Ghosted Ball

[Baydog51]

I just got a Ball dropped A, 3-L Mason just like shown in RB#234. Aqua Quart. I can only see the B and part of the underline until I hold it up to the light and then the rest of the lettering can be seen very faintly. It dosen't show up at all in a photo.
Is this "ghosted" or an error jar? What would be the value? Thanks for looking.

 

[bobclay]

Hi Baydog51!

Welcome to the forum! In regards to your jar, actually, it is neither of those two descriptors, it is more of a manufacturing defect. "Ghosting" is generally described as peened out lettering where the embossing was changed. Like as usually seen on the BALL DELUXE JAR where the word PINE was peened out and then Ball cut into the mould. You can almost always still see the PINE beneath the word BALL on these jars. An "error" is an actual mistake in the embossing such as a misspelled word, like PERFFCT or something similar.

These Ball jars are often seen with very weak or illegible embossing and this is caused by a carbon buildup in the recesses of the mould which, over time, renders the embossing illegible. Ball's mantra was "Waste Not, Want Not" and they often used mould equipment long after it should have been removed. But as long as the mould was producing a sellable container, they didn't really care whether the embossing was good and strong.

But this is just one of the reasons collecting Ball jars can be so much fun! Just within the 3-L genre of Ball jars, there are literally thousands of different varients because all of the moulds were cut by hand and therefore, no two are identical. The value would be no more or no less than any other aqua 3-L Balll Mason jar, it is just one of many varients.

Bob Clay

 

[Baydog51]

Thanks for the info Bob. I find the ghosting, error issues confusing. Appreciate the clarification

 

[bobclay]

Especially on ebay or with non jar collectors, you often see descriptions that are way out of whack. There are many "error" fruit jars out there and there are many "ghosted" embossing jars out there. As you look through the Redbook, you can see many jars that have "ghosted" embossing. And many jars that have true errors on them as well.

Welcome to the wonderful (but often times confusing) world of jar collecting! )

Bob Clay