Ball mason jars are a type of home canning jar made by the Ball Corporation. The company started making mason jars back in 1880, and many people today still use these for canning, or collect the jars as a hobby. There are many ways to date old Ball mason jars, and one of the easiest is to look at the logo. Along with the logo, you can sometimes use the color, size, and other distinguishing marks to help date a mason jar.
Look for the early BBGMC logo. This is one of the earliest logos used by Ball, back when the company was known as the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company. Because the jars were made in Buffalo, New York, these are called Buffalo jars today.
Buffalo jars are rare and old. If you have a mason jar with this logo, it was manufactured between 1885 and 1886.
See if your jar has block letters. Ball began using block letters for the logo on their jars in 1892, and continued using this type of logo until 1896. The major difference between the lettering on these jars and newer jars is the lettering on the older jars is simple printing rather than cursive or stylized lettering.
Check for the first Ball script logo. In 1895, Ball introduced their first logo that used cursive lettering. This is also when Ball began underlining their logo. Between 1895 and 1896, the Ball logo was relatively straight rather than angled toward the upper right side of the jar.
Look for the 3-L logo. The Ball logo has remained relatively standard since the first script logo was introduced, but there have been a number of small variations that can be used to date the jar. The 3-L logo, for instance, was only used between 1900 and 1910. This logo is called the 3-L logo because the decorative loop at the end of the logo looks like a third L in the Ball name.
Look for the dropped A. Between 1910 and 1923, the A in the word Ball had an ascender at the beginning that looked like it should connect with the B. Because the B and the A don’t connect, this called the dropped A. At this time, Ball also adopted the 2-L style logo, where the decorative loop on the end of the name was dropped.
Look for a Ball jar without an underscore. The cursive word “Ball” without the underscore was only produced between 1923 and 1933.
Check for the looped B. This moves into the 1933 to 1962 age range. There is an underscore, a “B” with a loop in the center and a very small “a.”
Look for the B connected to the underscore. Starting in the 1960s, the lower part of the “B” connected to the underline. This indicates a date range between 1960 and today.