Came across another Ball jar..

[mammoth29]

It's funny that in quite a long time I have not seen any Ball jars at garage sales, then I get three in the last two weeks.

So I purchased this one at a Saturday morning garage sale for $1, and for that price I thought I'd take it off their hands even though it is a bit dirty.

So a couple of questions- 1. How do I clean this bottle? I tried water and vinegar and it did absolutely nothing. 2- Can anyone determine the age?

I am pretty sure it is a 3L and I think it is hand blown? Also, there is a 5 with 5 dots in an X on the bottom, but not sure if that means anything significant.

As always, thanks for the help and HH!!

 

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[surf]

Hello mammoth,

Looks like a "3L" to me, but I'm doing an awful lot of squinting. Your photos seem a bit fuzzy, but maybe I'm the fuzzy one. The lip appears to be smooth.

Ball Brothers were early users of machines.

"About 1895, Ball began using machines (these jars have smooth lips) and began to phase out the old blowing methods. This transition took several years. The machine made jars exhibited a new script style which was never seen on any of their handmade jars. The script style was that of a cursive Ball with an extra loop at the end, known as "3-L" Ball jars. They also continued to make the MASON'S PATENT NOV 30th 1858 jars (machine made smooth lipped varieties) up into the early 1900's. The very first machine made Ball jar is not positively known, but most likely was either a Balll STANDARD or a Balll IMPROVED MASON. This script style was used up until about 1910. Ball produced many jars with this script style, the Balll MASON jars and ones with just Balll and no other embossing appeared right about the turn of the century. (3-L jars c1896-1910)" Dating Ball jars

Here's an interesting photo essay on the many variants of the 3L's: 3L/2L Anomaly, Error & Transition jars

 

[mammoth29]

Thanks surf! I am still trying to understand the smooth lip thing, but I don't think this lip is smooth...? At any rate, it looks like from the picture that the Ball signature is definitely the 3L from 1896-1910.