Blue Ball Mason Jar with Wire Bail Glass Lid, Marble Filled, Made Before 1937

This is a pint size blue Ball Mason jar with a wire bail closure and a glass lid, filled with a mix of colorful marbles.

The blue is the reason people go looking for these. Ball stopped producing blue glass in 1937, so every blue jar out there was made before that date and no more are coming. It reads well on an open shelf, in a window where the light comes through it, or on a desk. One note on safety: the marbles are small, so this is a display piece and not something to leave within reach of young children.

Details

• Item: Blue Ball Mason jar with wire bail and glass lid, filled with marbles
• Item Type: Glass canning jar with decorative contents
• Era: Made before 1937. Ball discontinued blue glass that year
• Materials: Blue molded glass jar, glass lid, wire bail closure, glass marbles
• Color: Ball blue
• Maker and Mark: Ball. The Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company
• Pattern or Model: Not stated in the original listing. Check the jar for embossing
• Style: Farmhouse, rustic, cottage shelf
• Dimensions: Pint size. 4 x 3 x 3 inches
• Special Features: Blue glass, original wire bail and glass lid, filled with a variety of colorful marbles

Condition Grade: Good

Positives

• Graded Good: The jar is complete and intact with wear consistent with its age and years of use.
• The glass lid and the wire bail are both present and working.
• The blue color is what makes this jar worth having and it is still there.

Issues / Wear

• The jar shows wear typical of a piece that was used for canning before it became decorative.
• The marbles show age appropriate wear and have not been sorted or graded individually.
• What you see in the photos is what ships.

Condition Grade Key

• Near Fine: Almost perfect. Very minor signs of age only.
• Very Good: Shows light use. Sound and attractive with minor flaws.
• Good: Complete and intact. Noticeable wear consistent with age and use.
• Fair: Shows significant wear. Readable or usable but clearly used.

Collector's Notes

Ball made jars in that blue tint because of the sand they were using, and when they switched sources in the 1930s the blue went away for good. That accident of geology is the whole reason a common canning jar became something people collect.

This suits someone building a shelf of blue glass, or someone who wants one real old piece in a room instead of a reproduction that only looks old.

The wire bail and matching glass lid are the part that usually goes missing. Plenty of these jars turn up with the lid long gone, so a complete one is worth noticing.

Hold it up to a window before you decide where it goes. That is when the color does its work.