Q&A for How to Date Old Ball Mason Jars

It may be worth something, but that will be determined by the size, color, age, and top. Check eBay for jars with descriptions or pictures that match yours and see what they've sold for in the past by searching "Completed Listings".

This is not a reproduction. You will find some jars with errors like that on them.

The number is the number of the mold used to make the jar.

The dropped a without an underline is quite uncommon. If it has an underline, it is common.

Those gripper ridges were first applied to jars in 1932 by Brockway, then Ball. They help you grip the jar.

I'm afraid your jar is not rare. There are many of them for sale online, and are not hard to find.

Most of the square jars were made starting in the 1940's. More modern made jars are a rounded square shape.

Some people collect these because they believe they are scarce. It is a myth that they were destroyed by superstitious moonshiners or housewives. This story was started by retailers trying to inflate the prices.

If the jar is blue, then it's like from the early 1900s. More specifically, the jar is probably from between 1905 and 1915. The price of the jar will depend on the size and the condition. Most of them being sold online seem to be priced in the neighborhood of $20.

Errors in the molds are common in old jars because of how the molds were created.

Determine if the glass has a bubbly appearance, suggesting blown glass. Look for mold seams along the sides and/or a round seam on the bottom suggesting newer manufactured glass. Date of manufacture, job number, plant location, and other writings suggest the piece is newer, often 1960s to today.

This is likely some kind of modern product jar and is not a canning jar. More information is needed to make that determination.

The 1908 date is just the patent date and is not the date that the jar was made. The Red Book, A Collectors Guide to Old Fruit Jars, is a good resource. It can be found online at redbookjars.com.

Ball made many different containers from glass, plastic and metal. They were in business for a long time, so it is likely they also made baby food jars.

These are known as "lightning style" tops. These were first made in about 1877.

I would not put any old jar in a microwave. It might crack. Check the manufacturer's instructions on the new jars.

The purple color is intense, it may be a jar that has been artificially irradiated. If the glass has manganese, it will turn a light lavender color in the sunlight. Foster Sealfast was made between 1908 and 1925 by various glassmaking companies. It takes the bail type closure with a straddle lip glass lid. It is not a mason jar because it does not have the screw on style neck that was patented by John L Mason.

Brockway was issued the patent for the gripper ribs in 1932. Ball acquired the patent from Brockway shortly after that. Other companies used the gripper ribs later on, and they appeared on jars for many years. They were used at least through the 1960's.

There are many different jars that just say Mason on them. There are Facebook groups you could join to get some help identifying your jar.

This was made between 1900 and 1910 at the Coffeyville KS plant, which is the old Mason Fruit Jar Co plant.

The Mason Star Jar was made in the 1970's by Owens Illinois Glass Company of Toledo OH in Alton IL.

Mom's Mason Jar was made in 1975 by Glass Containers Corporation of Fullerton, CA and Owens Illinois Inc of Toledo, OH.

This jar is probably some kind of product jar and not a jar made for home canning.

The Redbook A Collectors Guide to Old Fruit Jars by Douglas Leybourne is a good resource. The current edition is #12.

This jar was likely blown between 1915 and 1985. The seams along the side top to bottom suggest after 1915. The rippled effect was caused by molten glass blown into an iron or steel mold that was not properly pre-heated. The glass solidified too quickly.

Green would be the color it was made. If the glass is rough, the jar is stained/etched from being in contact with contents, water or dirt.

Blue jars were made by Ball until 1937. There is a chart available online that will identify most of the logos that Ball used. Also, join some groups on Facebook to help you identify your jars.

Lids are generally interchangeable. It just means someone put a Ball lid on it at some time after it was made.

The number on the base is the mold number. Mold numbers allowed the manufacturer to identify which mold was used to make the jar.

This description does not sound like a canning jar. More information would be needed to answer this.