An early rather scarce version of this dual embossed jar. These come with 5/8'' & 7/16'' lettering on the reverse with 5/8'' being the more common. This jar has the smaller 7/16'' letter's and is a real nice  green color. Most all other's I have seen were your normal aqua color so this jar is a real nice find. Circa:1900

  Rear view showing the 7/16'' letter's

  An early hand blown jar from Ball probably from a mold gotten through a purchase then adding the Ball wording on the top. This jar has all block lettering which would place it around 1892 or before. This version here with "N" patent is fairly scarce and this jar is a great example.

   An early hand blown version of the monogram jars circa:1886. This jar has Porcelain BBGMCo Lined in small letter's without the fancy "P". Another difference is the letter "G" is inside the letter "C" where the other version it extends outside the letter. Hand blown in the Buffalo New York plant. Redbook #2373-1

  An early hand blown pint jar from the Muncie days this jar is embossed on the front and back. Has the usual Mason's patent embossing on the front. Looks like they had a little problem with the first 8 in 1858. On the back is in an arch "The Ball Jar" This jar is from the 1888-1890 era after Ball moved into the new Muncie factory.

  View of the backside

  Here is a hg jar that has embossing on both side's. This also is a re-worked jar from a Ball PAT.APL'D.FOR. Most of these jars with "The Ball" in script will show a ghosted PAT.APL'D.FOR. if you look closely you will see. This jar also has "Improved" embossed on the reverse. A nice jar from the late 1890's Redbook #259

  View of the backside

  This jar here is downright gorgeous. About as fine a specimen to be found in this variety I believe. This jar was made by Ball with the improved type closure and also has a matching color glass lid.  I don't think this jar was hardly used as it looks like it did 100 years ago or better. Someone must have seen the beauty of it and set it out for display for the great color it has. Being amber with the zinc band glass insert is pretty tough to get ahold of. Luckily I got my hands on a nice example here. Redbook #1784

  This jar is an early 1/2 gallon circa:1888-1893. Embossed all in block letters in an arch "The Ball Mason's Patent Nov 30TH 1858. Normally you will find these in the quart size. I believe this size is a bit harder to locate as I have only seen a few.

  This jar has very bold embossing. One of the best I have seen for such an early Ball jar for the Mason's Patent jars. "Ball Mason's Patent Nov 30TH 1858. Another jar from the early 1890's as this jar has no underscore.

  This is probably my favorite error jar I have. I bought this probably 20 years ago in a local antique store that's gone now. Embossed "Ball | |ason's Patent Nov 80TH 1858" You notice that the letter "M" is missing the 2 slanted connecting lines so it looks just like I typed it. The big thing is the date which says 80 instead of 30. Quart in size this jar dates from the mid 1890's.

  Here is another good jar and a tough one to obtain. It's the only one I have ever seen anyway. My favorite size embossed "THE BALL JAR MASON'S  N  PATENT NOV 30TH 1858"  in the 1/2 gallon size. This jar dates from circa:1888-1893. In 1893 Ball changed to the script and did away with block lettered jars. The next jar below has the script and dates to the mid 1890's.

  Here is another "N" patent 1/2 gallon a little different then the jar above. This jar has the script with underscore and just says "Ball Mason's N Patent Nov 30TH 1858. Both of these jars are from re-worked molds with Ball adding their name.

  This is another early block lettered Ball in the quart size. All block lettered embossed "Ball Mason's Patent Nov 30TH 1858. It isn't easy finding these block lettered variation's as it took me awhile to find this jar. Circa:1888-1893

  This jar is a quart in size and spotless. Looks as if it has never been used. You find these on occasion with the improved type closure in aqua but this example is a nice shade of green. Nice and whittled and also has a RARE Ball Brother's Glass M.F.G. Co. Buffalo N.Y. lid. I do believe these lids are extremely scarce if not considered rare as most all you will find are aqua. I did have a clear lid which is also very scarce but a weird thing happened when one day all of a sudden one of my guns fell off the rack on the wall and it knocked over several jars to the floor. I was sitting right there when it happened as my mouth fell open as I heard something break. The only piece that got broken was my clear Ball Brother's lid and was I upset. First one I had ever seen and may not ever find another. I have this jar sitting in a safe place so it won't get broken as both the jar and lid are a nice combination and I don't want neither to get broken. Anyway you can click the Ball icon to see a pic of the nice green lid...

  Nice Green lid

  This jar is a gorgeous shade of green. First one of these I have run across in good color as most are aqua. You can see in the pic at the base how green it is. Has a matching green Sun moon & star lid which is thought to have been also made by Ball. This jar is an early example of Ball script with "The Ball" Mason's Improved Patent. A remake of the circa:1895 version of "The Ball PAT. APL'D. FOR." with wire bail and tin plated lid. You can see the ghosted letter's behind the word "Masons" Several different jars were made from the original mold and this half gallon is one in a rare color...

  <--- Click here for a shot of the lid

Here is a neat old jar with the Improved type closure. Light green in color with a Ball brother's glass insert you will notice it also has an upside down "N" in the word Patent. There is also an old piece of tape on the side of it with "Soy 1933" I guess someone's Grandmother was canning with this jar maybe back in 1933. Blown by the Ball brother's back in the 1880's these jars are not real hard to find but not all that common either. I like the screw band glass insert jars and especially in the hg size. First one I have come across with a backward "N" and it's a keeper... 

Another very early Ball made jar. This is a Ball blue midget from the 1880's. Not all Ball made jars carry the Ball name and this happens to be one of them. This scarce jar also is blessed with an original "Ball Bro's Glass M.F.G. Co. Buffalo N.Y." zinc cap. A tough little midget to come by and in the famous Ball Blue color they were so famous for this jar is loaded with hundreds of tiny seed bubbles and is beautiful. Lightly whittled and strongly embossed this jar would be tough to replace. This one will stay on the shelf for years to come. I will add a pic of the lid when I get my camera back from my buddy in a couple days...

  Here is a very scarce pint "The Ball PAT.APL'D.FOR."  These jars were only made for about 1 year so they are pretty hard to get ahold of like some other's. The pint jar is really tough to come by. All of mine have repro wires and lids. Original lids are very tough to come by so you have to take what you can get sometimes.

   Varient with all lettering running together and no punctuation. 

  Half gallon

Here we have a pair from the mid 1890's in hg & qt. These particular jars have the improved type closure with glass lid and the screw band. It's getting harder to find an early jar with "Ball" embossed on it with this type closure. Most early jars you find that have Ball embossed on them have the regular zinc screw cap with the shoulder seal. Red book #260-5...

This jar is pretty scarce in this form. Originally this jar was made with a wire bail and tin plated lid around 1895. Ball is famous for re-using molds till they were worn out and this mold is one of them. This jar is one of the several version's that exist if you can find them. Not easily obtainable and a highly collectable jar from around 1900. Red book #267-6 quart size aqua this jar is heavily whittled and is a beauty. You can see it has "The Ball" embossed on it and if you look very close you can see a ghosting of "PAT APL'D FOR" below it.  

This is a very tough jar to obtain. Quart jars and midget's I have seen for sale often but this is the only 1/2 gallon jar I have ever run across. Luckily after buggin a fellow collector for about a year he finally decided to sell it to me. This jar is an early Buffalo jar from around 1886. The words "PORCELAIN LINED" have been added to the jar and a zinc cap that differ's from the usual BBGMCo jars with the glass lid screw band. These were a later addition to the line right before the plant burned down in Buffalo and they made the move to Muncie in 1887. 

This is the 1/2 gallon early Buffalo jar with some cool bubbles in it. Has an open bubble burst on the lower front going across from side to side over top another bubble. All of these monogram jars are unique because they are hand blown of course and each has it's own unique look about it. I especially like the crude blown jars as it adds character to it and reminds me of a way of life in a different time period...Circa:1885-1886

  This jar is an early version of the monogram jars with the Porcelain BBGMCo Lined wording on the front. The Porcelain Lined is refering to the lining of the zinc cap as some people were at a loss to what this actually meant. Jar is in an unusual medium shade of green that is not seen very often at all. These jars are quite scarce as it is and this color is one of the better examples I have found. Circa:1885-1886

This is also an early jar from the Buffalo days from 1885-1886. A quart BBGMCo jar with some crudeness to it which is what I like in old jars being handblown no two are alike. This jar is an unusual light blue and has lots of bubbles in the glass with a light overall whittle. Some people think that these jars were blown in a wooden mold hence the "whittle" effect you see in the glass. Actually these were blown into cast iron molds and could have been caused from hot glass in a cold mold to give it that effect. A favorite jar.

  Reverse view of the bubbles

This is a nicely whittled early Ball jar in the quart size. Very strong embossing and clean. I love the whittled look to the glass in this one espacially as it has plenty of character. These jars are thought to be aquired molds and then Ball added their name to them of course, Pretty cool jar and another hand blown specimem that is in a class all by it's self...Circa:1892

This is a Christmas mason with the improved type closure with the screw band glass insert. Nice light green color and somewhat crude. I like these jars with their fancy lettering and "58" date which is why they are called the Christmas Mason. This jar also does not have an underlined "th" after 30 which makes it Redbook #1781-1. Another early Ball made jar that is always desireable to have in the collection...

This jar is very cool in appearance as it has lots of whittle and is sparkling clean. I like the 1/2 gallon jars as they have more glass of course and more room for bubbles and whittle. Another aquired mold more than likely with the Ball name added, these are among my favorite jars with the whittle and size...Circa:1890's