A Guide to Vintage Canning Jars [History & Values]

Updated December 2019

Of all the antiques in the world, I get asked the most questions about canning jars. At least once a week I get an email from someone, often with pictures, asking me what their jars are worth.

I am not a canning jar expert, but I’ve bought and sold a bunch in my time. So today I’ll be talking about collecting vintage & antique canning jars, and I also have several free printables for you. 

My father preserved pickles, tomatoes, jam, and watermelon rind throughout my childhood. Our pantry was filled with colorful, healthy canned goods stored in Ball canning jars. I know many of us grew up with canning jars in the background, whether in our own homes or a grandmother’s or perhaps a neighbor.

Like me, you may have regularly gone berry picking and then enjoyed the spoils in the form of strawberry or raspberry jam. Did you grow tomatoes in the backyard and then help your mother or in my case father par boil them and then slide them into canning jars?

In the past decade not only has our interest in canning rekindle, but we entered headlong into a love affair with these little glass jars and the feelings have only grown stronger with each passing year. We. Love. Canning Jars. Don’t we??

Other popular collectibles that you might enjoy reading about: cook books, ironstone, and enamelware. They’ve been popular for a very long time, but we just can seem to get enough of them, can we?

Here’s a beautiful display of my sweet father’s personal canning jar collection. He’s been collecting bottles and jars for years.

* This post contains affiliate links for products necessary to complete this project. This is both for your convenience as well as to support this blog, as I receive a small compensation whenever you click on such a link and make any sort of purchase, for which I thank you. 

General Information About Vintage & Antique Canning Jars

Bottom Marks: I learned a while back that the numbers on the bottoms of most jars have nothing to do with their age.

They merely reflect the particular factory mold used to produce the jar. Most factories had about ten or so molds, used to produce their jars. This one came from mold #9.

Seeds: Many antique glass jars and bottles contain “seeds,”  which are simply trapped air bubble. They indicate some age since newer glass doesn’t typically contain seeds.

Shoulder Seal (L): The cap screws right down to the shoulder to create a proper seal

Beaded Seal (R): This jar has a “bead” or “ledge” seal, commonly used in the first half of the 20th century. The benefit was a durable, prominent ridge below the screw threads, but above the actual shoulder of the jar. It is also known as a “strong shoulder.” See an example below of a jar with embossing on the front that includes those words.

Lightining Seal: Lightning jars, so named because they could be easily and quickly opened, solved the problem of canned foods acquiring a metallic taste due to contact with a metal lid. A frisbee-shaped glass lid took the place of the screw-on lid and was held in place by an ingenious wire clamp, invented by Henry William Putnam in 1882.

It’s likely that “White Lightning” derived its name from the fact that bootleggers used these jars to store their product.

Pick Up the Canning Jar Guide for More In Depth Coverage!

Click HERE for more info about the Canning Jar Guide.

Vintage & Antique MASON Brand Canning Jars

On November 30, 1858 John Mason patented the process for cutting a thread onto the lip of glass jars, as well as a corresponding thread inside zinc lids. This allowed the lids to be screwed tightly onto the jars. A rubber ring tucked inside the lid created the seal necessary to preserve its contents.

The invention gave homemakers a new means of preserving food for their households, in addition to smoking, salting, drying, and pickling. That patent date appeared on Mason (and other) canning jars right up until the 1920’s. Most of the time that date embossed on the front of a jar has very little relation to its true age.

A. A shoulder seal jar, “Mason’s Patent Pending Nov. 30th 1858,” in the 1/2 gallon size. These were machine made from 1890-1915.

B. This shoulder seal “Mason’s Patent” jar, in a lovely shade of blue,  dates to the last quarter of the 19th century.

Buy vintage-style aqua canning jars HERE.

Antique & Vintage BALL Canning Jars

The Ball brothers, Frank and Ed, developed a semi-automatic process for the manufacture of fruit jars, which greatly increased the number of jars on the market and led to Ball jars becoming synonymous with the term “fruit jars,” much like Kleenex became for “tissue.”

Fruit jars were produced primarily in clear and “Ball blue” (aqua), but some amber, cobalt, and even milk glass examples can be found out there in the wild, and they are likely worth upwards of several hundred dollars.

This handy chart, produced by the people at Minnetrista, is a lifesaver for helping to date Ball canning jars.

Using the chart, you can date this shoulder seal Ball jar to 1900-1910. It is known as the “triple L” because the loop on the end looks like a third “L.” 

This beaded seal quart jar dates to 1923-33. No other canning jar companies used this distinctive color, known as Ball blue.

Here’s an earlier jar in the same classic Ball blue color. This type of lightning closure, with a neck ring holding all the parts together dates to 1900-1910.

To learn more about the Ball Canning Co., check out this video: The Ball Family Legacy. 

I I’ve reserved these three 1/2 gallon Ball jars for my personal collection. They are much scarcer than the quart size and make a strong decorating statement, right? 

Vintage & Antique ATLAS Canning Jars

This quart-sized Atlas Strong Shoulder Mason jar with a “bead” or “ledge” seal dates to about 1920.

This Atlas jar with the lightning-type closure dates to the early part of the 20th century. These half pint jars make charming storage for sewing notions, marbles, matchbooks, any small useful or collectible item.

This c. 1910 product insert illustrates the large variety of Atlas-brand canning jars available at the time.

Canning Jar & Related Resources

Canning Jar Uses

Of course there are so many uses for canning jars; I can’t even begin to recommend them. Conducting a search on Pinterest reveals a gazillion different ideas. You could be boring (like me) and use them for food storage.

How about using a vintage doily in place of a lid, tied on with a bow for a nice country look?

I’m using one of my 1/2 gallon jars to preserve something very special–some basil I’m hoping to keep fresh until I have time to whip up a batch of pesto. Did you know you can freeze pesto? If you freeze it in ice cube trays, then you have a tablespoon or two to add to your favorite recipes. Yum!

How to Determine Your Canning Jar’s Value

With literally hundreds of different types of canning jars produced over the years, it can be difficult to ascertain the value of your treasured jars. However, I have a few hints for you to get you started:

• Research: Learn more about the type of jar you own by reading up on it. Start here: SHA Historical Bottle Identification.
• My Price Guide: Check my canning jar price guide.
• Buy a Price Guide: Buy a canning jar price guide (see some above available on Amazon).
• Ebay: Check eBay‘s “Sold” listings (google how to do this–it’s very easy).
• Antique Dealer: Take  your jar to a reputable antique dealer and ask nicely for help identifying and/or valuing it. Most dealers (or antique shop owners) are happy to help.
• Auction House: Take it to a reputable auction house and ask for help.

How to Sell Your Vintage or Antique Canning Jar

• Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist: It is very easy to sell your jars locally through Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. Will you get the “best” price for it? Probably not, but you save all the time and aggravation of trying to figure out how to sell on eBay, and won’t have to deal with the hassle of shipping a breakable item.
• Garage Sale: Sell it at a garage sale. Again, you won’t get the absolute highest value for your jar, but you can make a bit of cash and have it out of your hair. There’s no reason why you have to hang onto an item, letting it stress you out, while you worry about being “taken” by someone. 
• Ebay: Sell your jar on eBay. Despite my reference above to “aggravation,” it’s actually not that difficult to sell on this platform. My eBook, What to Sell on eBay, is filled with all kinds of tips for how to sell on this site.
• Bottle Show: Take your jar to a bottle show, find a booth that sells canning jars, and ask the dealer if s/he would be interested in purchasing your jar. I would only recommend this if you have a rare and valuable jar. Most dealers would not be interested in something that one can easily find.
• Antique Shop: Antique shop owners have a steady stream of people coming to them with items, like canning jars, that they want to sell. Typically shop owners will only be interested in rarer pieces or a collection of jars, some of which are fairly valuable. You can expect to get about 25-40% of the value (higher for an extremely rare jar) in these situations. Ask around to get the recommendation of a reputable shop.
• Auction House: Auction houses typically keep 10-20% of the final sale price of  an item as their commission. Depending upon the type of auction house, its location, and the buyers present on the day of the sale, sellers can realize good prices for the pieces they bring to auction. However, there’s obviously risk involved, so you have to take that into consideration, or place a reserve price on the item, but this makes it less desirable in some ways to potential buyers.

I hope this information proves useful to you and your vintage business (or vintage collecting)!

Don’t Forget to Purchase the Canning Jar Guide!

Click HERE for more info about the Canning Jar Guide.

I’d love it if you’d pin for later–

Source used in writing this post:
SHA: Historic Glass Bottle Identification