Very often after writing an historical article, I will receive a call from someone saying that they have some very old item from their family that has been passed down.

Just after the article on the shootout I was involved in that ended in LaPlace, I received a call from a person saying a member of their family was a police officer when Bonnie and Clyde were killed. They now have one of Clyde’s pistols, which has been passed down through the family. There is no telling how many hidden treasures there are in people’s homes that no one knows about.

Last week after writing about the Ball fruit jars, I received a call from Mr. Leonce Haydell. He said he had a Ball fruit jar, and the word “perfect” was spelled “pepfect.” I have never seen a jar like this, and Mr. Haydell, stated he would donate it the museum for people to view. After doing some research, I found that during the 1930s and 40s, Ball made millions of fruit jars and the word “perfect” was misspelled many different ways. These are the ways “perfect” was misspelled that wasn’t so perfect: pereect, pepfect, perefct, perffet and perfeat. Look at your jar and see if you have any with the spelling defect.

In a couple of weeks, I will be writing about a hidden treasure that Cheryl Millet has at Saints Optical, so be looking for the article. I think you will be amazed.

Louisiana Treasures Museum, located at 10290 Highway 22 west of Ponchatoula, is open on Saturdays and Sundays and available for tours upon request by calling Wayne Norwood at 225-294-8352.

Wayne Norwood is a lieutenant with the St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Department and owner and operator of the Louisiana Treasures Museum.