I love old blue canning jars. Ball, Atlas, Ideal, Mason, doesn't really matter the brand or the age. Most of mine are Ball jars - probably because they are the most common, and I live in Indiana (the Ball factory was in Muncie, IN). I just love the color and the functionality of them. I started collecting them a few years back, all bought from garage sales and thrift stores. I think the most I have paid for any one is about $2; most were bought for less than $0.50 each.
I don't collect them because of any real value they may have or with the plans of selling them and making big money in the future. I collect them because I like them and I use them.
I use them as display pieces...
I use them to store things...
I probably have about 30 of them and have often wondered about the different marking on them.
So just for fun, I bought this book recently...
It has drawings of all the different canning jar markings, descriptions, and estimated values (as of 2007 I believe).
It has been fun looking at all my jars and figuring out which ones are worth what. I won't get rich on my collection should I tire of it and decide to sell (most are worth about $3, a few are worth $10, and I have 2 worth about $35 each), but the book is fun and interesting.
If you have a canning jar collection or are thinking of starting one, it is definitely worth the $6 as a handy reference guide. I even picked up an extra copy for my "junking buddy" Lori at Fresh Picked Whimsy. I think I probably scored 1/3 of them with her one day when she and her family were visiting at the lake and we went to a barn sale. They had boxes of them and were selling them for $0.50 each! But SHHHH don't tell her I got her a copy - its a surprise!
