For those of us who love canning, nothing says fresh like a Ball Jar.

But it hasn’t been that way just for modern people trying to save money and make healthy meals for their family. Ball has been synonymous with cans and jars since 1880, beginning in Buffalo New York.

The first Ball glass jar came out in 1884, followed by glass oilcans in 1888, and the first box of wooden jars (by the dozen) in 1894. This is rather exciting in that it marks the first time any item was shipped by the dozen to grocers.

The Ball Company created a machine specially designed to create their jars in 1897, followed by a wholly automatic machine at the turn of the century. This was also the period in which Ball began to acquire other glass companies including Swayzee Glass, Upland Glass, Marion Fruit Jar & Bottle Company, Port Glass Works, and Loogootee Glass – all by 1904! Five years later, the very first Blue Book was published.

After the company name change, more acquisitions occurred including Noblesville, Schram Glass, Pine Glass and Eaton Strawboard Mill. This allowed the Muncie Ball plant to take its place as the biggest rolling mill in the world.

For cooks out there, a pressure cooker reached the market from Ball in 1935 but didn’t last more than 6 years. Come 1955 the canning and freezing jars (Can-or-Freez) came to the market, followed by quilted jelly glass in 1965. And, in 1970 Ball closed its Muncie home canning plant and moved its operations to a zinc plant in Greenville TN.

There are a variety of items that a Ball collector may wish to watch for. Early jelly jars, which began production in 1920 seem quite popular, and incredibly charming. Generally anything produced before 1922, when the company changed its name to Ball Brothers Company, also has strong market value.

Jars marked “Perfect Masons” or “Ball Ideals” (both blue glass) go for about $5.00 each. The clear variety sell for no more than about $2.00 unless you find one either with a misspelling, one that’s a square jars (worth about 2x as much), or any original jars from Buffalo NY (the value of these vary by item).

The variety of Ball jars is what attracts most collectors; you can easily dedicate time and space to just one label.