They began production of the centered Perfect sometime in 1915. The addition of a glass liner under the metal cover made the new mason jars airtight. David. A huge number of MASONS PATENT NOV 30TH 1858 jars were made over many years by over 100 glass companies. I would assume they are worth perhaps 20 dollars or more apiece today, but I really dont know. They have the words MADE IN U.S.A. on the back, and the glass manufacturers mark used by Ardagh Group embossed on the base. Hi Sheila, They are sold through Hearthmark (Jardens Home Brands). My Mother in Law unloaded a bunch of treasures at our house. In the 1800s, the cork stopper was the widespread bottle closure. $25-30.00, Lightning Registered U.S. Patent Filed Kelli, Kelli, those jars were made by Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. I believe all Ball ribbed jars are post 1935 as that is when ribs (or grips as they were called) were developed. The B17 is probably a mold number, so that in itself gives us no information on age. Would it be rare or valeuable? Owens-Illinois Glass Company trademark/logo Diamond Oval- I entwined. David, Lisa, they are NOS (new old stock). We believe that, whether it's how we shop, eat, and clean, the smallest changes can make a world of difference. The 4 is probably a mold number. Fenton in an oval ((Fenton Art Glass Company). Typically, they these jars were made in half pint, pint, quart, and half-gallon sizes. They are commonly seen for sale on the secondary market at antique malls, farm and estate auctions, flea markets, thrift stores, rummage sales, yard/ garage sales, and on online auction sites. If you do an ebay search and zoom in and look at gobs of auction photos, I am sure you will see other, similar Ball Perfect Mason jars with various letters from A to H on the bottom. The exact cursive style changed slightly several times over the years. The topic for today is antique mason jars. Would you know 1) if this jar is rare? The blue or light blue-aqua color of old Ball fruit jars (and virtually all other bottles, jars, insulators and other types of similar soda-lime glass with a bluish or greenish tint) comes from the presence of trace quantities of iron in the sand that was used to make the glass. I found a jar that is a Masons patent Nov. 30 th 1858 tha has a number on the bottom that appears to be 113. Yes, it is pretty common to see embossing on a bottle or jar which is very faint or partly illegible. In general, most fruit jars in aqua or Ball Blue glass marked Ball Mason date from before the introduction of the Ball Perfect Mason. Several off-sizes were also produced, although in much smaller quantities. The Ardagh plant at Winchester, Indiana (where many of the new Ball brand jars are being made) is a former Anchor Glass Container Corporation facility that was acquired by Ardagh. FIND 1000's of Antiques, Art, Vintage & RARE Collectables - each item pictured, described and with it's price guide. Longtime, knowledgeable (Serious) Ball fruit jar collectors might be able to give us better information on dating, and I invite anyone landing on this page to chime in if they have ANY clues to help narrow down this age range. An antique green or blue cobalt glass canning jar is something else, however, and they can be exceptionally valuable not just up to $300 but sometimes even close to or above $1,000 for a Ball blue color jar. This culling out of #13 jars from among the general population of jars (and stashing them away) can certainly increase the perception of their scarcity. Another note: Just recently (2019) new BALL PERFECT MASON jars have been issued and are for sale at various department stores. David. Some BALL MASON jars have the third L loop (circa 1900-1910), and others do not, which are assumed to be somewhat later into the early-mid 1910s. I have no intention of selling and have no interest in the value. They may be priced much higher at antique shops, flea markets and on online sales/auctions sites. $5-6.00. The very first jars marked BALL PERFECT MASON are believed to date from approximately 1913, with production continuing to about 1960. I am sure your jars are not reproductions. 4 & 5.) (Photo courtesy of Dan Goorevitch), R inside a sun representation. Hopefully Stephen and other collectors can come up with better info from studying the information published there. Improved: There were a few times when Ball produced jars with Improved, including in the 1890s, when the jars were printed with Ball Improved 1858. Later, the jars were produced with the wording Ball Mason Improved between 1900 and 1933. Keep in mind Ball had more than one factory producing fruit jars, and there are many slightly different variations of the BALL MASON jars out there. Also, it seems evident that the mold numbers 12 through 15 are ALL somewhat scarcer than mold numbers 0 through 11. It was also helpful to know which markings to ignore. The glass has several large bubbles and the writing is very faint(it does not protrude as far off the glass as others. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. Note: for a bit of information about the off-size BALL PERFECT MASON jars that are occasionally found, please check the COMMENTS section farther down on this page, and read the queries from Lee and Michelle, posted November / December of 2015. Just at a glance, I can document jars marked 10 A, 7 C and 8 H among a few jars in my own collection. 1/2 Gallon,ShoulderSeal, c. 1910-1923 Now knowing that is from between more or, "The illustrations along with the description makes it clear which characteristics are key to determining the, "This article was very I formative. I cant seem to find any info on it because everything says the number is on the bottom. Thanks You will find some jars with errors like that on them. My brother has ball jars that are hand blown. The self-sealing design was messy and stressful. 2 One Quart SilverliningByTravis (4,165) $12.50 One quart Ball Canning Jars circa 1923-1933 aestheticallyaged (210) $10.00 1923 to 1933 Ball Perfect Mason Jar Quart Size w/ Metal ring cap and Glass Ball insert. As the name implies, these Ball jars had a manufacturing error that had printed their logos upside down quite the rare feature that bumps up their price tag today. Wow! The word standard also is written at angle. My mother said they were old and collectible. D in a diamond mark on base of cobalt blue Bromo-Seltzer bottle made by Dominion Glass Company (Photo courtesy of Tyler Cazes). WebBALL Collectible Jars BALL Collectible Jars Best Selling BALL 68100 Wide Mouth Canning Clear Glass Jar, 64oz - 6 Pack (153) $16.99 New BALL Mason Jars with Lid Regular Mouth 16 oz - Case of 12 (64) $11.39 New BALL 68100ZFP Canning Jar - 6 Count (2) $28.91 New BALL 67000 Jars - Clear $13.99 New $12.00 Used 100 years of Have you checked out my webpage on the BOYD milkglass liners? I am assuming that many other molds were made and some of those molds had the MASON offset to the left (or PERFECT offset to the right, which is the way they are usually described). Report The base carries a mold number along with the glass manufacturers mark used by Ardagh Group, the maker of the jars. No one seems to know where these repro half-pints were made, but it is assumed they were made outside the US, possibly in China or India. $10-12.00, Ball Ideal Some have a mold number 46 on the bottom, and they are almost certainly recent imports from China. Please check out my article on this site about the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company. Check for identifying words. Take care and I hope this helps a bit, (NOTE: in 2014, medium green glassquart size jars were issued, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the PERFECTION jars (introduced in 1914).the word PERFECTION is embossed underneath the cursive BALL. The BALL Thats one of the later, machine-made types of Wax Sealer fruit jars. Some Mason jars are worth well over $1,000. One reason is that they perfectly characterize good design: innovative, useful, aesthetic, easy to understand, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, and involves as little design as possible. I have a half gallon Ball Perfect Mason on front and 2 on bottom. G-94 was the bottle style number. I was just gifted a straight shoulder quart (1896-1910) Ball Mason with what appears to be an upside down s! So, are old mason jars worth money? They are also called Ball jars as that was their original brand. (See Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company page, for a brief summary of that glass company). How to Identify a Real Atlas Mason Jar The easiest way to identify a real Atlas mason jar is by looking at the bottom. Thank you so much for your help. If you have a mason jar with this logo, it was manufactured between 1885 and 1886. I found a faint green jar with Ball Mason on it. I believe that it is considered a packer jar, where glass companies make jars to the specifications of a food packing company like Hormel Foods when they contracted with Ball Company to make their glass Skippy jars between 1962 and 1964. David. The jar also has MADE IN U.S.A. on lower back end of jar. Hello Angel, most of the later clear Ball jars are very common and dont have much collector value, although they still have (of course) practical, useful value for canning. H in a square mark as it appears on a Hemingray-manufactured emerald green soda, mineral water or beer bottle. This bottle base has 1949 date code to right. So, if youre pondering ways to identify the various types, designs, colors, and sizes of antique mason jars, youve come to the right place? These Ball mason jars were manufactured in 1890. This will give me more history about. WebMASON JARS 16 Ounce Wide Mouth Ball Mason Jars | Case of 12 $33.00 Out of stock 16 Ounce Regular Mouth Anchor Hocking Mason Jars | No Lid | Case of 12 $12.99 Add to If a zinc lid contains a porcelain (milk glass) liner, they are likely original lids (the BALL lids were made over many decades, many of them sold as replacements). It may take a while before exact duplicates are found that is, finding two jars that were both made from one individual, specific mold. This is presumably because fewer molds were produced with the mold numbers 12 through 15 thus fewer total jars made. The J17 is a mold number. I keep and collect them to admire, use for dry goods storage and I use the smooth lip mason type for canning. That type marked STANDARD was made by Greenfield Fruit Jar & Bottle Company, Greenfield, IN (c. 1890-1909) and some were also made by Ball Bros Glass Company circa 1909-1912 (Ball bought the Greenfield factory in 1909). To be fair, email inquiries may end up in the inbox of someone in an office who simply has no useful information concerning questions of company history and certain jars made many decades ago. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Most of the typical earlier Ball Perfect Mason jars in aqua or Ball Blue are marked with a mold number between 0 and 15 on the bottom. I bought some older lids at an estate sale, not that old, probably from the 60s. Mold numbers are generally a number between zero and 15, and theyll sometimes have a letter included as well. I have several of the blue Mason jars and I am interested in selling them. Tiffany, I am under the impression that most of those jars have little additional market value compared to others with the normal orientation. This design effectively kept the containers water and airtight before long other manufacturers followed the Mason Jars blueprint. I cant find anything on the Internet and I am very curious about the history behind this jar. The front is marked Root Mason. The value in the Redbook price guide shows it as in the $10-25 dollar range, assuming it is in good condition. Anything older than this I have put away but a 1/2 gal caught my attention while cleaning it is a 3L Ball Mason with a straighter shoulder design. I looked up your jar variation in the reference book The Fruit Jar Works by Alice Creswick (1995) and the jar is listed officially as Jar #1770 in those listings. By using our site, you agree to our. There are several minor differences that should be noted carefully as these reproductions can be hard to spot and they look very similar at a quick glance: 1) Although there is a mold number on the bottom (similar in look to the mold numbers on the originals) there is no Owens Scar on the new jars. Do you know where might I be able to find information on this jar or where I can find more of them? wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. Ive noticed this through looking at the bases of hundreds if not thousands of typical Ball Perfect Mason jars while browsing at antique and collectible malls and flea markets over the last 20+ years. 1 tablespoon salt 3 cucumbers, sliced thin 1 onion, sliced thin 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 cup white vinegar 1 teaspoon celery seeds. Rumors have circulated for years (and have especially been promoted on auction sites and by flea market and antique mall dealers) that superstitious distillers of illegal whiskey (moonshiners) who often did use fruit jars to contain their product, were hesitant to use jars marked with a 13 on the bottom. Up here in MT you are fortunate to find them for 4$ a piece. Those all sound like lovely run-of-the-mill antique ball jars. Its likely that White Lightning derived its name from the fact that bootleggers used these jars to store their product. In other cases the molten glass was slightly cooler than it should have been, and did not fill in the engraving completely. (No, bottles with ghosting are not rare, and there is usually not much premium value put on bottles with ghosting, although some collectors might pay more for a certain piece that has a particularly legible instance of ghosting.) Care & Cleaning: Dishwasher-Safe. At the present time (2021) I havent seen any in Half-Gallon size, although perhaps they will eventually be made in that size as well. Some jars have embossing that is unusually faint (sometimes, all of the embossing, or just one or two letters within a word) and this might be due to accumulated debris (such as remnants of accumulated mold paste) having partially filled the engraving of the lettering on the mold itself at the time the jar was produced. I see lots of prices so am curious as to value. Fruit jars were produced primarily in clear and Ball blue (aqua), but some amber, cobalt, and even milk glass examples can be foundout there in the wild, and they are likelyworth upwards of several hundred dollars. David. We need each other to live better--be it by taking the time to connect with our communities or supporting small businesses. The number is on the base, with production continuing to about 1960 more... 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