There have been new reproduction fruit jars from China turning up in antique malls for outrageous prices but they're worth about $6-$8 each. The regular old zinc lids don't fit right and the aluminum lids that come with them are new and shiny giving away the jar's recent manufacture. These reproductions are copies of the old Hero jars made in the 1880s. As a collector these new jars usually have a poor quality to their color and the glass has a slicker than usual feel.

The manufacture of fruit jars really didn't take off until after the civil war. Before the war, canning jars (many were actually large, heavy, bulky enamel lined cans) were expensive and difficult to use. Mason's patent was issued in 1858 but it wasn't until the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company began making jars after the war did the Mason jar really begin catching on.

It is widely accepted that the first reproduction jars were some wax sealers made in Mexico. They were made in the colors of black-amber, emerald green and olive green. Since then other jars have appeared, some which have risen to become collectors items in their own rite and others, like the recent reproductions from China, will probably never be worth a lot to collectors. Sometimes mold seams can give a reproduction away.

Collectors frequently refer to these numbers as "mold numbers." However, in some cases, this term oversimplifies what the numbers represented. Originally when jars were blown by hand, the number represented a specific glass blower and his team. At the end of the day the blower and his team would get paid for the amount of jars they produced as determined by the number of jars made with a given number on them. I.E.

Square jars were considered a design improvement because a homemaker could stack more jars together in less space thus allowing a family to put up more food in their small cellars or cupboards. Square Jars were made for the Smalley Fruit Jar Co. Boston, Mass in the late 1890s. Other square jars date from the 20s, 30s and later. The value of square shaped jars tends to be higher than round as it seems that fewer square jars were made.

When manufacturers produce glass, chemicals (clarifying agents) must be added to clarify the batch in order to turn it from its original color of aqua-blue or green to clear. Prior to the start of the First World War, manufacturers used Manganese Dioxide as their chemical agent of choice to clarify glass. When a jar or bottle turns purple from sunlight, manganese dioxide is the substance in the glass that reacts with sunlight to cause the color change.

To learn more about the value of fruit jars I recommend the Red Book of Fruit Jars #9 by Doug Leybourne. You can order the book post paid for $35 from the author by writing him at P.O. Box 5417, N. Muskegon, MI 49445. You can also purchase the book on-line at www.fruitjars.com

You should make a list and then determine how much your jars are worth by consulting a reputable price guide. (Like the Red Book.) Once you know what you have and what it's worth, swap meets are always good places. If you have a booth or know of anyone that has a booth at an antique mall you could try that. You might even try selling them at a yard sale.

Yes, jars in amber, cornflower blue, olive green, etc. are worth more because fewer of them were made and they are in great demand by collectors. The amber jars were made that way as an attempt to keep fruit from turning brown. The amber glass kept out the harmful effect of light rays on the contents of the jar. However, the jars were less popular with homemakers because the contents were more difficult to see.

Well, the Ball, Kerr or Atlas jars tend to be fairly common. However, some jars can be worth more depending on the actual embossing. (Especially dealing with Ball jars.) Jars with unusually bright colors are worth more. These were generally made at the end of a run and contain sediments and chemicals that color the glass. Amber colored jars tend to be worth more than clear or aqua jars, but this is not a hard and fast rule either.

You can try the following Internet sources: http://www.homecanning.com/ http://www.weckcanning.com http://www.homecanningsupply.com/ Creswick, Alice: The Fruit Jar Works, Volumes I & II. Published by Douglas M. Leybourne, Jr. N. Muskegon, Mich., 1995. Leybourne, Doug: The Red Book of Fruit Jars Published by Douglas M. Leybourne, Jr. N. Muskegon, Mich., 1993, 2000. A Primer on Fruit Jars by David Hinson. Internet: http://www.av.qnet.com/~glassman/info/b&e/primer.htm

The Consolidated Fruit Jar Company was in business at New Brunswick, New Jersey from 1871 to about 1908. In 1859, Mason sold five of his early patents, including the mason jar, to Lewis R. Boyd and Boyd's company - The Sheet Metal Screw Company. Boyd is most famous for patenting a white "milk-glass" insert for zinc screw lids to theoretically lessen the chances that food would come in contact with metal.

You can subscribe to the Fruit Jar News (formerly newsletter) by writing to: FJN Publishers Inc. 364 Gregory Avenue, West Orange, NJ 07052-3743. Subscription rate is $14 postpaid.

All of the major fruit jar research books out there are out of print. There has been some discussion about reprinting Dick Roller's "Standard Fruit Jar Reference." There is also the two part Creswick book entitled "The Fruit Jar Works" and two classic books from the 1970s namely "Bottle Makers and Their Marks" by Julian Harrison Toulouse, 1971 and "A Collector's Manual, Fruit Jars" by Julian Harrison Toulouse, 1969.

It is very difficult to determine the age of a fruit jar without seeing it. However, there are a few ways to make an educated guess at the date of an antique jar or bottle. Probably the most important is the presence or absence of a pontil scar. The pontil scar - a ring of glass or a black and red iron-like indention on the base of a bottle or jar - indicates that a glassblower held the item on a pontil rod (when the glass was hot) while the neck and/or lip was shaped and finished by hand.

The "nntpTime" utility is the single best way to determine how well your Cyclone server (and yours peers) are running. Sending 100 articles, by using "-loop 100", is a very good way to measure how well your server is running at that instant. While times will vary depending on server load, hardware configuration and software configuration, taking several measurements at different times will give you a good idea of your server's performance.

I have mentioned self-anointing (or self-lathering, as it is sometime called, in at least the U.K.) repeatedly throughout the FAQ, so now it is time to explore the hedgehog's one truly unique trait. Nathan Tenny provided a good description of this interesting and perplexing hedgehog habit: If you smell *really* interesting, your hedgehog will lick or nibble on you, back off, and suddenly contort itself, start foaming at the mouth, and lick the foam onto its spines.

The email link is everywhere through out the site. You can click on any of them to send us your questions. The address is viper@scripps.edu.

Dried fruit is fresh fruit that has been dried naturally in the sun or in dehydration machines. Moisture is removed from the fresh fruit, which makes it more portable and convenient than fresh fruit. However, it does not remove the natural vitamins and antioxidants, making dried fruit as healthy and good for you as fresh fruit!

Yes. Eating fruit with meals may cause indigestion or "heartburn" for some people. However, if you do not have this problem, fruit may be eaten with a meal.