluid. These sales brought back business, and kept the company afloat, Ernie said.
How Butter Churns were used to Make Butter
A butter churn is a vessel that people used to use to make butter the old-fashioned way. To use it, someone would pour cream into the churn. Then by turning a handle, moving a wooden paddle or dash up and down, or rolling the churn, they would keep the cream moving continuously. The agitation would cause the fat molecules in the cream to clump up, forming butter. Depending on the amount of cream and the type of butter churn, this process could take 20 minutes or more.
Determining Antique Butter Churn Value can help you determine the value of Dazey antique butter churns.
Upcycling Butter Churns for Vintage-Inspired Home Decor
Although most people no longer use them to churn butter, antique butter churns can be valuable as conversation pieces or accents in your home or shop. You can find them at antique stores, flea markets. Check out our Texas Vintage Shopper Shop Finder Map.
