Photo Gallery

I just happen to like the color amethyst, especially when it is a natural phenomenom and not artificially enduced...

This is just a very neat oddity jar that Ball jar collector nuts such as myself have to have in the collection. It really isn't an easy one to come across either. I happen to have its twin sister 2L jar that has a ghosted 3rd L.

This is a very nice clean and shiny example of a disconnected underscore 3L Ball jar commonly coined the "Sperm jar" since the full loop 3rd L is not connected to the rest of the embossing making it look like its namesake.

This isn't all that easy to find anymore. It's a really nice color that you normally don't see in the IDEAL series jars let alone in a circa 1923-1933 jar.

This is another jar that isn't very common. You might have to handle multiple hundreds of jars before seeing one of these. This is the first version of the BPM's. The offset BPM's were more often than not, made in an early Owens machine and circa 1915. Some are found that were made in a Bingham. The offset jars were altered from older Mason (only) molds. This is a very nice and desireable addition to any Perfect Mason collection.

This jar has obviously sat in the sun for a long time. It is a really nice deep color. Notice the sheared altered top? The jar was altered from an older shoulder seal mason mold. Just as the previous offset jar was altered, this is one of the first centered embossed BPM's and it was made on a Ball Bingham machine. Sweet jar indeed!

This is a really super little jar that you don't seem to come across much anymore. I just love this jars embossing style and the great matching lid... These jars were supposedly produced for shipment to England.

This is an extremely kewl and very difficult set to put together. I happen to like clear jars as well as odd dimpled jars. I lucked out finding all of these jars. The quart and pint have inverted dimples while pint has lugs on the side of the dimples.

This jar is just a very desirable and unusual color that is anything but comman and very difficult to find. This series of center embossed BPM's were made on an Owens machine. A very clean, sparkling and spiffy example.

This jar is another great color to the eyes and is very uncommon and difficult to find. The picture doesn't do this one justice because the jar is an extremely clean and sparkling example.

I love this series of center embossed early BPM's because there is so many color variants. This is a beautifully colored example.

As I've said; I just love this series of center embossed early BPM's because there are as many color variants (if not more) as those found in the hugely and highly collectable Mason 1858's. This is a beautifully colored example.

This is one tough tough jar to get into the collection because everyone wants it, including non-ball collectors. I was very fortunate to come by this excellent example. I aquired this jar from the late great Vivian "Granny" Kath.

This is a really neat cute little jar and a super super addition to any Perfect Mason collection. This jar just doesn't pop up very often whatsoever. The dropped-a embossing style should have an underscore in the word Ball. You see this style of embossing on jar boxes and Ball literature all the time but very very few jars were made with it. Incredibly, I had 4 of these in my possession over the years. I kinda believe there are around 12 known examples. It pays to look closely at seemingly comon jars.

I'm not sure what to make of this super circa 1920's jar. All I know is it is one of my favorites and a very appealing jar indeed due to the embossing style. The embossing is super and the jar extremely clean. This jar also comes in ball blue and I lost one in auction a few years ago. :(

Super unusual embossing style on this jar! Notice the A in MASON and the overall embossing style?

This jar is one of those odd gems that just comes along once in a blue moon when you least expect it. It's another example of a circa 1920's Ball jar and why collecting Ball jars is so darn interesting and appealing. You never know when you'll find one that defies the collective logic. From what I have gleaned, Ball did a lot of funky things in the 1920's and we especially see that in the numerous different and varying dimpled IDEAL jars. I have never heard of another one of these jars ever being reported.

Circa late 1930's, early 1940's...I was told that there were supposedly 12 of these jars in differing carnival glass shades. I personally picked this one out of a batch of three during a trade. The other two examples were green and purple.

I know there are around a dozen of these jars in the collecting world but most of them seem to be aqua instead of clear. Nice jar to have in the collection in either color. Clear is still the much harder to find color.

An exceptionally beautiful example of not only a super whittled shoulder sealed jar, but a very scarce color too. It is very unusual to find a machine made jar that is whittled. The majority of Rall jars are found in varying shades of yellow-green.

A beautiful example of an altered shoulder seal jar Ball made into a beaded seal one. And I love the color! These bead seal variations are kinda scarce. Just look at Ebay and you'll see the Rall jars that come up for auction and 99% are sholder seals...

Another extremely beautiful example of an altered shoulder seal jar Ball made into a beaded seal one. I traded a really nice sister green pint for the carnival glass BPM that was pictured earlier in this gallery. I kept this aqua jar due to the color scarcity.

This jar is an extremely scarce and rare example! This embossing style containing the loop from the T of the former Root embossing is almost impossible to find. Rall jars are extremely difficult to find in half gallon size to begin with, let alone with the extra-ordinary looped embossing style.

Ball never wasted molds and did with this former Root mold the same as they did with all other aquisitions; they altered them as best as possible and went on making jars.

This pint was quite a find. It was in a basket of very common jars and I almost missed seeing the base. I have more than a sneaky suspicion that the star base on this jar was taken from the HAHNE family of jars. This jar is part of a whole family of shoulder seal jars, circa 1896-1900 that was replaced by the 3L Balll MASON jars.

Notice the peened out ghosted capital I in the under score before the word MASON. Years ago I had proposed the idea that Ball had in fact had a transition period from the shoulder seal Improved jars to the Mason (only) jars around 1900 or so. After examining many jars and seeing huge areas of alteration, I just knew that Ball (who wasted nothing) had taken the weakly embossed Improved s.s. jars, removed the embossing and either recut or added MASON. But there was no proof... that is until I found this beauty. Again, another wonderful example of why collecting Ball jars is such an exciting past time. I heard of only one other example ever being reported.

3 L Balll SPECIAL jars are not easy jars to find at all; but in clear...they are definitely extremely scarce and uncommon. This is a very nice example and is circa early 1900's.

This half wire bail, common dimple IDEAL jar shouldn't exist. This jar is pictured on a Ball Blue Book from 1918 and possibly a few other years. A lot of collectors thought that because it was pictured there, the jar would be one readibly obtainable but it was not to be. It was eventually assumed this jar was a "ghost" jar and given life by artistic license. But here it is in all of it's glory... I have only heard of one other example. The more common variety seen of this jar has a full wire bail, which by the way is strange too because the patent date is for the dimples... Go figure.

I have seen other pint Perfection jars but this is the first I have ever seen with such a beautifully ghosted (peened out) Perfect Mason embossing. If anyone was unsure about the origin of some Perfection jars... well here it is. I aquired this jar years ago at a show in South Jersey from Al Vignon.

Most Ball collectors know that the 3L Balll jars are commonly found in aqua and other shades of aqua ranging to blue... This is a really nice super clean and sparkling example of a very difficult to find clear jar turned amethyst.

This is a super nice transition mold jar. The ghosted 3rd L is quite evident and notice the massive altered top. I've mentioned it a few times here in this gallery... when you least expect it one of those neat odd gems just pops up. A beautiful example of an altered transition jar and I have no idea from what.

If you think the clear quarts and HG's are hard to find, the clear pints are almost non-existant. This is one tough jar to locate. This pint is wonderfully bubbled and has a unique character all its own and is a super addition to the collection. I aquired this jar from Phil Robinson at the Jan 88, Indy show. I know of only two other examples.

This is an extremely beatuiful example of yet another jar that shouldn't exist. Ball collectors all know that the 2L embossing style on this series needs to have the word MASON under it... Ah, but this one doesn't! I actually owned 3 of these jars over the years. I traded one another jar in this gallery.

As mentioned on the previous jar, Ball collectors all know that the 2L style embossing on this series needs to have the word MASON under it... Ah, but this one doesn't have it either! I found this jar in an antique mall in Burlington Wisconsin years ago when visiting with my friend Dick Thompsen, another ball collector at the time. I almost walked right by it because from a distance, it doesn't look extra-ordinary whatsoever. It pays to always take a very close look at supposedly common jars. And to think...it was priced at only $2.00! I know of only one other example ever being reported.

This is another wonderful example of Ball at their finest. They reworked "THE MASON" shoulder seal jars. I traded one of my extra clear quart 2L Ball jars to the late Bob Good of Berryton, KS for this spectacular jar. At the time I aquired this jar, I was aware of only 4 others in existence.

It is almost impossible to find any of these early circa 1896 - 1900 Ball s.s. Improved jars in any color other than shades of aqua, let alone a beautful varied and swirled colored one like this example. Super, super desirable jar...

I can't prove it but I have always believed Ball made these early ground lip jars. After all, Ball did make the later Owen machine made jars. I have only ever seen a few of these pints over the years.

This is a very nice quart jar with all original metal which makes the jar even more valuable and desirable. It also has the much more scarce and difficult to find embossing style that is unlisted. There is no • between the D and F.