Ever Wonder How Old Your Vintage Ball Mason Jars Are? Use This Chart to Find Out!
If the Ball Mason jars in your collection date back to the 1800s or early 1900s, you could be sitting on a gold mine.
Whether you use them for home decor or canning, Mason jars are the most simple (and iconic) form of kitchen storage. They’ve been around for 100+ years and are still going strong! Not only do they have a beautiful, timeless design, but they can even help save the world.
The real question is, what do you know about Ball jar dating? No, not the romantic type—the valuing type! Ball jars from specific decades have their own unique logo, and they’re all worth different amounts.
Ball Mason Jar Age Chart
Lucky for us, this handy chart can help you keep track of all the Ball jar logos. There are about eight different logos in total, starting in the 1880s and finishing in the present day. The original logo, which looks nothing like the following logos, is basically unrecognizable today.
While each set of decades has its own version of the logo we know and love, there are other things to look out for, too. Phrases like “improved,” “special,” “perfect,” “sanitary,” “ideal,” “square” and “eclipse” can all help identify the year of your jar. For example, this Ball Mason jar with the phrase “perfect” on the bottom is approximately from 1913-1922.
Vintage Mason Jar Colours
Mason jars were manufactured in many different colours, including clear, pale blue, yellow, amber, olive and various other greens. (In the early 1900s, people thought darker glass helped prevent food from spoiling as quickly.) The rarest of the jar colours are green and have been known to fetch upwards of $300 per jar—that’s incredible!
How Much is Your Ball Jar Worth?
If you want a quick peek, you can always type in your jar’s credentials into eBay or Etsy and see if you have any that are a match. Some have already sold for as much as $54, like this pale blue wire lock Mason jar from the early 1900s. Some even have logo “misprints,” such as this Ball jar that has three Ls on the front. Overall, it seems the early 1900s jars fetch more than the most recent years, as expected.
Do you have any rare jars? You’ll have to check and see!
Next, find out which Barbie dolls are the most valuable.
