Ready for Canning Season

I recently came into possession of 22  boxes - yes, twenty-two boxes - of old canning jars. They've been hanging out in the garage for a while, but due to our ridiculous spring weather, the weeds have gotten to the point where I have to be able to get out the garage door and into the backyard in order to do proper battle.  So, last night while the Rockies were whumping up on the Mets, The Amazing Husbandini and I hauled the boxes into the kitchen and started sorting.

The jars are split roughly in half between wide mouth and regular mouth.  Wide mouth is what I prefer, but I've decided to keep one box of regular mouth and give away or sell the rest of them.  Most of the lids are shot, but a few of the rings are worth keeping.  The jars are pretty equally divided between Ball and Kerr, with a bunch of no-name (possibly old mayo or pickle) jars thrown in.  The quart no-names are going away, but the pint no-names I will probably keep.  I keep finding little hand-written labels reading, "Beans - 1971" or "Hot Chili - '74".  There are lots of peach labels, some from as far back as the early 1960s.  And spiders.  Lots and lots of long-dead spiders.

There were a few gems among this bounty.  The photo above is a small sample of the older, rarer jars that we pulled out.  There's a green Ball quart jar and a couple of smoke-colored Drey brand jars, as well as some Presto and Atlas jars and one that just says "Mason Jar" with a star in between the words.  (The cobalt vase in the back was just to give the photo a little interest.  Empty mason jars are a little difficult to photograph well, especially with a cell phone camera.)

The Amazing Husbandini checked out eBay in between innings and reported that "our" jars were selling for between $5 and $15 each online, but I think we'll just wash them up and keep them for decoration and kitchen storage.  You can always use an empty glass jar for something, and I like the idea of putting the oldies up on a shelf where they can catch the light.

Now - about all those old mayo jars and the boxes and boxes (and boxes) of regular-mouth mason jars that are living on my dining room table.  Anybody in the Denver area need some jars?  I'll make you a great deal!