When I was in Tennessee last spring they were looking for the Ball Perfect Mason # 13, saying that it was a moonshiners jar... Anyone know if there's any truth to this???
Yo STONEY...ya misunderstood a little bit. Back years ago a fellow in Northeast Tenn. started a myth about the #13 jars. Said they were scarce , due mainly to housewives and moonshiners breaking them all, believing them to cause ill luck because of the #13 being on the bottom. As a result #13 jars soared in value. I saw a half gallon fetch over $100 at an auction a couple years ago. And, the trend has not only continued, but spread to other parts of the country as well.
No I think the urban myth is that there are fewer of the mould # 13's around because moonshiners and others broke them as being bad luck jars. This may have happened to a couple but truth is there are as many 13's as the rest of the mold numbers. The hype that surrounds these does make them sell for a few more dollars than the other mould numbers.
Thanks for the feedback guys... I just remember some lady at an antique/junk shop in Lebanon was willing to pay $10.00 a piece for them, but I couldn't remember the story that went with it...
I Friend of mine sold a half gallon blue screw top 13 for thirty bucks a couple of years ago. I have priced them at fifteen, and People look at me like I am nuts! Go Figure............
I read a post on here a while back, that the moonshine jar as I always called it in reference to the story I always heard about the moonshiners breaking them was not right. I do not remember who posted it now, but they stated that the moonshine theory was not correct. It was stated that people who canned with the jars considered the 13 jars bad luck to can with, and would break them for fear the jar would not seal and the contents would spoil. I thought that was a great thought to the theory as well. Maybe both theories are correct.
I heard that aliens brought them from space!!!! [sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif]
Juss shinnen ya. There are a number of those stories going around. Its all just poop poo but you just can't convince some folks of that. I knew and older lady, acctually see was a good friend and neighbor, whos husband was a shine runner durring the deppresion and she said that breaking a jar for any reason was dumb because the cost money.
If it was a rumor it took hold of a lot of folks around here in Tennessee a long time ago, all of the old moonshiners that I ever talked to (my daddy, my uncles, my grandpa my neighbor and a good friend) would tell you the same thing.
BAD LUCK!!!
If you want to get a fresh drink of water you have to go to the head of the stream