# Mason's III Patent Nov. 30th 1858 GREEN



## MNJars (May 7, 2014)

I was fortunate to obtain this jar recently.  The pictures don't do the color justice.  I found it difficult to photograph the depth of the color on this jar.  The embossing reads "Mason's III Patent Nov. 30th 1858" - the III are roman numerals, not straight lines.  I would say the color is olive green, but far on the true green side of the olive spectrum.  I would imagine this color is quite uncommon for this era of jars.  I took pictures of it next to a standard machine made aqua color jar for comparison.  Note that this jar is probably 1 inch taller than the machine made jar.  The base is marked with a backwards 4 and an 8.  The jar has a ground lip. Does anyone have any knowledge on this series of jars?  Any history, thoughts on rarity?  Thanks![attachment=Mason III Front.jpg][attachment=Mason III Base.jpg]


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## 2find4me (May 7, 2014)

NICE Jar, someone with a Red Book can help.


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## botlguy (May 7, 2014)

I cannot help with any information but it's a *WINNER*.


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## icollectfruitjars (May 7, 2014)

Tom, you find them mostly in aqua.  There was a dark olive green version of this same style quart jar that sold a few years back.  Honestly, I've never see your color before.  It looks more of a deeper apple green.  Great jar.


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## icollectfruitjars (May 7, 2014)

Sorry, the pic is of a similar olive amber version.  The olive green was a true green and dark.  Still, all are tough jars.


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## MNJars (May 7, 2014)

Thanks - I have a few true green jars and some olive green and olive amber jars in my collection in addition to various apple greens.  This new jar fits into the color lineup between the true green and olive green jars, but closer to true green.  I don't have a good enough photo setup to get a good shot of it all, but this jar has depth to its color.  You can see decently strong color through the whole body of the jar, not just the thick parts like you do with weaker colored jars like the aqua jar I have set up next to it.  Today was dense clouds and storms, so the lighting wasn't the greatest either.


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## dygger60 (May 8, 2014)

That is a nice jar....woof!   LOL  Honestly, I like that color...and in today's market, color is in crazy demand....    David


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## cowseatmaize (May 8, 2014)

I hate naming colors after fruits, berries etc. How ripe is that vegetable matter? What type and what season is the forest in? Is is the apple green (unripened) or a Granny Smith? Do you meld the colors to get the answer and wouldn't that come out brownish?Don't even get me started on the aquas and ambers or through direct sunlight!I got a sort of complaint about a cobalt Bromo I sold. They insisted it was "electric blue" (whatever that is) and paid too much.It blows my mind! []


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## deenodean (May 8, 2014)

Tom , that jar is KILLER, there is always room on my shelf for something like that. GREAT SCORE !!!


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## junkyard jack (May 11, 2014)

That's a great looking jar. Is it a RB10 #2042 or possibly a #2117?


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## coreya (May 11, 2014)

It could be either of those numbers, it's the same in the "Fruit Jar Works" the only difference is #2117 discribes more color variations. Great find either way!!


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## jimsears (May 12, 2014)

Doug Leybourne just put out a new Red Book 11, but I do not yet have a copy.  The old book 10 listed both 2042 and 2117 (Roman numeral III and 111) even though these are just two ways of describing the same jar.  I believe that the 2042 listing reflected more up-to-date prices than 2117 in book 10.  As the multiple color listings suggest, this jar has been reported in a range of colors.  All of the odd colored examples are very rare, but they all seem to be part of the same color family.  Even the examples described as amber actually contain some hint of olive.  Many early glass factories relied on coal for fuel, and my guess is that the coal dust contaminated a batch of glass.  If a coloring agent such as coal dust was added accidentally, this could help explain why it was not mixed in thoroughly to make all the jars the same shade. I appreciated seeing the photo of your jar.  I am sure you will enjoy having it in your collection, but please keep me in mind if you ever decide to sell it. Jim Sears


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## MNJars (May 12, 2014)

I think there is a difference between the embossing of III and 111, but I don't have an example of both jars to compare unfortunately.  I'll take a closer look when I get a chance and try to post a close up picture.  I think it's Redbook #2042.


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## jimsears (May 12, 2014)

I've held examples of the supposed III and 111 quarts next to each other and decided they were made in the same mold.  The stronger embossed examples often get pegged as III and the weakly embossed ones as 111.  I tend to agree that 2042 is the more correct listing and would favor getting rid of 2117 altogther.  The olive/amber examples I have seen have the same 8.4 on base (as read through the mouth of the jar), which suggests that the odd color varieties came from a single mold.  Has anyone ever come across an aqua example with the 8.4 base marking? Jim


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## MNJars (May 12, 2014)

Thanks for the great info Jim!  I wrote my last post while you were writing yours and didn't see it until just now, so it looks like I was taking issue with your point about 2042 vs 2117 - I was not.  You must be correct about them being the same jar, I had just assumed they would be different since the letter I should look different than the number 1, like the 1 in "1858".If/when I decide to sell this jar, I will contact you.  I'll keep trying to get better photos, too.


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## jimsears (May 13, 2014)

Thank you for your post, MNJars.  For whatever it's worth, Mason jar collectors generally seem to have difficulty telling the 1's from the I's.  Anyone trying to collect an alphabet set with the different letters below MASON'S soon finds that there is no unambiguous letter I.  There are plenty of vertical bars that might be I's or 1's.  Don Burkett's solution was to get a half gallon with the ambiguous vertical bar that also had BP&Co on the base.  The BP&Co jars are known with a variety of letters below MASON'S, but no numbered examples have been reported.  Jim


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## MNJars (May 13, 2014)

Here's another picture in a different lighting.  White background.[attachment=Mason's III Front.jpg]


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## dygger60 (May 14, 2014)

WOW...is that a nice shade of green!   Sweet! [:-]


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