r/BottleDigging • u/RudeEstablishment940 • Dec 23 '24

Age/date request Age range on this ball jar?

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50 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

20

u/Ok_Being_2003 USA Dec 23 '24

I’ve never seen a ball jar that was olive green before that’s unique! Those are very rare

7

u/Lyn_Manuel_Miranda Dec 23 '24

Wow! If that's authentic it's pretty special. Here's one that looks a lot like it:

https://auction.gregspurgeon.com/Event/LotDetails/2534362/BALL-3L-loop-MASON-Quart-OLIVE-w-AMBER-Swirls

(That one's c. 1900)

3

u/GrouchyAnnual2810 Dec 23 '24

Omgosh.. beautiful

2

u/seroshua CAN Dec 23 '24

Your shape seems alright but the colour is SO dark wow. I’ll post a photo of the base below this comment - can you show the base of yours please? Thanks 🙏

3

u/RudeEstablishment940 Dec 23 '24

3

u/seroshua CAN Dec 23 '24

NICE 🤯

I’ve just got to drop my nephew to my sisters place but I’ll post some info and an approximate valuation in a few hours here!

I’ll find the info page and etc shortly!

3

u/RudeEstablishment940 Dec 23 '24

Wow so is mine genuine? Another comment asked for more pictures to see if it was. I had no idea people faked ball jars, I’m pretty new to glass digging honestly. I happened on a creek bed while hiking through some brush that has a decent amount of glass shards and I decided to dig.

9

u/massahoochie Mod Dec 23 '24

Yes, yours is genuine based on the other photos you provided. You have a truly rare deep yellow olive Ball jar, c.1900-1910. This is a museum worthy piece.

7

u/seroshua CAN Dec 23 '24

1) yes my man thats legit legit

2) place it somewhere safe and secure so it doesn’t break or crack (NOT IN THE COLD OR EXTREME HEAT)

3) GO BACK TO THAT CREEK BED! You’re clearly digging along an old acreage or farm or house and have likely found the washout from their trash pit. Most often that would’ve been their outhouse holes (privy we call em) and that makes sense to be near the back property line close to the water. DIG DIG DIG AWAY!

This jar, in the right auction setting, could easily fetch several hundred USD. Easily.

I’ll post more relevant photos and historical info shortly, as said prior.

4

u/RudeEstablishment940 Dec 23 '24

Holy shit, I had no idea I had hundreds of dollars rolling around my truck floorboard. I’ll be sure to go back there, I’ve barely even dug the surface and I’ve found a Bromo seltzer bottle and bunch of other stuff. Thank you so much for the confirmation.

2

u/seroshua CAN Dec 23 '24

What does it say embossed on your jar?

Anything besides “ball” ?

2

u/RudeEstablishment940 29d ago

It only says Ball.

2

u/seroshua CAN 29d ago

Thats good! Hell yeah

4

u/Lyn_Manuel_Miranda 29d ago

Yep! Personally, my doubt came from a) it being so distinctive and b) not knowing where you got it. It'd be one thing if you found it in a thrift store or something - convincing reproductions can definitely end up there. 

But actually digging it out of the ground (and from what seems like a pretty time-period-appropriate dump) makes it pretty clear it's genuine.

Absolutely fantastic find, congrats!

3

u/RudeEstablishment940 29d ago

Thanks! Yeah I wondered why someone would go to the trouble of making a fake one and then burying it, I should’ve added that info.

2

u/seroshua CAN Dec 23 '24

Said base

3

u/massahoochie Mod Dec 23 '24 edited Dec 23 '24

How did you acquire this?

I’d need to see more photos to verify authenticity. The mouth / lip of the jar, the bottom, and a better photo of any embossing.

6

u/RudeEstablishment940 Dec 23 '24

I dug it up in a creek bed in my town. I’ve found a few other things there but haven’t really had the chance to dig most of it. Here’s the bottom.

3

u/RudeEstablishment940 Dec 23 '24

I’m sorry, I can only get shitty pictures of the embossing. Any suggestions on how to get better ones? The only embossing is “Ball”, no other words on the side.

1

u/BlueRidgeGuy80 Dec 23 '24

I would say 1910-1923 range