“BALL PERFECT MASON” FRUIT JARS
The Ball Perfect Mason was a brand of glass fruit jar (canning jar) made by the Ball Bros. Glass Manufacturing Company. Ball Bros was based in Muncie, Indiana. (See Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company page, for a brief summary of that glass company). The BPM was the most popular brand of jar for home canning ever produced in the United States. Hundreds of millions (probably well over a billion or more!) were made, and these jars have been used by home canners throughout much of the 20th century.
Ball Brothers also made many other styles of fruit jars, such as those marked “BALL IMPROVED”, “BALL IDEAL”, “BALL MASON”, “BALL SPECIAL”, “BALL SURE SEAL” and their “BALL STANDARD” (a type known as a “wax sealer” jar). Those other types of Ball jars are not discussed here as they deserve in-depth articles of their own.
In general, most fruit jars in aqua or “Ball Blue” glass marked “Ball Mason” date from before the introduction of the Ball Perfect Mason. (Clear jars marked “Ball Mason” were made in the 1960s and 1970s).
(IMPORTANT NOTE – MODERN REPRODUCTION ISSUE JARS: please see the paragraphs with info farther down on this page describing modern repro / reproductions of this jar, including the “AMERICAN HERITAGE COLLECTION” introduced in 2013, and the new “Collectors Edition” BALL PERFECT MASON jars being sold as of 2019).
The Ball Perfect Mason jars 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 such as eBay, etsy and other sites.
The very first jars marked “BALL PERFECT MASON” are believed to date from approximately 1913, with production continuing to about 1960. Many slight variations in lettering style, glass color, base markings, etc., exist, and this particular type of jar presents a wide field of study for fruit jar collectors, glass historians and even those interested in vintage Americana in general. Typically, most of the Ball Perfect Mason jars were made in half pint, pint, quart, and half-gallon sizes. Several “off-sizes” were also produced, although in much smaller quantities.
Most of the earlier versions were round (cylindrical) in shape, and some of the later types are square (with rounded corners) in design. Some variants have eight vertical raised bars or lines (“grips” or “grip bars”) along the sides, added to assist in handling the jars while they are wet. The jars with grips were introduced in about 1933. (Any Ball Perfect Mason jars in aqua or Ball Blue with the grip bars date between c.1933 and 1937).
Molds
Ball Perfect Mason jars were made entirely on automatic jar blowing machines. Each machine in the factory had a number of identical molds installed on them, and so very large quantities of jars could be produced in a fairly short period of time. Many different jar molds (thousands) were used over the many years’ time these jars were being produced.
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. Very close inspection and comparison between different older jars (that may appear to be exactly the same) will show that it was very difficult, if not nearly impossible for all of the lettering (including the cursive “Ball” lettering and the “block style” lettering underneath) to be engraved absolutely identical from one mold to the next. 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 and 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).
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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. On some jar variants, (such as the first BALL embossing variant on these jars, “Logo 5” in chart shown below, used circa 1913-1923 on BPM jars), the number may be accompanied by a letter to the right, such as A or C.
Usually, the automatic jar-making machine had eight or ten mold cavities or “positions” for the molds. Thus, the single-digit numbered jars are more commonly found. A set of molds included numbers above “10” as the higher-numbered molds were typically used as replacements on the machine.
As can be readily discovered, there were many different “sets” of molds used over a period of many years, with this same series of (up to) 16 numbers used over and over again to identify the molds being used on a particular machine. The embossed numbers may vary considerably in size, shape and “style”. Some numbers are actually quite ornate or “stylized” and others are rather plain and ordinary! Since the numbers were engraved backward into the mold by hand, there is often some noticeable crudity to their styling.
Some jar collectors (and others who are not strictly jar collectors) may search for one example of each number between “0” and “15” – in order to assemble a “16 jar set” for use as kitchen canisters, storage jars, etc. The mold numbers from 11 through 15 seem to be the hardest to find. (See my paragraph farther down on this page about the “Number 13” BPM jars).
Underlined Mold Numbers
Some Ball Perfect Mason jars bear mold numbers with a line or underscore placed underneath the number. Although it seems the purpose of the underline would be to differentiate between a “9” and a “6”, that can’t be the real reason for all such underlines, since all of the numbers up to and including “10” are also found with an underline. I’m not sure why this was done, but my “pet theory” is that underlines were added to some jar mold sets merely to identify and differentiate the molds of that set from the molds of another set (without underlines) when both sets were in simultaneous use at the factory.
Incidentally, the digits “9” and “6” can usually be distinguished even without an underscore: the “9” (with some exceptions) typically has a gently curving downward stroke or “tail” that tends to be fairly vertical and does not curve around completely to form a “hook”. In contrast, the “6” will usually (but not always) feature a final stroke that does curve around as a “hook”, creating a character approaching the appearance of the lower case letter “g”.
Some mold numbers were engraved so they appear backward on the jar, such as the “backward 4” shown in the photo below. This error was actually caused by the mold maker engraving the number “4” correctly into the inside surface of the mold. (In order for the number to appear correctly on the finished jar, it must be engraved backward into the mold). Some jars have been found with “01” “41” and “51” which are assumed to be merely variants of “10”, “14” and “15”. There are probably others out there to be found!
If a random sampling of these jars are studied (for instance, just looking at a selection of only those marked with a number “2” on the bottom), it may be seen that the numbers typically appears slightly different, in fact “unique” in their exact appearance, from one jar to the next. 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!) if you are “into” studying fine differences in these jars – somewhat akin to the practice of collecting coins and comparing their minor “mold” or “die” variations.
Off-Sizes
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. Thank you!
Glass Colors
The great majority of the BPM jars were made in bluish-aqua or “Ball Blue” colored glass. (Ball Blue is the standard color of these jars, a somewhat “more blue” shade of aqua). Later versions, after 1937, were usually made in clear (colorless) glass, and some (usually from the 1950s) 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. Some of these colors might be known under other/different names – depending on who is describing them! There are various shades and tints of these colors out there. If you have the opportunity, you might try attending an antique fruit jar and/or bottle show, where some of these unusually colored jars may show up for sale or in displays.
Fake REPRODUCTION / REPRO Ball Perfect Mason HALF-PINT size jars in Ball Blue – these can be very deceptive!
(This section was added June 16, 2021 – Some info below is courtesy of Linda White, one of the administrators of the Reproduction Fruit Jars discussion group on Facebook. Thanks, Linda!).
Although the original pint, quart and half gallon BALL PERFECT MASON jars in aqua or Ball Blue glass are very common and easily found, the original, authentic older HALF PINT size is considered to be quite scarce and difficult to find. Unfortunately, several years ago a number of newly made repro jars of this type and size began to surface in the United States. This may have first shown up around the year 2010 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 reproduction jars appear to have been produced in a concerted effort to mimic the look of the original c.1913-1923 half-pint jars, and were presumably made in an effort to capitalize on the scarcity of the older ones, and thus deceive jar collectors into believing they were old and authentic. They are believed to be imports – probably from somewhere in Asia – possibly India or China.
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. The Owens scar was formed as part of the manufacturing process, and is a somewhat variable but generally rounded scar consisting of a thin, sharp, clearly defined “seam” or “line” that encircles part of the bottom. The seam may be somewhat “feathered” or “frayed” along the edge. 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.
2) The newer jars (not always, but usually) tend to have a considerable number of micro-bubbles scattered through the glass, which is not seen in the old jars. 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.
3) The weight of the new jars is very close to that of the old jars, but in many cases the newer jars are just slightly lighter in weight.
4) The “BALL PERFECT MASON” lettering is somewhat weaker and more “sloppy” or “smeared” in presentation, especially noticeable when comparing the new and old side-by-side.
5) There is virtually no base wear, nor any light scratching on the surface of the glass which would normally be seen (at least slightly) on most old jars (although base wear can be faked).
6) The glass looks shiny and “new”.
Here is a link to a discussion of these jars on the “Reproductions Fruit Jar Page” on Facebook:
Ball Half Pint Repro Jars – Discussion on Facebook
Error Jars
A number of “error jars” are found among the Ball Perfect Masons, including examples found with the embossing missing a letter (or letters), or with a word misspelled, such as “PERFFCT”, “PEPRECT” or “PEREFCT”.
A listing of many of the Ball Perfect Mason jar variations, including error jars, can be found in the “Red Book”, a price guide used by fruit jar collectors. In general, Ball Perfect Mason variants are listed in the Red Book from #270 to #295-6. (I am using the No. 11 edition. Older editions of the Red Book have different numbers assigned to the jars, in the 300 range). There are no doubt minor variants/errors that are not currently listed in that guide.
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 at the time the jar was produced.
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Number “13” Jars
Some Ball Perfect Mason jars are found with the number “13” on the bottom. As mentioned earlier in this article, most Ball Perfect Mason jars are typically found with a mold number ranging between 0 and 15, so naturally some percentage of them will carry the number “13”. 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”) were hesitant to use jars marked with a 13 on the bottom. 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.
Personally, I think most of the stories are hogwash, although I wouldn’t doubt that it happened on a very occasional basis, and just often enough to provide impetus for an urban legend (rural legend?). 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. I don’t think this is true. There is a definitely noticeable difference in the numbers of #13-marked jars compared to the other numbers — they ARE somewhat less common. I’ve 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 30+ years. However, the mild scarcity, in my opinion is NOT REALLY STRONG ENOUGH to warrant the high prices which are often asked for these jars on online auction sites. 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 11 through 15 are ALL somewhat scarcer than mold numbers 0 through 10. This is presumably because fewer molds were produced with the mold numbers 11 through 15 — thus fewer total jars made. I believe that many if not most of those higher-numbered molds were used as replacement molds on the jar blowing machines.
It seems evident that many of these jars are now saved by non-collectors or casual glass collectors (and “culled” from large groups of common jars) merely because of the number on the base. This “culling out” of #13 jars from among the “general population” of jars (and stashing them away) has certainly increased the perception of their scarcity. And the perception of relative scarcity can be enough to increase demand – and the demand for an item can then cause an increase in prices and perceived “value” – the old concept of “Supply and Demand” comes into play here.
They usually do sell on auction sites (if priced low enough) for several reasons- but typically because of the belief in the rumors, along with the general public’s fascination with the number 13 and its connection with the “dark side” of life, the theme of “being unlucky”, and the perceived connections with the supernatural, the occult, etc.
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New “REPRODUCTION” Ball Perfect Mason Jars: the “AMERICAN HERITAGE COLLECTION”
NOTE: In recent years (beginning circa 2013) a new type of BALL PERFECT MASON jar has been issued, primarily sold through department/grocery stores such as Walmart, Target, Kroger, and others, and online venues such as Amazon. 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 marked (on front) “BALL PERFECT MASON”, on rear “1913 1915 / 100 YEARS OF / AMERICAN / HERITAGE / MADE IN U.S.A.” . Also, there are volume/weight measurements embossed along the side of the jar, including cups, milliliters and ounces. 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.
(NOTE: in 2014, medium green glass quart size jars were issued, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the “PERFECTION” jars (introduced in 1914)…….the word “PERFECTION” is embossed underneath the cursive BALL. A third color (purple) was issued in 2015 for the 100th anniversary of their “Ball IMPROVED” jars (1915), and is embossed “IMPROVED” underneath the name “BALL”. The purple jars are made in pint and quart sizes).
These jars are being sold for actual canning use, but also for “rustic” or “retro” decorative appeal; are being used as containers for liquid soap dispensers (some ebay or etsy sellers are selling them with special lids for this use); for use in candle making, and for similar Americana “primitive” and crafts projects. Not to mention their appeal as a collector’s item which is virtually guaranteed because of the great popularity of the older jars .
The “1913 1915” embossing (given above) readily identifies these as new production. 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.
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NOTE: NEW “BALL PERFECT MASON” JARS BEING MADE IN 2019
(This paragraph added April 12, 2019).
New “Collectors’ Edition” BALL PERFECT MASON jars (with the cursive font style used in the 1910-1923 period) have appeared in grocery stores and department stores recently. They are sold through Hearthmark (Jarden’s Home Brands). As of the time of this writing, I have examined some PINT size jars, but I don’t know if they are (or will be) producing quart and/or half-gallon sizes. 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. (They are the same, typical “Ball Blue” or blueish-aqua color seen in most of the originals.) There is a small “circled R” underneath the “BALL” logo on the front of the new jars. The reverse side of the new jar bears the embossed phrase “MADE IN U S A”, and below that, along the “heel” of the jar, is a series of raised dots. The base carries a mold number along with the glass manufacturer’s mark used by Ardagh Group, the maker of the jars. This mark may be faint, and resembles a horseshoe or odd letter “U”. (See this mark illustrated in the “U” listings of he alphabetical bottle mark listings on this site). There is stippling or knurling (a pattern of raised dots) present along the contact surface/perimeter of the base. 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 10.375 ounces, the old jar weighing 10.75 ounces.
UPDATE 5/20/2021: Just a note that there are also new BALL PERFECT MASON jars in both the quart and half-pint (8 ounce) sizes available. The markings and characteristics are similar to the Pint size jars described above. At the present time (2021) I haven’t seen any in Half-Gallon size, although perhaps they will eventually be made in that size as well.
NOTE: Ardagh Group – North America is currently (2024) the owner of most of the former Ball Bros Glass Company plants . (Ball Bros>>>> Saint-Gobain Containers>>>>> Verallia>>>>> and now Ardagh Group. )
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.
RESOURCES
For a detailed, comprehensive article with tons of background info on the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, written by author/researcher Bill Lockhart (with input from several other collectors/researchers), check out his article ~ (This article also includes an expanded chart of BALL logo variations and estimated date ranges used over the years, as compiled by jar researcher Vivian “Granny” Kath). Click here: Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company
The “How to Date a Ball Jar” article written by Karen M. Vincent is currently at this URL:
https://www.minnetrista.net/blog/blog/2013/06/27/ball-family-history/how-to-date-a-ball-jar
Bob Clay’s article with a timeline on “How to Date Ball Fruit Jars” appears here near the bottom of this page:
http://www.weststpaulantiques.com/galleryofjars.html
General discussion forum for Ball fruit jar collectors: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/balljarcollectorscommunitycenter/
“Ball Jar Collectors” discussion group on Facebook (this is a private group and requires an OK by the moderators before posting). There are over 10 thousand members so far:
Ball jar Collectors on Facebook
For information on values, you might check out the Redbookjars.com site, where the “Red Book” fruit jar price guide for collectors is available for purchase. (I’ve been told that the current edition is sold out, but a NEW updated edition is scheduled to be released in January of 2023!)
Interesting overview article posted on the Ball.com site:
Ball History and Timeline
Basic article about antique fruit jars, written by Dave Hinson
Here is a very good, basic yet rather comprehensive “Question and Answers” article with lots of general information about collectible fruit jars, written by jar collector and researcher Dave Hinson. This covers info on many brands of fruit jars besides Ball. (The original URL of this article seems to be “dead” but I’ve found an archived version of the webpage at the “Wayback Machine” internet archive, and it can be accessed at this web address: Fruit Jars – Questions and Answers – Dave Hinson
Please click here to go to my alphabetical mark listings, starting with “page one”: Glass Bottle Marks .
Click here to go to my website HOME / WELCOME PAGE.
Two other major types of antique fruit jars that are frequently encountered by collectors include the MASON’S PATENT NOV 30TH 1858 type jars and the WAX SEALER type jars.
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Hi David! Today I just found a blue number 13 jar in a basement ,but the number is in Roman numerals. My boss told me to research it but I am not finding anything !
Melinda, I don’t have any specific info on your jar. I suppose there are Ball jars with various Roman numerals on them as well as “normal” numbers.
David
Hey Lee, I’m from Brazil and searching Google about perfect mason. I found you. My grandfather gave me this jar with Ball perfect mason made in usa (A9) . He was in 2nd World War. Can you share some details about the a9 series please. This will give me more history about. Thanks and brgs.
Luiz, I’m sorry but I don’t have specific information on that jar. I think most of those Ball Perfect Mason jars with the letters along with the numbers (which are mold identification marks) were made sometime in the 1930s-1960s, but that is only a guess, and I can’t narrow down the date range any better.
best regards, David
I have a 3 L Balll Mason quart and the embossing seems very “Hand Scribed” or “Hand written”. did I read somewhere that sometimes when ball bought out another company that sometimes they “redid” the competitors jars and put Balll on them? Thanks for any info in advance!
Joshua, yes, some jars from the Root Glass Company were acquired and re-tooled. There are probably other examples as well.
David
Hello David,
I am hoping you are able to cast some light on my mystery Ball jar. It is a pint size clear class, squared with waffle grid and a flat rectangular space on one side. A small Ball logo with the curled extender on the “B” and an end loop that doubles back to underline the “all” in Ball appears on the bottom only along with the number 5014 and another raised mark that looks like a stretched-out skinny number “6”.
I am trying to find a zinc lid for this charmer but a regular standard lid is too large. The outside top rim measures 2 3/8″ across, not counting and threads. It LOOKS like to should take a standard lid but they are too large.
Do you think this a “packer” jar? If so, what sort of lid might I need to find for it? It certainly is from the zinc lid era and the threads on the top are spaced such that all commercially-made-for-market tin lids I have ever seen would be more closely spaced. Thoughts?
P.S. I have SO many of these great old grid jars that I used for pantry storage already…I guess I just really love a challenge. Bless your heart for any time you have left over to address the inquiries you receive on your site.
Best, Kathy
Hi Kathy,
I’m afraid I don’t know a lot about the minor variants of those “Grid” jars. Hopefully someone who collects them can chime in and offer more info for you.
David
I have a couple ball perfect mason jars from 1910-1923 era with severe offset where the p in perfect is over the s and o. I understand the word was purposely indented. I’m just wondering if this is a valuable flaw before posting for sale. Thank you in advance for any information.
Tiffany, I am under the impression that most of those jars have little additional market value compared to others with the “normal” orientation.
David
Hi, I have 2 pale blue jars. one quart and 1 pint with distinctive seams. The logo says Mason with a “The” in the M stylus. No other markings. The only info I found was a comment from someone that said he thinks they were made between 1885 and 1900. Is this accurate? Thanks for all your work on answering others questions.
Hello David,
You have what is catalogued as Jar #1651 (in the RED BOOK of fruit jars used by antique jar collectors). According to info published in “The Fruit Jar Works” by Alice Creswick (1995), page 116, she writes that that jar is attributed to the Mason Fruit Jar & Bottle Company of Coffeyville, Kansas, and dates from circa 1907-1909. That jar factory was purchased by Ball Bros Glass Company in 1909 and closed down in 1911. ALSO: a very similar jar is known, but it has the word “BALL” placed above the word “MASON”. That jar is listed as #266. Hope this helps!
David
Thank you very much for your quick reply.
I don’t see anything oabout numbers on the front of jars. I recently found some mason jars in an old barn and after cleaning them up they have no markings on bottom but a number 2 under perfect mason and one had number 3. These are larger size mason jars
I’ve written you with several requests wanting to know information about some mason jars I have.. Why no response?
Hi Sheila,
Because i have a regular job and have been VERY, VERY pressed for time. There are thousands of different jars known and I do not have info on every one. The “RED BOOK” Lists thousands of variations.
Please send pics to my email address (noted on bottom right of any page on this site) and I will see if I can be of any help. However, no guarantees. Thanks for your patience.
David
I have a half gallon Ball Perfect Mason on front and 2 on bottom. Would it be rare or valeuable?
Renee, your average quart and half gallon Ball Perfect Masons (in the most common aqua or Ball Blue colors) are typically valued at around 1 to 2 dollars each. They may be priced much higher at antique shops, flea markets and on online sales/auctions sites. The “2” is a mold number. The older types of BPM that date from the 1910s-1930s in aqua or blue were made in the hundreds of millions over many years, so they are considered extremely common.
Best regards,
David
I found a clear ball jar with “41” on the bottom. Is it common, or uncommon?
Hello Angel, most of the later clear Ball jars are very common and don’t have much collector value, although they still have (of course) “practical”, “useful” value for canning. They are found with various mold numbers on the bottom. I don’t know how common the “41” jar would be, compared to other mold numbers seen.
David
Hi . I have a 1900-1910 blue ball jar without a number on the bottom. Would you happen to know what that means? Thanks!
Liz, all Ball jars are not necessarily marked with mold numbers. I can’t give an exact reason why some are marked with numbers but others are not.
Best regards,
David
Ok thanks!
I have many vintage light blue to dark blue I have one that is the Mason’s patent 1858 jar a48 on bottom and a snowflake type of embossing on back
In the above article, it states that the new reproductions are Perfect Mason but I purchased a set of the new amethyst pint jars and the side has a dropped A underlined Ball with IMPROVED beneath.
Reverse: 1913 – 1915
100 years of
AMERICAN
HERITAGE
MADE-IN-U.S.A.
Standard and metric measure on one side.
Hi Medolark, Thanks for bringing that to my attention. When I first wrote most of the text for this page, the only “Heritage” jars in production were the aqua-blue colored “Ball Perfect Mason” jars issued in 2013 for the 1913 100th anniversary of the Ball Perfect Mason.
Since then, (2014) the medium green jars were issued, with the name “PERFECTION” on them, and the purple jars were issued in 2015, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the “IMPROVED” jars first issued in 1915. I will edit my text shortly to help reduce confusion on the exact wording on those later colored jars. Best regards,
David
I have a blue jar that’s improved heritage 1913-1915
I have a bottle with the ball logo on the bottom along with a large 4. Can you tell me anything about it?
Keegan, Ball Brothers Glass Company made a wide variety of containers besides their better-known fruit jars. Often there is a cursive BALL logo on the bottom. Ball made liquor bottles, food bottles and lots of containers for other products as well. The “4” is probably a mold number. Please check out my article on this site about the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company.
David
Hi I have a Ball jar that dates between 1933 -1962 based on the Ball logo. It stands 20″ tall and is around 30″ round. It has its lid, wire closer and rubber gasket. Is it some sort of store display?
Pamela, I’m not sure, but I would guess it was meant as a pickle jar or a large-size store display for commemorative or decorative purposes. Perhaps a reader can give us some feedback on it!
David
I have a Ball perfect mason jar with the 13 on the side. Is it a rare jar? I can’t seem to find any info on it because everything says the number is on the bottom.
I also have a quart size Ball Perfect Mason, square, with 13F on the side and bottom. What does this mean… It also has an I on the bottom across from the 13F on the bottom. Can anyone tell me about this style jar?
Are there reproduction Ball porcelain lids? I found some lids at an antique store in mint condition. They looked too good to be true and $2.00 a piece???
…metal lid, porcelain lined, I should say. Thanks!
They were also marked “Ball” on top
These are actually made of zinc and milk glass. Their value is $2-3 so $2 is right.
Hi Donna, Yes, “Zinc-coated steel” and Milk glass. And, yes, I’m guilty of getting into the habit of calling them “porcelain” liners just because of the wording on many of the discs, even though technically they are not made of porcelain (except perhaps for a few very early liners, circa 1869). Have you checked out my webpage on the “BOYD” milkglass liners?
Best regards,
David
Lisa, they are “NOS” (new old stock). Lots of them are still around, boxes of them having been found after long storage in pantries, closets, warehouses, etc, in “never used” condition.
If a zinc lid contains a “porcelain” (milk glass) liner, they are likely “original” lids (the BALL lids were made over many decades, many of them sold as replacements). If there is no “porcelain” liner, it is probably a repro.
David
Wow! Ok thanks! I should’ve gotten them! Definitely had the porcelain liners. Pristine condition!
At 2$ each I’d grab all I could afford. Up here in MT you are fortunate to find them for 4$ a piece.
I have picked a masons jar patent Nov. 30th 1858 with an H362 on the bottom, can you tell me anything about it? Thank you
Bryan, it’s one of the recent repro jars. The embossing looks “odd” (smooth rounded lettering, shallowly, poorly formed) compared to the authentic, early jars from the 1858-1920 period, and the jars are typically in pristine condition with no base wear or scratching. The glass is oily or “slick” and shiny. There are several different base molds found so far, and some of them start with an “H” followed by three numbers. These new jars are being imported from China, India and other countries in Asia.
David
I just found 2 Ball jars with measurements on the other side 2 1/2 cup. They have A13 on the bottom. I can’t seem to find anything about them.
Hello. I have a jar I believe to be half gallon size. It is very faint blue. The front is marked Root Mason. The bottom only has the letter A. The glass has some air bubbles in it, but otherwise is in excellent co dition.The shape of the jar is nothing like the shape of the Ball jars. Can you provide me with a little history on this jar?
Thanks
Kelli
Kelli, those jars were made by Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana.
David
Hello, I found a box of old Ball jars and two of them have the # B18 and the other has 18 but on the bottom says A18 and the one has B18 on bottom. My question is that a mis print?
No, that’s the mold identification.
David
I found a green Ball perfect Mason pint jar. I have purchased hundreds of the old blue jars. This one is different because the word BALL is in print not cursive. It also has a extra line around the top of the jar. Any idea on age and why it’s different?
Julie,
I don’t know about the jar. There are many minor variants of Ball jars, sometimes found in various shades of true green (not aqua). You might try posting a query on the antique-bottles.net site, where a lot of fruit jar collectors discuss jars on the JARS discussion forum there.
Best regards,
David
Hello, I have a jar where the Ball logo dates it between 1910-1923. It has only the word ‘Mason’ below it. Every one I see on Ebay or mentioned in web sites for this period are ‘Perfect Mason’ jars. Does this make it any rarer, and is it possibly just an earlier one before the ‘Perfect’ was added?
Tanya, the jars marked “BALL MASON” were probably introduced around 1901 (according to info by highly respected fruit jar researcher and historian Dick Roller – although author William F. Brantley wrote “about 1895” in his book “A Collector’s Guide to Ball Jars”) and were made in large quantities from the early 1900s into the c.1910-1915 period. In a very general sense, most of them appear to pre-date the BALL PERFECT MASON’s, but there was evidently a gradual phasing in of the BALL PERFECT MASON jars so both the BALL MASON and the BALL PERFECT MASON were likely being made simultaneously for at least some period of time.
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. 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.
The BALL MASON jars are commonly found, but definitely not as abundant as the BALL PERFECT MASON’s which were made in TREMENDOUS quantities!
To sum this up, there are still a lot of uncertainties involving the many BALL fruit jar varieties to be found, and I am certainly not an expert on those jars!!
David
Thank you for the background, David, much appreciated! Tanya
Hello, I recently inherited an aqua glass jar with the Mason patent 1858. There are no other markings anywhere. The glass has an extreme rippled look to it. I know it’s machine made due to the seams down the sides. I can find nothing about it. All websites talk about number embossing to determine batch or manufacturer location. Since there are no numbers or any other kind of embossing I was hoping you might help me determine the age. I have no intention of selling and have no interest in the value. Can you help me?
Sandra, please check your email, including any spam/trash folders.
~David
I just purchased one of these today. Can you please tell me more about it!
My brother has blue jars rhat are hand blown, is this earlier than 1900?
My brother has ball jars that are hand blown. There are tiny bubbles in the glass.. are they worth much?
Jeremiah, most jars bearing the BALL brand name are not handblown – they are machine-made (either on semi-automatic machines – from the 1890s – or fully-automatic, early 1900s). For instance, ALL “BALL PERFECT MASON” jars are machine-made.
Lots of bubbles can be found in some jars even into the 1920s and ’30s or later, although the bubbles typically aren’t nearly as numerous or noticeable in later jars.
To be honest, your questions are rather ‘general’ and very hard to answer with precision. As far as values, you might try searching ebay over a period of time and noting ACTUAL COMPLETED AUCTION ENDING PRICES, not the sellers’ “asking prices”, “minimum bids” or “Buy it now prices”.
there are many minor variations of Ball jars (aside from the variety of colors found) and values can depend a lot on how scarce a certain variation is. Hope this helps,
David
I have a blue ball perfect mason jar with the number 51 on the base.
Hello Bill,
This is a case where the moldcutter engraved the numbers in the wrong order so they appear as “51” instead of “15”. This is seen occasionally on the base of some Ball Perfect Mason jars. Thanks for writing!
David
My grandmother gave me many Ball fruit/ perfect mason jars. Ive been searching the internet to find information on reproductions. 8+ of them are Ball perfect Mason without the underline. I read these should be from around 1930s era? How do i know if they are repros?
Caitlin,
The only repro BALL PERFECT MASON Jars that I know of are smaller, recently made jars (so far, in the years 2013-2016) made of thinner, lighter-weight glass and they are not in the original blue-aqua color. I described them in the text on this page. They are (so far) made of light cornflower blue glass, amethyst and true green.
The original BALL PERFECT MASON jars are typically of heavier, thicker glass, most often found in pint, quart and half-gallon sizes. Usually in aqua, Ball blue, or clear glass.
To look for signs of originality, look CAREFULLY under a bright light for tiny scratches in the sides, base wear (network of high point scratches and scuffs on the bottom which is noticeable on almost all older jars that were used over a long period of time).
Since it is estimated many hundreds of millions of BALL PERFECT MASONs were made over many years, they have relatively low market value in the most common colors, and there is no logical reason why anyone would reproduce them. They can be found in large quantities in almost any antique store or flea market especially throughout the Midwest and Eastern states.
I am sure your jars are not reproductions. Sounds like the type made circa 1923-1933. Please check out this chart showing logo changes, courtesy of the Minnetrista website:
https://www.minnetrista.net/blog/blog/2013/06/27/ball-family-history/how-to-date-a-ball-jar
Hope this helps,
David
I have a collection of porcelain liners,and I would like to know what was embossed on the porcelain liners for ball mason jar lids,so i know what they are like the next time i go to a dump.
Albert, the porcelain liners made for the jar lids marked “BALL” were made in TREMENDOUS numbers over many years, and there are probably a number of variations out there. I don’t know what they all are, but just checking a few, I can say that some have just a mold number (one or two digits) placed in the center of 3 or 4 concentric circles (but with no other markings); others have the exact embossing “<> GENUINE ZINC CAP <> FOR BALL MASON JARS” The <> indicates two “diamond” marks placed between those phrases. Others are blank (no lettering of any kind).
There are probably other variations out there. They should be the most commonly found type of porcelain liner. If you have access to a local flea market or antique mall that stocks Ball jars with lids (most have at least a few!), you might unscrew the lid and check the porcelain liners and see what you can find.
Best regards,
David
Albert, the “porcelain” liners were actually made of milk glass (usually white milk glass, although sometimes tints of other colors can be seen), and many embossing variants are seen. Please check out my page about the “Boyd Porcelain lined cap” on this website.
Best regards,
David
I recently cleaned out my great grandmothers home and found a large (almost the size of a 2 liter) jar. It is the blue/green color and says STANDARD underlined only under STAN. The word standard also is written at angle. There is a 2 on the bottom but there is no Ball or any other writing.. I can’t find anything on the Internet and I am very curious about the history behind this jar. Any details would be greatly appreciated!
Bri,
That’s one of the later, machine-made types of “Wax Sealer” fruit jars. The wax sealer jars have a “grooved ring” around the top of the jar instead of threading to accommodate a metal screw lid. You have the half-gallon size. 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). Your particular jar variation is listed as #2711 in the “Redbook” fruit jar guide used by serious jar collectors. Information on attribution from page 200 of “The Fruit Jar Works Volume 1” by Alice Creswick. The “2” is a mold number. By the way, similar wax sealer jars but marked “BALL / STANDARD” on the front were made by Ball Bros Glass Company… sometime in the circa 1895-1912 time period.
Hope this helps~
David
Hello David, I recently found a triple L, light green Ball jar. It is marked on the bottom with ‘R’ and two dots. It’s has bubbles and is beautiful. Can you tell me anything about it?
Debra,
All I can tell you is the jars marked “Ball Mason” were made throughout the c. 1901-1913 time period by Ball, and is the immediate predecessor of the “Ball Perfect Mason” jars. The markings on the base identified that particular mold.
David
I found a faint green jar with “Ball Mason” on it. There are no other numbers on it. The emblem is like no others that I can find. It is underlined with a long loop after the “LL”. There is no loop in the middle of the BB. There is a line in front of the A leading into it. The bottom of the A is more pointed than curved. The glass has several large bubbles and the writing is very faint(it does not protrude as far off the glass as others. Any ideas?
Kylan,
Your jar is one of many slightly different variants of the more common type of screw-lid “Mason” jar produced by Ball just BEFORE they started producing the ubiquitous “Ball Perfect Mason” jars. Many of them have quite lightly-embossed lettering. The “BALL MASON” jars are generally believed to have been made between around 1895 and 1910. (Source: A Collector’s Guide to Ball Jars, William F. Brantley, 1975, page 53). However, longtime fruit jar researcher and glass company historian Dick Roller stated that the “Ball Mason” jars date from approximately 1901.
Your jar has the “third L” type of lettering (loop) which was common after around 1900 up to the introduction of the Ball Perfect Mason. Your jar (and it’s many variants) are listed from #279 to #296-10 in the “Redbook” used by antique jar collectors. (I think yours would probably be #280). Many if not most of these jars have at least a few bubbles in them.
Best regards,
David
My name is Connie Chapman. I purchased wide mouth quart jars 12 in the box, 7 only wide mouth the other 5 were regular. The lids were all wide mouth. My email is (address obscured for privacy concerns). Could you please tell me who to get in contact with?
Connie, you misunderstand this site. This site is about background historical information for glass collectors. I have absolutely no connection with the current distributors of any fruit jars, including those marked “BALL” or any other brand name.
Best regards,
David
I have some mason jars with no marking at all along the side, but it says ball on the bottom. Any idea on these?
Catherine, they are probably “packer jars” or “product jars”, originally containing some type of item and sold retail (as opposed to jars sold empty for home use). Many common food jars (such as originally used for mayonnaise, etc) would fall in that category, and those types of jar are often called “packers” within the glass industry, and have been made by many glass companies.
David
Hi there –
I cleaned out my parents barn in Indiana last month and found my Grandmother’s canning jars. Among them were several Blue or Aqua (?) Ball Jars (detailed below). My mother said they were old and collectible. After 35+ years in a barn, they cleaned up fairly well and I was planning on using them for an indoor herb garden. However, if they’re valuable, maybe I should reconsider.
I have the following in Blue/Aqua (10 total):
1.) Ball Perfect Mason – the “Perfect” is slightly to the right. #7 on the bottom (Quart)
2.) Ball Ideal Pat’d July 14, 1908 – This one has a glass lid and rubber ring (Quart?) #8 on the bottom.
3.) Ball Perfect Mason with lines going down the sides (Quart). #9 on the bottom.
4 & 5.) Ball Perfect Masons (Quart). #7 on the bottom
6 – 9.) Ball Perfect Masons (Quart). #8 on the bottom
10.) Smaller Ball Perfect Mason (Pint?). #9 on the bottom.
The truth is, I can hardly tell one from another. I’ll gladly post or send pics.
Hi Chip,
They sound like typical Ball jars that were made in very large numbers, and although they are old and considered collectible, since they are common they have only minor value to collectors, perhaps 1 to 3 dollars apiece in good condition. If I were you, I’d go ahead and use them for your herb garden, or as kitchen canisters, vases, containers for marbles, buttons, etc, or as general home décor. Hope this helps!
David
Herb garden it is. Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it. 🙂
Chip
Those all sound like lovely run-of-the-mill antique ball jars. I have many many of these the Red Book (Leybourne) values them at $1-4 depending. I will continue to buy them at a reasonable price even though I have have many. I keep and collect them to admire, use for dry goods storage and I use the smooth lip mason type for canning. I know this isn’t recommended but if there are no cracks and the lip is in good shape I cannot imagine why I shouldn’t, the glass is twice as thick as the new canning jars and I’ve never had an old jar break in processing but I’ve had new ones break many times.
Laura, thanks for your post! Your experiences (indicating the old jars as more sturdy and less prone to breakage) gives clues as to why so many of the older Ball Perfect Mason jars are still around! And I’m sure many of them were used over and over again for many decades!
David
I found a Ball Perfect Mason jar that has grippers, cups and ounces on it and says made in USA on back. Research about those details and the word “Ball” tells me it’s date is between 1956-1960. I’m curious though about the letters “HI” printed underneath the word Mason next to the bottom of the jar. I’ve searched but cannot find anything about it. The jar has what swirl marks on the bottom but also a line all the way from top to bottom. Is it hand blown or factory made? It has a what looks like a J17 on the bottom also. Thanks
Karen, there are many slightly different BALL PERFECT MASON jars and I am not familiar with many of them. Don’t know what the “HI” would be. The “J17” is a mold number. ALL Ball Perfect Mason jars were machine-made by Ball at one of their several glass factories. (By the way, for a bit of clarification, the great majority of hand-blown jars and bottles of American make were also produced in a glass factory by skilled glass workers).
David
I have a Masons patent November30 1858 with a 45 on the bottom a lead lid and a rough rim and is light green. I see lots of prices so am curious as to value.
Hi Michael,
A huge number of MASON’S PATENT NOV 30TH 1858 jars were made over many years by over 100 glass companies. Many of them bear mold numbers on the bottom, usually one, two or three digits. Many cannot be identified as to exact glass factory source. The most common color is light aqua.
For current values, check ebay auctions over a period of time to get a “feel” for how much they sell for. Typical value ranges for aqua are in the 5 to 15 dollar price range. Sometimes much less, sometimes more. And shipping costs has to be accounted for when scrutinizing ebay final bid prices. Prices can be very erratic, unpredictable, and one particular jar might sell higher than another for no apparent reason. Sometimes it just so happens that two people land on a particular jar auction, become interested in a particular jar and a ‘bidding war’ erupts. Condition is always very important.
In general, mold numbers do not have any relevance to the worth of a particular 1858 jar, although some Hemingray 1858-type jars can be identified by their particular “look” of the mold numbers, very, very large and ornate on the base.
I am assuming you have an older, authentic 1858-type jar, but please be aware there are an increasing number of fake/repro jars on ebay, in unusual colors such as shades of true green, and cobalt blue. Some have a mold number “46” on the bottom, and they are almost certainly recent imports from China.
If there is NO BASE WEAR at all on an 1858 jar, it is probably a new, imported repro jar.
Hope this helps,
David
Does anyone have any info about a 40 oz/5 cup blue ball jar we found today?
I would like more info on that one too. I have one as well, and it’s the only one I’ve ever seen.
Hi Michele (and Lee),
Sorry about answering so late. I didn’t really know much about these “in-between” sizes of the Ball Perfect Mason, but finally did a little research in my books on jars. Here is some info I found:
In the reference book “The Fruit Jar Works, Volume 2” by Alice Creswick (published 1987), there are several not-so-often-seen “off-sized” BALL PERFECT MASON jars that are lumped together under the jar listing #351.
She writes “The 40 oz. jars were used to pack coffee. The 42 oz. or “short half-gallon” jars were popular with bootleggers during Prohibition (1920s and early 1930s)”. Other sizes mentioned are 36 ounce, 56 ounce, 58 ounce and 66 ounce. Again, the listing is such that all those sizes are catalogued under one jar identification number. The same number (#351) appears in the accompanying REDBOOK price guide (“The Collector’s Guide to Old Fruit Jars”).
I’m using an older version of the accompanying “Redbook” price guide so I don’t have up-to-date information on values. I would assume they are worth perhaps 20 dollars or more apiece today, but I really don’t know.
Hope this helps,
~David
Got one in 36 oz. myself.
I found a 1913-1915 Ball Perfect jar where the perfect is offset. I did some research and found that the “first edition perfect” jars were done like this for the first 2years of production mainly with existing jars. The Ball is the triple L style. They began production of the centered Perfect sometime in 1915. The first edition I found has the the number 4 mold mark in the center of the Owen ring but it has an “F” just outside the Owen ring. Do you have any idea what the F represents or where I can find information on that? This is the first time I have ever seen an F embossed on the bottom.
Thank you
Hi Natasha,
I don’t have specific info on your jar, but in general, many of the earliest BALL PERFECT MASON jars (made beginning around 1913 and for several years afterward) are marked on the bottom with a number/letter combination, not a number only (those with only numbers seem to have been introduced a little later). I mention those number-letter marked jars in the third paragraph under the subheading “MOLDS” in my article.
To be honest I have not paid much attention to those jars, but I believe the letters seen include A through at least H. This seems to be just a variation in the way the molds for that type of jar-making machine were marked. In fact I think that marking orientation may be diagnostic for a specific type of jar manufacturing machine that was in use at the time.
Just at a glance, I can document jars marked “10 A”, “7 C” and “8 H” among a few jars in my own collection. (So I assume there are lots of jars out there with those letters as well as “B”, “D’, “E”, “F” and” G”.) The jars I have at hand all have the word “MASON” centered (as normal) under the word “PERFECT”.
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). 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. (If any readers have seen jars with letters AFTER “H”, please let us know! I haven’t studied this question in depth and don’t know if other letters are also commonly seen!)
Take care and I hope this helps a bit,
David
PS. Are you sure that is the “3 L” variation? All of the “LOGO 5” jars have only 2 “Ls”, not three.
I purchased a triple L Ball jar with a 13 mold number – in Roman numerals. I didn’t notice Roman numerals on my other jars. Is it a reproduction?
Hi Tim, There are many, many variations of mold numbers on the base of those jars. I am sure it is not a reproduction. However, you might try posting your query on the http://antique-bottles.net site, where there is a special category for discussion on antique fruit jars. Perhaps someone can elaborate more on the Roman numerals on those jars.
~David
Thank you very much DAvid
I found a jar that is a Mason’s patent Nov. 30 th 1858 tha has a number on the bottom that appears to be 113. On second look you can see a faint 13 in the background as well. I have collected bottles and jars for years but not profesionally. It appears to be old glass and not a reproduction. Have you seen jars with error numbers on the bottom? Are they harder to find or common?
Lee, that’s an example of “ghosting” or “ghost embossing”, it is seen fairly frequently on older glass insulators, and on the base of some jars and bottles, mostly on older handblown bottles before, generally, 1920 or so. The phenomenon occurs on bottles when the molten glass was blown into the mold, and the glass shifts slightly before settling into it’s “final resting place”, and in that split second the molten glass can ‘pick up’ part of the lettering before it shifts again and solidifies into place, causing a double image, or faint secondary image of part of the embossed lettering. (I compare it to blowing a large bubble gum bubble, partly sucking it in for a split second, and blowing it back out). A keyword search of “ghost embossing” on google might bring up better info. It is mentioned elsewhere on this site as well. (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.) ~David