# ODD BALL MASON JAR



## poorjodie (Jun 16, 2006)

I have an odd 3L 1/2 Gal. BALL MASON jar. The B looks like a R. There is only the slightest faint ghosting of the loop in the middle of the B and the bottom of the B does not have a bottom loop. The result is a funky looking R. The jar is almost clear glass with only a hint of aqua tinting. The jar was made on the F. C. Ball Machine and the lip is machine made but has sharp jagged edges to it where you could cut your finger on the glass from the way it was molded. Also the base is not flat and the jar wobbles when sat on a table. The base of the jar has a large, 1 1/8 inch, reversed 6 and three dots. I didn't find this variation of the #234 in the Red Book. Any ideas?


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## bobclay (Jun 16, 2006)

Hi poorjodie,

 Absolutely correct, F.C. Ball machine made with side mould seams that do not line up vertically with the seams in the thread area. One of the hundreds, if not thousands of varients of RB9 #234.

 All of the jars in the Redbook with the description of  the "B looks like an R" (#240, #240-5, and #241) are Root MASON reworked moulds. All of those have the same characteristic that the ascender of the B does NOT intersect the top loop of the B. These are called "Rall" jars by collectors.

 Your jar is indeed crude and the B does resemble an R, but still a varient of #234. Up until likely about 1907, the embossing was cut by hand into the hardened steel moulds and almost each one is different in some way. Some are really crude and appear like the mould cutter was drunk or hungover when they were cut.

 That's what makes collecting this particular genre (the 3-L types) so interesting. It is possible but very difficult to find two jars embossed exactly the same. 

 Bob Clay


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