My guess is that the root cause for the color change has NOTHING to do with aesthetics but rather the process for the anti-corrosion coating on the lids and bands. About a year and a half ago Caterpillar (think heavy equipment) had all their bolts/washer/hose fittings changed from a yellow or gold colored plating to silver. My understanding for the reason for the change was the process for the gold colored plating used some pretty nasty chemicals and that the silver finish was just as durable but MUCH more environmentally friendly. When I first saw the silver lids I figured Ball did the same thing.

I don't care for their look but they sure are alot easier to write on. Only bought a couple of boxes of the wide mouth ones as the store was out of the standard gold wide mouth at the time. I sure don't like the higher price for them and won't pay it if the cheaper gold ones are available. Whether they will keep making them? Who knows.

I have read several complaints about them on other forums - seal failures seem higher some have said due to less sealing compound. I haven't had any personally but I do think it is harder to tell if they sealed just by looking at them - my old eyes maybe.

Dave

They don't cost any more here. Get them on sale for the same price as the gold ones last year. I have some new ones. I like all the room to write on them, too.
I don't care what color they are as long as they work !
No seal failures here with them.

I also though it was harder to tell if they had a good seal. I do like the looks of the squat jars I bought with the silver lids, looks nice for gift giving.

Linda Lou, they are the same price here as the others too. I also like the larger space to write on.

I got some different lids too with an anniversary logo on them, has anyone seen those? I haven't used them, because there's no darned room to write on 'em!

Annie

I bought the silver wide mouth at WalMart yesterday because that was all they had, I was making a rare shopping stop there trying to get everything on my list in one place. They looked so odd to me I read everything on the box to make sure they were pressure canning lids and not BWB only, I'd only seen them on jam/jelly jars :) $2.12 ea., box of 12 wide mouth.

Same price here too. I usually put labels on the lid anyway so don't care about the printing much. The "standard" stuff I do like green beans, carrots, etc. that I don't make labels for, I just write the year so not much space needed.
I agree that they are harder to tell if the lid is down/sealed.
You guys just take your "old eyes" back........I don't want 'em!! LOL

Deanna

Silver ones turning up here in Canada, too, where they are branded Bernardin (but all come from the same Alltrista/Jardin/whatever it's called now factory).

I kind of like the silver better --- I didn't think about stainless steel (and don't like SS appliances' look much myself) but I always think that fake-gold colour looks a bit cheesy no matter what it's on.

BUT for anything I give away I would want the lid to match the screw band, just for a professional look --- and I imagine if I sold canned goods I would definitely want that.

I haven't bought screw bands in years, since I take 'em off shortly after canning a batch; I put some back on anything I give away, because non-canners may need them to re-close the jar.

So I'm a bit annoyed there's a change because it means I'll want to buy silver screw bands for gift-giving.

Z

They are the 'Platinum series'. More expensive, and not new.

Actually, Ken, they are now the only kind regularly available, at least around here, and they cost about the same.

The company has made a change.

If it hasn't filtered down to the stores in your area yet, I expect it will!

Zabby

Yeah these new ones are called Collection Elite® new out for the 100th anniversary this year and have replaced the Platinum Series stuff.

I'm glad some of you can find them same price as the old gold ones. Here at Walmart they are a $1 more or so. Will have to check out some other places.

Dave

I see both types still being sold here, and the platinum ones are almost double the price of regular lids and rings. It may be just a differing coating on the lids that help the sealing compound from coming loose, and also to reduce issues of corrosion. Have you seen any of these new ones get rust on the rings? Places here, like Goodmans, eBay, and many other sources still sell the yellowish types. I even see both types in local supermarkets. The platinum series jars (set of only four 8 ounce size) are about $7.00, compared to the regular 12 per case which is almost the same prices.

Here are eBay offerings:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bulk-Case-500-Ball-Wide-Mouth-Canning-Jar-Lids-Blue-Red_W0QQitemZ200380235820QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea797c02c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

LOTS of choices on eBay:
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A1205&_nkw=canning+lids&_ipg=200&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Here is a link that might be useful: eBay fruit design lids

They are the standard lids not the platinums or elites I was a little put off at first as I though they were the expensive lids but they are the standard 1.50 lids

I havn't bounght any rings and don't plan to for a long while although I only see it on my kerr lids at this time thought they might be the newer ones in my stockpile there is a nice white coating on the inside looks like it would be quite corrosion resistant

New to this so the lids meant nothing to me, but 12 jars of pints 8.99 which is way less than I spent last year, on jars, so I guess I brought platinum? last year, Gold color is sooooo 80's, at least in Europe it is. the USA is just getting into the grove.
hehe, :)

The white coating was made with zinc oxide and was used some years ago, but today, most are just the yellow irradite color. There isn't any more protection against corrosion with white lids, but you could see imperfecions a bit easier.

I really thought you all would get the joke of the description - like it is SO,SO very important to match. Ball states "we updated the outside lid finish to match current kitchen designs". So, we all now have stainless steel refrigerators (NOT) and they did it so that the new color would coordinate well with them and so that they will not clash using the old "polished brass" of the '80's kitchen design. Puh-leese. Do we really buy stuff to match our refrigerator and only buy jars of other stuff that will suit the new kitchen design? "Heavens, that jar of mayo has a green top - it won't coordinate with the blue interior of my refrigerator so I have to find another brand with the right color top." Do you all get it now?

dlmka got the reasoning for the plating, and the manufacturer used wording for positive advertising instead of negative reality for their description.

The reason I have for resisting the change is that I sell lots of gift baskets at the holidays and the contents are more important than the container so the containers should all "match" so as to be ignored. Understand? Therefore, I think the stuff I have to can with the silver this late season will be wrapped in organdy and tied with a bow so as to make the presentation more unique, until the strawberry jam I can in June next year is in silver too.

For the rest of the stuff I can for my family and friends, the contents is way more important than "coordinated kitchen design". There really is a difference in presentation for sale and presentation for the family as in "what is in the fridge that I can eat now." I do not have a stainless steel refrigerator - mine is white and so are the shelves so coordination is a moot point. Phfft to Ball.

Nancy

My mom had made the kitchen mostly 'Harvest Gold' years ago. That included all the appliances. Since then, the only things left that are yellow is the wall phone, fridge and wall coverings. Ever try finding a yellow color wall phone with matching cord? In years before that, pink and charcoal were the colors. Today, Stainless steel stuff is nice, but usually more costly. I doubt if the canning lids are stainless steel, but if they were, the seal area would be nice to also offer permenent, repeated seals. Check outv the eBay for lids as they have several sources for more than a 1000 lids at a very low cost. Here, all my canning get 2 inch round sticky labels printed so the lids to identify each item, but I write in a canning year date.

Nancy, I did get a kick out of that, believe me. Personally, I have a black dishwasher, white fridge, and beige stove. If I had my druthers I'd have all black --- shows less dirt and I like the look --- but I don't think I'd want black canning lids and rings! ;-)

I will confess to moving the goldfish bowl into the kitchen because the walls are painted deep yellow and I thought the orange fish would look nice against it. It really does, too. (If you saw the rest of my house --- an always-messy Late Grad Student look---you'd see how really amusing it is that I cared about this.)

Z

The box doesn't indicate what the lids are made of, it only says 'brushed silver finish'and 'same trusted quality'.

They'd have to be almond to match my becoming-dated appliances anyway...nothing stylish, highly energy efficient, or especially convenient in my old kitchen :) On a good day, it's clean.

I want black ones like Zabby as we have black appliances. But then I'd have to write on them with a white marker and buy black rings to match.

Nah - I'll just stick with the plain old yellow-gold-whatever ones.

Nan - the solution to your coordination problems - a can of spray paint. :^)

Dave

I have had lots of trouble with sealing with the silver ones -- I was throwing jars away thinking that was the problem until I tried re-sealing with used gold ones (that I regularly re-use). Now I think the silver ones are made thinner purposefully so they always bend when removing, thus can't be reused.

I dont reuse lids ever. The silver ones I am now seeing on Ball jars in supermarkets. I do hope you are placing the lids in lightly simmering water just prior to capping. Tighting rings with 2 fingers and thumb tightness.

Ok now I have problem with the new silver bands I had two in a case of half pints that didn't fit the jar right one I noticed didn't tighten the other got loose when it warmed up and I dropped a jar on the way to my stove ):

Jonas302, I can't answer or help you with the silver bands, but I have a suggestion that might help you from dropping jars. If you don't have one of those Jar Lifters (click on the link below), you might think of purchasing one. Additionally, when I use my Jar Lifter, I also hold a very heavy potholder underneath the jar (with my other hand) so that if the jar starts to slip I have an extra hand there ... just in case.

Anyhow, this works for me, and I hope it helps you. It's SO discouraging to lose a jar when you've worked so hard, isn't it?

Good luck,
Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of Canning Jar Lifters

I personally don't care much about the color either way, but if I had to choose, I do like the look of the silver better. For the record, I have white appliances, but the drawer pulls, faucet, light fixtures and so on are brushed nickel, so the jars coordinate ;-)

I've done probably 100 this year, and the only sealing problem was on a regular mouth pint of stock, but it looks like I didn't center the lid quite right (it actually sealed, but looked like a little siphoning had occurred, so I didn't store it), so it was my fault, not the lid's. The price is the same here for everything except the fancy squatty jars that come in 4-packs, and I'm too cheap to buy those.

I will be fussy about coordinating my rings and discs on anything I gift, though!

Thanks Kathy I do have the jar lifter but for some reason wasn't using it(: Hopefully it will be prevented in the future that way

I've had lots of lid failure issues this year, especially with the lids that come with the jars. I rarely had any lid failures before this year - maybe the quality control has gone down? Very disappointed with Ball this year.

For the record, I don't care what color the lids are, I just care if I have enough room to write. Part of me wonders whether Ball is "barking up the wrong tree" with this appearance thing - in my experience most canning folk are the sensible types who don't give a fig about whether their jars match their appliances.