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Ball Ideal Jar - blue
 This is a 10" tall blue glass Ball Ideal fruit jar with raised lettering on the side, neck, and bottom. In addition to the classic Ball script and the Ideal block letters, the side says “Patd July 14 1908". The neck says “Wire Side” on one side and has the numbers 2 and 11 on the other. The 4-1/2" diameter bottom carries an underlined number 10. The jar is topped with a 3-1/4" diameter glass lid secured with a wire bale. No chips or cracks; slight roughness on lid edge; some rust on wire bale. See the Ball Jar History below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $17.00 + s/h
** SOLD **
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Ball Perfect Mason Jar - blue
 This is a 9-1/2" tall blue glass Ball Perfect Mason fruit jar with raised lettering on the side and bottom. Side has the classic Ball script and Perfect Mason block letters. The 4-1/2" diameter bottom carries an underlined number 5. The jar has its original screw-on Ball zinc lid with interior white porcelain insert. No chips or cracks; slight roughness around jar mouth. See the Ball Jar History below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $25.00 + s/h
** SOLD **
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Small Ball Ideal Jar - blue
 This is a 5-1/2" tall blue glass Ball Ideal jar with raised lettering on the side, neck, and bottom. One side has the classic Ball script and the Ideal block letters. The other side says “Patd July 14, 1908.” The neck says “Wire Side” on one side and has the numbers 2 and 38 on the other. The 3-3/4" diameter bottom carries an underlined number 5. The jar is topped with a 3-1/4" diameter glass lid secured with a wire bale. No chips or cracks; slight roughness on lid edge; some rust on wire bale. See the Ball Jar History below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $15.00 + s/h
** SOLD **
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Ball Mason jar with stand
 Now this is just too cool! A big ol’ Ball Mason jar with not only its original zinc lid, but even a portable display stand no less! I mean, if you’re going to display a neat vintage fruit jar, how better to do so than in its own metal stand? The jar is of clear glass with a greenish tint, stands 9-1/2" tall, and has the Ball script and Mason block letters on one side. Perfect condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks. The original zinc screw-on lid shows some rusting and is rough around the bottom, but still closes fully and securely. It has a large A on its top and an interior white glass insert. The black metal wire stand measures 12-1/2" tall when its flip-up handle with wooden spool grip is fully extended. The removable base says American Candle Pan 1813, so maybe this stand wasn’t originally intended to hold a Ball Mason jar, but we acquired them as a unit and they make such a unique display piece that we see no reason not to keep them together. Enjoy! See the Ball Jar History below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $30.00 + s/h
only 1 available |
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Trading Post
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We get many wonderful emails from our Trading Post visitors and thought you might enjoy reading some of them, too. Click here!
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Small Ball Ideal jar - clear
 This is a 5" tall clear glass Ball Ideal jar in the square round shape. Classic Ball script and Ideal block letters on one side, above which is “Wire Side” on the neck. The 3-3/4" x 3-1/4" bottom contains several concentric circles and is unmarked. The jar is topped with a 3-1/4" diameter glass lid secured with a wire bale. Outstanding vintage condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks, and no rust to the bale mechanism. See the Ball Jar History below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $15.00 + s/h
only 1 available |
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Bicentennial Ball Ideal mini jar - blue
 This is a blue mini Ball Ideal jar that stands 3-5/8" tall. Classic Ball script and Ideal block letters on the front and an embossed American Eagle emblem on the back, identifying it as one of Ball’s commemorative jars issued between 1975-1977 in honor of America’s Bicentennial celebration. One side says “Made in U.S.A.” and the neck above says “Wire Side.” The other side carries the number “A10.” The 3-1/4" x 3-1/4" square round bottom contains numerous concentric circles and is marked “77” as well as “A10.” Capped with a 3-1/4" diameter blue glass lid secured with a wire bale. Superb vintage condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks, and no rust to the bale mechanism. See the Ball Jar History below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $15.00 + s/h
only 1 available |
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Drey Ever Seal Jar - clear
 Drey (pronounced dry) jars were made from about 1917 through the 1920s by the Schram Glass Mfg. Co. of St. Louis, MO and later by the Ball Brothers’ company. Leo Drey and his partner James Hiatt patented a jar design that called for round glass bosses on bail type jars. Capitalizing on the name Drey, Schram glass made several bail and mason type fruit jars including the Drey Ever Seal, Drey Improved Ever Seal, Drey Mason, Drey Perfect Mason, and the Drey Square Mason. Ball Brothers took over the Schram company in 1925.
We have three of these old 10" tall clear glass Drey Ever Seal jars with raised lettering on the side consisting of the Drey script and “Ever Seal” block letters. The neck of one jar says “S10,” the neck of another says “S1,” and the neck of the third says “S2.” The 4-1/2" diameter bottoms carry no numbers. The 3-1/4" diameter glass lids are secured with wire bales, and the S10 and S2 jars have their original rubber rings. No chips or cracks in any of the jars, but two half-moon chips on the inside of the S2 jar lid. Some rust on all three wire bales. Price is for each jar. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $17.00 each + s/h
only 3 available |
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Clear glass fruit jar
 This 10-1/2" tall clear glass fruit jar has raised lettering on its side, neck, and bottom. The side says “Patd July 14, 1908,”one side of the neck says “Bale Side” and the other has the number 12. The 4-1/2" diameter bottom carries an underlined 8. The 3-1/4" diameter glass lid is secured with a wire bale, and the original rubber ring is intact. No chips or cracks; some rust on wire bale. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $14.00 + s/h
only 1 available |
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Clear glass fruit jar w/ green glass lid
 This 10-1/2" tall clear glass fruit jar has raised lettering on its side, neck, and bottom. The side says “Patd July 14, 1908,” one side of the neck says “Bale Side”; and the 4-1/2" diameter bottom carries an underlined 7. The 3-1/4" diameter glass lid is secured with a wire bale. This is not the original lid, since it’s green glass. No chips or cracks; some rust on wire bale and glue remnants where a large label once was affixed. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $13.00 + s/h
only 1 available |
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Putnam Lightning Jar
 This is a 7-3/4" tall green Putnam Lightning jar whose 3-1/4" diameter bottom says “Putnam,” “Trade Mark,” “181,” and “Lightning,” all in raised lettering. The 2-7/8" diameter glass lid says “Mason’s Improved” around the top edge, and “Patented May 20, 1870" around the bottom edge. I’ve never seen a Putnam without a wire bale closure, but if this one ever had one, there’s absolutely no indication of it on either the bottle or the lid. No little holes in the neck, no scratches, and no indentation on the lid top where a wire would have fit. So I wonder how it sealed – paraffin? Both the jar and its lid are in excellent condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks, but plenty of nifty little air bubbles in the glass. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.
Price: $50.00 + s/h
only 1 available |
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The History of Ball Jars
In 1880, two Ball brothers, Frank and Edmund, borrowed $200 from their Uncle George, a minister, to go into business selling wood-jacketed tin containers to hold paint, varnishes and kerosene. This loan enabled them to purchase the Wooden Jacket Can Company and its patents from A.W. Aldrich. In 1883 the brothers switched to glass oil “cans” and then, three years later, to fruit jars. In 1884, three more brothers, George, Lucius and William, joined the company and it was renamed the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company.
In 1887, after fire destroyed their plant in Buffalo, they moved their business to Muncie, Indiana, to take advantage of a natural gas boom in the Midwest as natural gas is a critical component in the making of glass jars. The city offered free gas and a generous amount of land to rebuild the company, which stayed in Muncie until 1998. (Ball State University in Muncie is named after the Ball brothers who purchased buildings on the campus during the school’s early years.)
The Ball brothers seemed to possess all of the talents we associate with successful business people today. In 1909, the first Ball Blue Book was printed featuring home canning recipes and techniques. Although Ball jars didn’t necessarily advance the technology of home canning per se, the company did make a major contribution to the industry by becoming the most prolific producer of jars. The Ball brothers built a fruit-jar empire by mass producing and distributing trainloads of jars across the country and they aggressively took over several other smaller companies in order to maximize their hold on the industry.
Ball discontinued the use of their famous “Ball blue” glass in 1937. They had produced and controlled this color since the late 1890's. It was caused by the minerals in the sand they used in their glass batch (which came from the shores of Lake Michigan) and also the amount of oxygen used in the furnaces to melt the glass.
The “rounded-square” shape was adopted in 1942 as a way to save glass. The war board required all glass manufacturers to adopt this shape because they determined that it was the most efficient shape to contain a volume. English measurements (ounces and cups) on the side started about 1956, and Ball was the first fruit jar manufacturer to do this. Metric measurements on the side started about 1974.
After 92 years as a family-owned business, Ball went public on July 13, 1972, and its stock was traded over the counter. In 1996, Ball spun off its glass container business to Ball-Foster Glass Container Co. and exited the glass business. In 1998 the company moved its headquarters to Broomfield, CO, expanding into avionics, space systems, metal beverage and food containers, aerosol containers and plastic containers
Some of the more commonly known Ball jars include the Ball Perfect Mason, the Ball Ideal, and the more modern Ball Mason. Because of a wide variety of variations, collecting Ball jars has become a major collecting specialty. One way to date Ball jars is by their logo, which changed over the years.
For an extensive discussion about this graphic, and more information than you ever wanted to know about Ball jars, click here.
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