dygger60
Posts: 403
Joined: 2/2/2010
From: Hill town area, New York
Status: offline
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Welome to the crazy world of jar collecting......and if Ball jars are you choice....there is no glass maker with such a vast and varied offering of jars......Ball has been making fruit jars for over 100 years now.
There is ALOT to learn......but it is a great trip.....
Now to your jars...the first jar is what is called a transition jar....it dates to about the WW1...Ball at the time this jar was made was both changing their Signiture sytle as well as their jar style. Your quart is on the fence if you wanna put it that way......the signiture was changed from what is called the 3-L style to what on your jar is refered to as "dropped A" variation. (This is another thing to learn....Ball jar collectors have their own terms they use when talking about Ball jars)
The style of closure is commonly called a "shoulder seal" jar...that is where the lid's sealing surface is right on the body of the jar.....now.....your jar again...is of the old style...Ball was changing from this to what is called....and pretty much became the industry standard.....the beaded seal...that is where a bead..or what looks like a ledge was added to the neck finish of the jar....this allowed for a much better seal.
Your jar is pretty common...being made in the millions....it is probably worth a couple of dollars at best but may be a little more seeing as it is a transition jar....there is ALOT that determines a jars value....color....size.....how common it was....its almost endless..
Your second jar is also a BALL made jar....it is a jar that was made for a commercial company called the S.S. Kresge Company from 1910 thru about 1920...you will have noticed that the word TIGHT SEAL is in a ball shaped circle? They did this to several of the jars they made for commercial companies....your jar looks to be what is commonly refered to as "ball blue"....this is actualy a unique color Ball Brothers got from using the sands from Lake Michigan....it turned their glass blue.....from light to a very intense deep blue....value...$6 - $8. The double "E" on the neck finish is common...a lot of times the entire word is doubled or on some the mold maker reversed letters.
Do a search for Ball Jar Collectors Community Center there is sooo much information there..your brain will go into reset......lots and lots of pictures to go with information from some of the pioneer and top Ball jar collectors...
A couple of good books to have is.....RED BOOK The Collector's Guide to Old Fruit Jars by Douglas Leybourne, Jr. a must have.....
Also, a set of books I consider the "bible" of jar collecting the two volume THE FRUIT JAR WORKS by Alice Creswick..and published by Douglas Leybourne...these offer and A to Z breakdown of most know jars...from where and when produced to a great cross reference guide in the back of eack volume....patent (s) for jars and closures to trademarks....now these have been out of print for many years...but you can still find them on eBay...I gotta warn ya though....they may cost a couple of bucks to secure.....
Enjoy and Welcome to jar collecting.....
David
< Message edited by dygger60 -- 6/19/2010 5:30:34 AM >
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Collector of BALL IMPROVED series / BALL MASON IMPROVED series / BALL MASONS PATENT series.
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Just a ball jar - 
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