Ball Jar Dating Chart

And though under a different company, Ball jars are still manufactured. Well, not anymore! Ball mason jars are machine-made glass canning jars made by Ball Brothers Manufacturing Company from to In , it was demolished by fire, but simultaneously, the brothers collaborated to form the new Ball Brothers Manufacturing Company. Initially, the jars were hand-made, but after the introduction of the semi-automatic glass-making machine in the late s, they were all machine-made. The Ball Brothers Company stopped making canning mason jars in after it sold all its glass manufacturing operations. However, its spin-off, Alltrisia, which later became a separate company named Jarden Newell Brands , produces licensed Ball jars. The first major factor that decides the resale price of a Ball Mason Jar is its condition. Usually, defects like cracks, dents, chips, and broken or chipped edges greatly depreciate the value of a Ball mason jar. Also, missing lids are a big no! However, do NOT mistake isolated bubbles and different color strikes or swirls as defects! These are the rarities that make the jar valuable. Ball Company started making glass jars in aqua color. But an aqua Ball jar with unique features, like visible amber or green swirls or whisps, can be worth a few extra dollars. You may think of a Ball jar with a misspelled or distinctive name embossing as worthless. It, in fact, can be worth hundreds.

History of Ball Mason Jars

Among the different types of Ball mason glass jars that Ball Corporation made, some are more highly prized by collectors. These jars have a fanned-out edge for the wax-seal closure. Manufactured only briefly from the early s to the s, the Special Jars have a screw-thread shoulder seal. Usually, older Ball mason jars manufactured between the s and s are worth more than the newer ones made posts. But remember, with age, other factors, such as condition, rarity, and size, also impact the final value. Ball Brothers Company started making mason jars in These variations function as the best way to age and identify the Ball mason jars. Apart from the logo on the body, some antique Ball jars were also marked embossed with numbers at the bottom, which are mold numbers. Older Ball Mason Jars are often marked with mold numbers 0 to Although a few square Ball jars from the late s can also be found, the late s and early s jars were primarily round cylindrical in shape. I hope this guide answers all your questions regarding Ball Mason Jar values, age, and identification marks. Judith is an antique expert with nearly 20 years of experience in the field of antique identification and valuation. She has reviewed over 30 thousand vintage items and has worked with numerous antique shops. She enjoys seeing new places, attending antique shows and events, and sharing her knowledge with people!Know more about me. No results. Key Takeaways The value of Ball mason glass jars greatly depends on their color, condition, rarity, age, and type. You can easily date a vintage Ball Mason Jar based on the unique embossing of the logo on the body. Table of Contents. Ball Corporation : Ball Mason Jars. Judith Miller Judith is an antique expert with nearly 20 years of experience in the field of antique identification and valuation. Guide I did a little shopping this weekend at some of my favorite antique shops! And, look what I found! These old Ball jars. They are quart sized, blue jars and have sloped shoulders. Some of the glass is wavy and many have bubbles. After doing some research online, I found that these particular Ball jars are probably one of the earlier sets to be manufactured.

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How Old is Your Vintage Mason Jar?

So, I thought I would share what I learned that helped me find the age of a vintage mason jar! Dating an old Ball or any other fruit jar can be more difficult than I had thought. I found this chart on Pinterest, which was very helpful. Unfortunately, there was no source for me to credit. This site, West Saint Paul Antiques , has wonderful information on dating fruit jars if you would like to find out more about an old jar you may have! This transition took several years. The machine made jars exhibited a new script style which was never seen on any of their handmade jars. This script style was used up until about Ball produced many jars with this script style, the Ball MASON jars and ones with just Ball and no other embossing appeared right about the turn of the century. And, each jar is slightly unique in placement of the raised lettering — which would indicate that they are not machine made.All of the jars I found have zinc lids with the milk glass inside. Some of the zinc lids have Ball embossed on them, but others are just plain. I hope that the information is helpful to you! If you have any old mason jars, the Ball brand like mine or any other, why not do some research online to find out their age! I found the information fascinating! Don't subscribe All Replies to my comments Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting. My jar has no name or markings. There are bubbles in the glass and line marks on the sides. There are no marks on the lid or insert inside. I holds 3 quarts of water.

how to date your ball jar

Can you tell what it is? Thank you Adrienne. I have an antique canning jar that holds almost 8 cups that I think might be rare because I have searched online and Ebay and have never seen one like it. It is round, clear glass, wider circumference at the bottom and the narrower top will fit a regular mouth lid. But, the unusual thing about it is the LOGO. Written across diagonally, the logo says "Standard" in cursive writing and below it, also diagonally, it has what looks sort of like a banner with the word MASON all in capital letters written within the banner. Would you know 1 how old this jar is, 2 maybe the value if you know it and 3 if it has lead in it? I would like to store cold juice or leftover liquid coffee in it, if it has no lead in it. Thank you so much for your time and knowledge. Thank you. I have a blue Atlas Mason Quart jar with a sink lid that has bubbles and what appears to be runs in the glass. I was wondering if perhaps you would possibly know anything about this kind of jar. It is the first one in the second row shown in the chart above. Fall Pumpkins and a Vintage Bicycle. Add some Vintage to your Holiday Decor.

The Purpose Behind The Jar

Repurposed Vintage Bottles — Hanging Vases. Pin 5K. Share Welcome to Mary and Martha. Click here to cancel reply. Shannan Bunch Thursday 5th of May Janice Jones Friday 6th of November I have a number 12 no underscore ball isnt underlined color green do you the value. Doreen Cagno Thursday 12th of November Adrienne Tarnoczy Sunday 10th of May Doreen Cagno Wednesday 13th of May Lori Waddell Thursday 24th of February Doreen Cagno Wednesday 29th of January Sheila Saturday 11th of January

Having Fun with Mason Jars

Doreen Cagno Saturday 11th of January Glass Manufacturing Company. Ball Bros was based in Muncie, Indiana. Hundreds of millions probably upwards of a billion or more! Those other types of Ball jars are not discussed here as they deserve in-depth articles of their own. Many slight variations in lettering style, glass color, base markings, etc. Typically, they these jars were made in half pint, pint, quart, and half-gallon sizes. Most of the earlier versions were round cylindrical in shape, and some of the later types are square with rounded corners in design. The jars with grips were introduced in about Each mold was hand-cut hand-engraved with the lettering incised backward into the inside surface of the mold, which of course resulted in the embossing raised lettering which is seen on the surface of the jar. Many slight variations are seen, with the exact lettering orientation just barely noticeably different from one example to another, such as the spacing, height, width, depth of cut, of individual letters. Also, there were a number of variations in the way the Ball name logo was written, those changes occurring several times over the space of several decades. See the chart farther down on this page. 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.

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Thus, the single digit numbered jars are more commonly found. 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 one of the aspects of collecting these jars that can be fun and intriguing or boring to some! Thank you! Later versions, after about , were usually made in clear colorless glass , and some usually from the s in brown amber. Other colors are known, but not so easily found, including cornflower blue, straw yellow, olive green, olive amber, blackish olive, dark yellow amber, light green and medium green. There are various shades and tints of these colors out there. Unfortunately, several years ago a number of newly made reproductions of this type and size began to surface in the United States. This may have first shown up around the year or thereabouts. These reproduction fake versions were NOT made or sold as official BALL products in regular retail outlets, unlike the modern reissues made by Ardagh Group that I discuss elsewhere on this page. These reproductions appear to have been produced in a concerted effort to mimic the look of the original c. They are believed to be imports. 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:. The Owens scar is always present and virtually diagnostic on the original authentic jars. Instead, the base of the new jars is relatively smooth although there may be a faint, poorly defined mold seam. The old jars might have a few isolated bubbles, but not lots of tiny bubbles throughout all of the glass. The bubbly appearance of the glass is reminiscent of some glass decor items that have been imported to the US from such countries as Mexico, Spain and China. 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.

How to Date a Ball Jar

I am using the No. Older editions of the Red Book have different numbers assigned to the jars, in the range. 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. According to the stories, they threw them away, or intentionally broke them, fearing their enterprise could otherwise be met with bad luck. Sometimes the story accuses ordinary housewives of having done the same thing if they were especially superstitious. Most myths and legends are based on a kernel of truth, and this may be no exception to the rule. However, keep in mind that fruit jars cost money, and the average farmer or housewife, often continually stretched to the limit with their household budget, would have never destroyed a jar merely because of the number on the bottom. Most home canners would have paid little or no attention to the markings in the first place. Some dedicated and experienced antique jar collectors will say they think the number 13 jars are just as common as jars as those with other numbers. There is a definitely noticeable difference in the numbers of marked jars compared to the other numbers — they ARE somewhat less common. Of course, value is a very subjective thing and many collectors may not agree with my opinion on this subject. Also, it seems evident that the mold numbers 12 through 15 are ALL somewhat scarcer than mold numbers 0 through This is presumably because fewer molds were produced with the mold numbers 12 through 15 — thus fewer total jars made. I believe that many if not most of those higher-numbered molds were replacement molds on the jar making machines. These commemorative jars are being produced in a lighter, brighter blue color— not quite the same shade as the original jars. These jars as being sold in sets of 6, and come in pint size only as of this writing. They are being sold along with modern screw bands and lids. The glass is a bit thinner and lighter than the original Ball Perfect Mason types.The purple jars are made in pint and quart sizes. As time goes on, however, their provenance might be somewhat less obvious to beginning fruit jar collectors. According to the Ardagh Group website, they are made by that glass manufacturing company for distributor Jarden Home Brands. Here is an article about the newer jars being made by Ardagh:. They are being sold in packs of four. There are a few differences between the new ones and the old originals which can be easily seen. The new pint jars appear to be very slightly lighter in weight than the older ones, but this may not hold true on all jars , since there was some variability in the older jars. Out of curiosity, I weighed a new jar and old one, and the new jar weighed The markings and characteristics are similar to the Pint size jars described above. For information on values, you might check out the Redbookjars. This covers info on many brands of fruit jars besides Ball.