Old Ball Mason jars are a common sight at a barn sale or in your grandma’s basement. While most people either donate them or sell them for a few bucks per lot, some rare Ball Mason jars are actually worth a few hundred dollars.
Generally, a common aqua or clear jar usually brings a few dollars, while rare colors like olive green, amber, and sun-purpled glass sell for much more. It’s worth knowing how to spot these special jars, and this guide shows you how to identify an antique Ball jar, how to date it by the logo, what makes certain models valuable, and which ones actually sell.
History of the Ball Jar Company
The Ball Company’s history begins in 1880 when two of five brothers, Frank and Edmund Ball, borrowed $200 from their uncle and started the Wood Jacket Can Company in Buffalo, New York.
Their brothers George, Lucius, and William joined later, and by the mid-1880s the family was making glass in Buffalo. The company was formally known as Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company after its incorporation in February 1886.
A fire destroyed the Buffalo glass works in September 1885, but the brothers rebuilt it. In 1887, they began building a new plant in Muncie, Indiana, to use the area’s cheap natural gas. Glass production began there on March 1, 1888.
From there, Ball grew fast, buying out competitor after competitor (eight of them between 1902 and 1909 alone) and becoming one of the largest fruit jar makers in the U.S. This sort of domination is precisely what makes the presence of Ball jars so prevalent and why collectors care so much about the small details between an ordinary one and a rare one.
How to Identify an Antique or Vintage Ball Jar?
Ball jars have been made in hundreds of variations over 100+ years. Identifying the old from the new comes down to a few clear signs. Here’s a detailed breakdown for each sign you need to check.
The Logo – How To Tell How Old a Ball Jar Is?
The quickest way to tell how old a Ball jar is: read the logo first, then check the lip and seams. Ball changed its logo about eight times between the 1880s and today. Each version dates to a fairly tight window, so if you can match the script style on your jar, you can narrow the age to a decade or two.
Use this simplified Ball logo timeline:
- 1885 to 1886 (BBGMCo logo) – These are the “Buffalo jars,” made when the company was still called Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company. They’re rare, and finding one is a big deal. Watch for the amber copies made in 1976; most are embossed “AN HISTORIC REPRODUCTION” and “THE AMBER BUFFALO JAR.”
- 1888 to 1895 (No logo) – Jars from Ball’s early Muncie years carry no Ball name at all.
- 1895 to 1896 (Block letters) – Straight, capital-letter “BALL,” no cursive yet.
- 1895 to 1896 (First script logo) – The first cursive Ball logo, sitting flat instead of slanting.
- 1896 to 1910 (The “3-L” logo) – The underline starts with a decorative curl that looks like a third L, and the “a” drops lower than the other letters. Collectors call this the 3-L or triple-L logo, and it’s a great find.
- 1910 to 1923 (Underscore under Ball) – The word “Ball” has a straight line under it (the third-L curl is gone), and the “a” still drops.
- 1923 to 1933 (No underscore) – The line is gone, and the “a” no longer drops, but the loopy script stays.
- 1933 to 1960 (Underline returns) – The line under “Ball” comes back, and the B still has its curl where the curved line crosses the downstroke.
- About 1960 to today (Modern script) – Simpler letters, with no curl in the B, and after 1975, you’ll see the ® registered trademark symbol.
The “13” Myth – What Does the Number on the Bottom Mean?
There is a misconception that the number “13” on the bottom of Ball jars indicates rarity and value.
The numbers on the bottom of the jars, often ranging from 0 to 15, are actually mold numbers. They just tell you which mold cavity in the jar-making machine produced that piece. They do not indicate the year, and they do not add value.
The “13 = unlucky, therefore rare” story is just a myth. The value of a “13” ball jar is about the same as any other mold number, depending on age and color. If you are being quoted a high price for a “13 jar,” don’t buy it.
Also, don’t be fooled by dates on the glass. Many jars have the inscription “Pat’d Nov 30th 1858” or “Pat’d July 14, 1908.” These are not dates when the jars were manufactured, but patent dates. Ball’s own Buffalo plant made jars embossed “MASON’S PATENT NOV 30TH 1858” in the 1880s, nearly 30 years after John Mason’s patent.
Old Mason jars from other makers may also carry the same Mason’s Patent date.
Jar Types and Model Names Ball Used
The Ball Jar Company didn’t just make one jar. They ran several different lines, and the model name embossed on the front is another big dating clue. Here are the most common embossings you will come across:
- Ball Perfect Mason (c. 1913 to 1960) – The most common Ball jar ever made, with probably well over a billion produced. Standard screw-top with the zinc lid or two-piece band. The earliest versions, from about 1913, have offset “PERFECT” lettering because Ball added the word to older MASON molds.
- Ball Ideal (c. 1915 to 1962) – The wire-bail jar with a glass lid. You’ll usually see “PAT’D JULY 14, 1908” embossed on it. That’s the patent for the wire clamp, not the production year.
- Ball Improved – Uses a screw band plus a glass lid disc. Wide variety of sub-types.
- Ball Sanitary Sure Seal – Wide-mouth jar with a wire clamp closure.
- Ball Special – Made only briefly, around 1910 to 1913. Has “SPECIAL” embossed on the front.
- Ball Eclipse – Made from about 1926 to 1952, with a lightning-style wire closure.
- Ball Bicentennial (1976) – Made for America’s 200th birthday. Ball’s own version is a blue Ball Ideal jar with a wire clamp, embossed with an eagle and “1776–1976.”
Each of these designs comes with its own style of closure and design, meaning that just by identifying the model name, you can tell the era.
Closure Type: Zinc Lid, Glass Lid, or Modern Two-Piece
The closure tells you almost as much as the logo does. Most Ball jars have one of the following types of closures:
- Wax seal groove – The earliest closure system. Look for a shallow ring around the top instead of screw threads. These jars are usually pre-1900, though Ball made machine-made “Ball Standard” wax sealers until 1912.
- Zinc lid with milk-glass liner – Common on jars pre-1930s. If the original zinc cap is still there, that adds meaningful value.
- Glass lid with wire bail – The Ideal jar’s setup. A matching, unbroken glass lid boosts the price a lot.
- Two-piece dome lid – The standard flat lid plus screw band we still use today. This came in around 1915 and is what most modern jars use.
Original closures matter more than many people realize. A jar with its matching original zinc cap or glass lid and wire bail can be worth noticeably more than the same jar with a replacement.
Shape, Seams, and Manufacturing Method
The shape and seams let you know whether a jar is hand-blown or machine-made. Ball’s earliest jars, made until the late 1890s, were blown by mouth. They show a seam that does not extend to the top, along with a coarse, ground-off top.
These are normally the oldest and most unusual. Ball’s rival Atlas made its jars by machine from early on, so old Atlas Mason jars rarely show this ground top.
From about 1898, Ball made more and more jars on its own semi-automatic machines, and from 1909 it also ran the Owens automatic bottle machine (which also made many old glass bottles), holding the only license to make fruit jars on it.
Machine-made jars have seams that run all the way up and over the rim. Most have a small round valve scar on the base, while Owens-made jars show an off-center, feathered “Owens scar” left where a knife cut off the glass the machine had sucked up.
Shape matters too. Round jars dominated for decades. Square jars, like the Ball Square Mason, showed up by the mid-1920s. So if your jar is square with corners, it’s not one of the earliest.
7 Collectible Ball Mason Jars and What They Sold For
Here are seven collectible Ball jars with their real prices, from a $15 triple-L quart to a $190 olive Perfect Mason, plus what to check on each.
1. Sun-Purpled Ball Perfect Mason
Real amethyst Ball jars started life as clear glass with manganese added to keep them colorless. But decades in the sun turned that manganese amethyst. And since manganese was phased out between World War I and about 1920, a soft purple Perfect Mason usually dates to the line’s first few years.
However, it can be tricky to spot real sun-purpled jars from artificially irradiated ones. So, check this: natural amethyst tends to look uneven and softer; irradiated purple is dark, uniform, and almost too rich.
- Estimated Value: $30 to $150
- Production Years: About 1913 to 1920 (manganese era)
- What to Check: Soft, uneven purple, dropped-A Ball logo
2. Amber Ball Perfect Mason Quart
Genuine antique amber Ball jars are uncommon and highly collectible. Ball’s very first jars, made in Buffalo, came out amber partly by accident, because smoke from the coal furnace tinted the glass.
Later amber jars like this one were made on purpose, and amber glass helps shield food from light.
Since the Perfect Mason line only started around 1913, an amber Perfect Mason dates to 1913 or later. But be careful. Ball’s modern Elite Collection includes 32-oz amber wide-mouth jars from 2018.
- Estimated Value: $30 to $150
- Production Years: 1913 or later (Perfect Mason era)
- What to Check: Logo era, ® symbol absent
3. 3-L Ball Logo Jar
The 3-L logo is easily one of the most fun Ball jar finds. Look at the line under “Ball”: if it begins with an extra curl shaped like a third L, you’ve got a 3-L jar from between 1896 and 1910. Collectors love this variant because it is easy to spot and dates a jar to about 15 years.
Most 3-L jars came off Ball’s early semi-automatic machines, so they have a smooth lip, but the glass of that era still often shows bubbles, irregular seams, and a slightly wavy body.
- Estimated Value: $10 to $150
- Production Years: 1896 to 1910
- What to Check: Third-L curl at the start of the underline
4. Purple Ball Improved Jar (Dropped A)
The Ball Improved line used a two-part closure system: a glass insert lid held down by a metal screw band. When the original glass insert is still there and it fits properly, the jar is worth a lot more.
The purple pint shown here sold with a zinc cap instead of its glass insert. Its “dropped A” script points to roughly 1896 to 1923, the years Ball’s logo had a dropped A.
You’ll find Improved jars in aqua, clear, and sometimes purple and green. Sizes range from half-pint to half-gallon. Large, colored Improved jars hold more value.
Rare BBGMCo Improved amber examples from the Buffalo era are among the most valuable of all.
- Estimated Value: $20 to $150 (rare amber examples much higher)
- Production Years: Late 1890s to 1920s
- What to Check: Matching glass insert, band condition
5. Ball Perfect Mason With Offset Embossing
These are actually first-year Perfect Mason jars, not errors. When Ball introduced the Perfect Mason in 1913, they added the word “PERFECT” to their existing MASON molds. So, the word “PERFECT” is jammed in wherever it would fit, sometimes off to the side.
Ball soon cut new molds with centered embossing. So an offset Perfect Mason is one of the earliest, usually from about 1913 to the mid-1910s. They’re not super rare, but still collectible.
- Estimated Value: $10 to $60
- Production Years: About 1913 to the mid-1910s
- What to Check: PERFECT offset from center on front
6. Green Ball Perfect Mason
Green Ball jars aren’t as famous as blue ones, but they’re much scarcer. Shades range from a light olive to a deeper forest green. Really vibrant emerald and deep olive green examples are the ones collectors chase.
Half-gallon sizes and jars in deep green shades with strong embossing usually bring the top prices.
- Estimated Value: $50 to $300+
- Production Years: Various, mostly 1913 to the 1930s
- What to Check: Green color (Deep Olive to Forest)
7. Ball Bicentennial Jar
Made for America’s 200th birthday, Bicentennial jars feature “1776–1976” with a Liberty Bell or an eagle. Ball’s own version is a blue Ball Ideal with an eagle and a wire clamp, while screw-top Liberty Bell jars like the ones shown here carry no Ball name.
Most were produced in clear or aqua glass, and they’re widely available, so common ones usually bring only $5 to $20. The lot shown here sold as eight-quart jars, about $6 a jar.
Some Milk-glass Bicentennial versions also exist and are much scarcer. These can be worth way more than clear ones.
- Estimated Value: $5 to $25 (scarce milk glass more)
- Production Years: 1976 only
- What to Check: “Ball Ideal” name, eagle, and “1776–1976” embossing
What Makes Vintage Ball Jars Valuable?
As you saw above, prices ran from $15 for the 3-L quart to $190 for the olive Perfect Mason, and the rarest colors and sizes can go higher, depending on several aspects. The key factors that are responsible for a Ball jar’s value are:
Colors
The color of a Ball Mason jar moves the price more than almost anything else, so learn to spot the rare tones on sight. Here’s how the shades stack up, from most common to seriously rare.
- Aqua / “Ball Blue” (Common) – The classic pale blue-green. It comes naturally from iron in the sand. The deeper “Ball blue” shade came from sand mined at the Hoosier Slide dune on Lake Michigan. It replaced the older aqua around 1910, and the last Ball blue jars were made around 1937. Beautiful, but common.
- Cornflower Blue and Deep Sapphire (Uncommon) – A much richer, deeper blue than standard aqua. Harder to find and fetch a premium.
- Amber (Uncommon) – Ball’s first jars from the Buffalo years (to 1888) came out amber or aqua, and later amber runs were made on purpose (amber glass also helps shield contents from light). Genuine antique amber is desirable. Just watch out for the modern Elite Collection amber jars (2018).
- Green (Uncommon to Rare) – Much scarcer than aqua. Shades run from soft olive to deep forest. Unusual shades (emerald and dark olive) go higher.
- Purple / Amethyst (Rare) – These jars were made as clear glass with manganese added to remove any tint, but decades in the sun turned it a soft amethyst. So real sun-purpled Ball jars almost always date to about 1920 or earlier, when manganese was phased out.
- Pink (Very Rare) – Genuine antique pink Ball jars are very rare, and Ball has also sold modern pink jars, so any pink jar needs close authentication.
- Black, Yellow, Milk Glass (Extremely Rare) – These barely show up. When they do, they can push into the hundreds of dollars or more.
Size
The jar’s size matters more than you think. Half-pints and half-gallons often bring more than pints and quarts, which are the most common sizes. Anything unusually large, like a 5-gallon display jar, or unusually small, gets serious collector attention too.
Condition
This can make or break the value of a Ball jar. Chips, cracks, hazing, and “sickness” (interior white haze from mineral buildup) all pull value down fast, while sharp embossing and clean glass push it up.
Embossing errors
Real manufacturing errors, like misspellings or a triple-L jar with its Ball logo embossed upside down, can add real value.
The 3-L logo itself is a normal logo style, not an error, and the early offset “PERFECT MASON” jars are common, but true typos and one-off errors are collector prizes.
You may also find jars where another maker’s name was cut out of the mold and replaced with Ball’s, such as BOYD changed to BALL on jars from the Greenfield plant Ball bought in 1909.
Original closures
A jar with its original closures can be worth noticeably more than those without the lid. Also, a matching zinc lid with its milk-glass liner, or a wire bail with the original glass lid, always beats a replacement.
Ball jars are historic. Some are worth a few dollars, some a few hundred. So, take your time with the logo, look at the color in real daylight, and check the closure while sorting your old jars. Then search eBay’s sold listings for the same logo, color, and size before you price one.
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