Blue Mason Jar Value: Dating Ball Blue Jars and Prices

Most blue mason jars are worth about $10 to $30 each, because Ball made them in huge numbers; the ones worth hundreds are unusual colours, early mouth-blown jars and jars with rare embossing. Wikipedia's Mason jar article notes that most antique jars that are not colourless are aqua or Ball blue, a blue-green that Ball used from about 1910 to 1930, and that in 1939 Ball made 54 percent of all canning jars produced in the US. Common colour plus mass production is why an ordinary blue Ball jar is a low-value item.

The same article lists what drives value: age, rarity, colour and condition.

These are from the Adirondack Girl @ Heart canning jar price guide, as shown when we checked it on 25 September 2026. They are a dealer's price ranges, not auction results.

• Aqua Ball quart, shoulder seal, triple-L Ball, circa 1900 to 1910: $15 to $18.
• Aqua Ball Mason half gallon, shoulder seal, circa 1910 to 1923: $25 to $30.
• Aqua Ball Perfect Mason half gallon, bead below the shoulder, circa 1923 to 1933: $25 to $30.
• Aqua quart embossed with Mason's patent of 30 November 1858, circa 1890 to 1915: $15 to $18.
• Aqua Atlas Strong Shoulder quart, circa 1920: $10 to $12.
• Aqua Atlas E-Z Seal half pint with lightning closure, circa 1900 to 1925: $15 to $20.
• Rare colours such as amber, cobalt and milk glass: upwards of several hundred dollars.

Taste of Home's Ball jar guide adds that green jars are the rarest colour and have fetched upwards of $300 each.

• Colour. Ball blue places a Ball jar at roughly 1910 to 1930 (Wikipedia). Ball's earliest jars, made from about 1884 to 1886 on, came in amber or aqua (Wikipedia, Ball Corporation).
• Logo. Taste of Home counts about eight Ball logos from the 1880s to today. Compare the lettering on your jar against a Ball logo chart.
• Words. Ball used words such as Improved, Special, Perfect, Sanitary, Ideal, Square and Eclipse. Taste of Home dates jars marked Perfect to about 1913 to 1922, while Adirondack Girl @ Heart lists a bead-shoulder Perfect Mason at about 1923 to 1933. The two guides are describing different versions, so read the shoulder style as well as the word.
• How it was made. Mouth-blown jars with the 1858 patent embossing often had ground lips (Wikipedia). A seam that runs over the top of the rim means a machine-made jar.
• Numbers on the base are mould numbers. They identify the mould, not the year.

No. John Landis Mason, a tinsmith from Vineland, New Jersey, patented his screw-threaded jar in 1858 (US patent 22,186), and jars were embossed with that patent date for decades. Wikipedia's Mason jar article says mouth-blown jars carrying it were made from about 1857 to 1908, and the Adirondack Girl @ Heart examples with the patent date are dated about 1875 to 1915. A blue jar with the 1858 date is therefore most likely from the late 19th or early 20th century, and it is priced like other common aqua jars in the guide above.

• Colour depth and rarity. Standard Ball blue is common. Amber, cobalt, milk glass and green are the colours the guides above price in the hundreds.
• Size. In the Adirondack Girl @ Heart list, half-gallon Ball jars are priced above quarts of similar age.
• Embossing. Brand and wording change the price: the guides above price different wordings of same-size jars differently, and Taste of Home mentions a misprinted Ball jar that sold for a notable sum.
• Condition. Wikipedia lists condition among the four value factors; cracks and rim chips are the damage to look for.
• Age. Mouth-blown jars from the 19th century are older than the Ball blue jars of about 1910 to 1930.

• Hold it to daylight and name the colour: clear, aqua or Ball blue, or something unusual.
• Read every word on the front and note the logo style.
• Run a finger over the rim: a ground, slightly rough lip suggests a mouth-blown jar.
• Check the base number, then ignore it for dating.
• Look for cracks and rim chips under a bright light.

If you want a second opinion, photograph the front, the rim and the base. AntiqLens suggests the maker and approximate period from the embossing and shape; for a rare colour, compare sold auction results before you price it.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. Prices are copied from the named guide, dealer or auction report with the date we checked it; asking prices are labelled as asking prices, and where a figure could not be confirmed we say so rather than estimate. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.