QUITE a few of you either identified last week's mystery object or came very close to doing so.

Mike and Susie Holden, from Calton, and Phyllis Capstick, from Hellifield, both said it was a Hartley's jam jar; Lizz Cook, from Austwick, and Sam Moore, of Todmorden, both said it was a jam jar or pot; while Mrs M Greaves said it was a Dundee marmalade stone jar.

It was indeed an earthenware jam jar - but not any jam jar, but an original Hartley’s jam jar.

An inscription on the base states "Not Genuine Unless Bearing WP Hartley’s Label".

Experts at Craven Museum and Gallery tell us: "William Pickles Hartley was born in Colne in 1846 and become a grocer.

"When a jam order failed to arrive in 1871, Hartley made his own jam, jelly, and marmalade selling it in the distinctive earthenware pots such as the one here.

"Hartley’s jam is still produced nowadays, though the packaging has changed."

In 2012, the Hartley brand was bought by US company Hain Celestial as part of a deal worth £200 million.

All items featured in this column will be on display in Craven Museum and Gallery - located in Skipton Town Hall - when it reopens in the spring.

It has been closed while refurbishment work has been carried out to upgrade the town hall.

Meanwhile we are inviting guesses about this week's mystery object. Suggestions can be emailed to news@cravenherald.co.uk