Dating Ball Canning Jars

I have never been a collector, other than a collector of dust or mail that should have been thrown out 2 years ago, etc., etc. There are things that I could see myself collecting, though, something along the lines of Pyrex from the 1950s or Fiestaware, or old pots and pans of some sort. Whatever it was, it would have to be useful. I can't see myself collecting things that would hang on a wall or need a special cabinet to be displayed in. And it would have to be colored brightly, too. I like bright colors.

I don't think my mother-in-law would consider herself a collector, either, though she has some wonderful treasures hidden in different places in the cabin from the years she liked to shop estate sales. The first time I visited, I can remember standing in the center of the cabin and thinking that everywhere I looked I could see something with a history. In one corner, she has an old metal baking cabinet (I'm sure there's a proper name for this, but I don't know what it is). You know, the ones that have a cabinet for flour storage with a mechanism for pouring the appropriate amount of flour out from the bottom of the cabinet and places to store all your baking ingredients, as well as a surface to roll out dough. Resting on one of the rafters, she has several bed pans (yes, I said bed pans) that go way back and in their own way tell the story of her career in nursing. Sprinkled throughout the cabin there are old dishes - I recognize some pieces of milk glass, Carnival glass, and other dishes I don't know the names of randomly placed here and there. She knows when she got each piece, where she got them, and even what she paid for them at the time. I keep thinking that one of these days I need to write it all down or record it in some way so that their history is never forgotten.

So on Facebook this morning, I saw a piece written by Bob Clay on collecting Ball canning jars and how to date them by their logos, and I realized that if I were to be a collector of anything, Ball canning jars would make sense to me because canning is such an integral part of preserving food on the urban homestead. I thought I'd share it with you.


Ball Canning Jar Logos