How to find the value of old vintage mason jars

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VintageMasonJars.com

• How to Find the Value of Old Vintage Mason Jars

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How to Find the Value of Old Vintage Mason Jars

• Old Vintage Mason jars and canning jars, like any
  other collectable, can range in value between
  only a few dollars and several thousand dollars.
  Though many of us would like to venture into
  grandma or grandpas old fruit cellar and discover
  a jar that is worth several thousand dollars, the
  odds are against us. Because, like any other
  collectable, price is dictated by rarity,
  collectability, and condition.

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How to Find the Value of Old Vintage Mason Jars

• Most mason jars you may come across in the
  antique store, an old fruit cellar, or elsewhere
  are generally valued between five and fifteen
  dollars these are the most common jars. Clear
  jars that were made into the 1960s and 1970s
  will usually sell for between two and five
  dollars these include the Mason Star Jar, most
  clear Ball, Kerr, and Presto jars, but there are
  exceptions. Before ruling out your jar as a
  worthless piece of glass, consult a reputable
  book, I prefer, as do many collectors, the Red
  Book, The Collectors Guide to Old Fruit Jars,
  by Douglas M. Leybourne Jr. currently on its
  tenth printing and available for forty dollars at
  redbookjars.com (dont spend the exorbitant mark
  up prices on amazon).

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How to Find the Value of Old Vintage Mason Jars

• Most blue jars bearing some variation of the Ball
  logo will usually sell for less than fifteen
  dollars. However, numerous variations exist
  within Ball jars, so much so that Mr. Leybourne
  has dedicated nearly fifty pages of his book to
  Ball jars, the most valuable being the Ball
  Perfection (not to be confused with Perfect
  Mason) line of jars ranging in value between 100
  and 4000. There are also a few so rare that they
  have never been evaluated for a price.

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How to Find the Value of Old Vintage Mason Jars

• Aside from the jars that were sold to be used in
  the home for canning, many companies produced
  their products in what were labeled as mason
  jars, and are often found more in one region
  where the product was produced than another. For
  example, the Reliance Brand Wide Mouth Mason
  jar is found more commonly in the Pacific
  Northwest. This was a coffee company located in
  the Seattle are long before Starbucks. These jars
  can be seen in numerous antique store and old
  pantries across the region, far more so that in
  any other part of the country, and even though
  the Red Book values these at between ten and
  fifteen dollars, may be worth a little less since
  the region is more saturated with them.

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How to Find the Value of Old Vintage Mason Jars

• Another element that affects the value of a jar
  would be the color. Though a jar may bear the
  exact same embossing, right down the apostrophe
  in Patd, color can make what would otherwise
  be a ten dollar jar, a 1000 jar. This is the
  case with the Ball Mason Red Book number 234,
  where values range between two dollars, and
  2,000. Generally speaking, the most valuable and
  desirable colors are the cobalt blues, shades of
  ambers, green, or milk glass.

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How to Find the Value of Old Vintage Mason Jars

• Finally, many jars are most valuable as a
  complete unit. In order to fetch its best price,
  it will need the jar, the lid, and matching
  closure mechanism, and colored jars with a glass
  lid need the matching lid to fetch its full
  value. A jar lacking any one of these components
  could be discounted as much fifty percent of its
  value.
• The final word on the value of the jars is that
  they are worth what someone is willing to pay for
  them, Mr. Leybourne himself in the foreword of
  his book states that the final price will always
  be set by the seller and the buyer and that his
  book is a guide to reach that end.