Cookie Jar Guide

Remember Your Grandma and those delicious Cookies she used to make?

And how sweet she was pretending not to notice when you took two instead of one !

Even now just the sight of a cookie jar makes my mouth water. I can still taste her cookies and smell that delicious smell drifting from the Kitchen.

Many cookie jar collectors would be so jealous of those antique cookie jars she kept the treats inside.

Cookie Jars of course originated in England and were originally used to store and keep crisp the spiced and honeyed biscuits from earlier times.

In the 20^th Century Cookie Jars really became a craze to collect – especially when Walt Disney began promoting Mickey Mouse and the combination of cookies and Mickey Mouse became quite irresistible to a whole generation of American and worldwide children.

Those early Mickey and Minnie jars are still avidly snapped up by cookie jar collectors (and I suspect still used to store cookies for new generations of kids.)

The most valuable Cookie jars for collectors are ones featuring early movie characters.

Cartoon characters like Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Clarabelle, Betty Boop, Donald Duck and the whole panoply of Disney favourites and other popular characters like Felix the Cat are very collectable and  have all graced the Jars as have many famous early movie stars and more recently film stars and entertainers like Elvis Presley, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.

A whole fleet of Superheroes fiercely face unknown daners from the front of Grannies Cupboard  including Superman, Batman and right up to date heroes are still being collected.

These are some of the cookie jars worth looking out for:

Jars from  Dsney

All major characters

Quaker Oats

Aunt Jemima

Vandor Beatles  or Elvis Jars

Uncle Sam jars

Nightmare before Christmas is a modern favourite

Nursery Rhyme and fairy tale cookie jars make a lovely display

Disney Princess Jars are really popular

Modern Film Heroes like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean are collectable but many have been sold.

Some major collections have been sold at auction – Andy Warhols collection sold for $250,000 and he bought at regular stores ,flea markets and yard sales.(that must have been  quite a sight - Andy Warhol with an armful of Disney Princesses !)- actually . I wonder if he signed any of them ?

Here are some average recent Cookie Jar auction Prices :

Mickey Mouse Fireman  $25

Minnie Mouse $ 35

Donald Duck $20

Pluto Dining $150

Snow White $38

Lady and the Tramp $60

Haunted Mansion $90

Coca Cola $9

John Wayne  $55

Snoopy $32

Dr Seuss Cat $35

Tazmanian Devil $15

Vintage Old King Cole  $325

Vintage Pig $50

Shawnee Smiley Pig $15

Puppy Hound Dog  $10

McCoy Mammy Jar $52

Vintage Kraft Bear $20

King Frog $30

Starwars R2D2 $100

Cat Treats $4

 

 

Auction prices are usually higher than prices in fleamarkets,yard sales , car boot sales.

Vintage Cookie Jars are nearly always more expensive

.

 

Most Popular sections for collectors are :

Disney

Cats

Pigs

McCoy brand

Vintage Jars

Shawnee Jars

photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: Thomas_Jung
photo credit: coconut wireless
photo credit: kevindooley
photo credit: kris.hoet
photo credit: coconut wirelessMinnie Mouse Pictures from Flickr
Published under the Creative Commons Licence
All Photographers are credited.

What a Lovable Minnie Mouse Plush DollShe makes you want to cuddle her all the time !

You can see more about Minnie at  Amazon .

Disney Savings Banks

Walt Disney produced many savings banks for children.
These were mainly based on Disneys cartoon characters.
Mickey and Minnie of course were the big sellers .
Other known character banks include:
101 Dalmatians
Buzz Lightyear
Disney Castles
Cinderella
Country Bear
Disneyland Paris
Donald Duck
Dopey
Eeyore
Flounder Bank
Lady and Tramp
Mickeys Car
Mrs Pots
Original Princess
Pinocchio
Pluto
Pocohontas
Princess Belle
Princess Jasmine
Rocket Banks
Simba
Sleepy
Snow WHite and 7 Dwarfs
Stitch
Tigger
Tinkerbell
Winnie the Pooh
Uncle Scrooge
Zurg
The early metal Banks are the ones to look for (especially those with a combination lock) Cast Iron and Tinplate banks are also popular with collectors
but later banks are known in Glass,Plastic and Ceramic
There are also Disney Banks with Gumball machines,moveable arm models,
alarm clock models and other imported models.
Banks were of course originally designed to encourage Children to save regularly
and very early ones had to be broken to get to the savings.
A novel idea was the automatic savings banks which were usually made of cast iron and the simple action of placing a coin the the mouth or hand of the character triggered a mechanism which moved an arm or other part of the character and deposited the coin inside the savings bank.

Disney Collectables - DisneyClubhouse collection

The Disney Clubhuse is a TV programme designed to have fun while learning for very young children.
Here is a sample :

The main character is of course Mickey himself and he manages to solve lots of problems with his able assistants.
(oh and the Magic Words too - Meeska,Mooska, Mickey Mouse !)

There are all kind s of merchandise associated with Mickeys Clubhouse -
these include :
A clubhouse for kids to play in,
Lots of Toys
A Sound Book,
A Clubhouse go-kart
clubhouse games for the Nintendo DS
Bedding and other furnishings
Videos, Dvds
Baking Cups and Cookie cutters
Party Supplies
and lots of books !

These truly stunningly beautiful Capodimonte figures are seriously destined to become heirlooms for your grandchildren.
We have a small but lovely selection of these gorgeously crafted pieces created by master Sculptor Enzo Arzenton available.

All our available Capodimonte Disney Pieces are HERE

Fun with Disney Characters !

Disneyland is a great day out but you usually only get to meet characters either
In the Town Square when you arrive or see them in a parade.

If you would really like to have fun with Disney Characters you should consider
Having a Disney Character Meal.
It is seriously the only way to spend a reasonable amount of time with your favourite characters.

To ensure you get a Disneyland Character meal you should make a reservation (you can do this up to 2 months before you arrive)
Book through the Disneyland Vacation Planning Services Department.

If you wait until the last minute you may not be able to make a reservation.

Many of the restaurants in Disneyland have Character Breakfasts and for these you do not need to make a reservation.

My favourite is at the Disneyland Hotel and that takes place in Goofys Kitchen.
Kids under 3 get to eat FREE ! You can make a reservation or you may have a long wait in line ..
At this Character breakfast you will always meet Goofy and Pluto (my personal favourite after Mickey !)

If you prefer to take your meal with a Princess then you should consider Ariels Grotto. This is a more elegant restaurant with 3 course meals and a Princess will always spend a little time at your table (but only one Princess at a time !)
It is a good idea to make a reservation here to – its quite popular.

If you want to see the characters and do not mind that they will not spend time individually with you then Storytellers Café is a good choice (the charcters will spend some time with children though)
This café has a buffet option and you might be lucky enough to find yourself at a character breakfast with Lilo and Stitch or even Minnie Mouse. Minnie gets very popular so make a reservation please.

Mickey sometimes makes a surprise appearance at breakfasts but you never know when that will be

If you are travelling with children then it really is something special for their day out in Disneyland and they will be talking about it for months to come afterwards

It is quite important to make a reservation for meals as many guests want to take advantage of meeting Disney Characters.
Out in the Park, characters sometimes get almost besieged by autograph hunters and then they do not have enough time to interact with as many guests as they would like to.

Did you know there was a Special 75th Anniversary Edition of Mickey Mouse Monopoly ?
This was to commemorate 75 years of Mickey Mouse in 2004.

It was produced under license by USApoly from Disney and Hasbro
In this version of Monopoly the Railroads are changed to Mickey Mouse Club,
The Wonderful World of Disney,The Mouse Factory and the House of Mouse.

Community Chest became Original Mickey and Chance became Present Day Mickey.
Income Tax transformed into Magic Broom Flood Damage and Luxury Tax became Dog License.
(look out Pluto they are after you !)

The Electric Light Company became Mickey Avenue and the Water Works was Walt Disney Studios.

You remember the Old Boot in the original Monopoly Tokens (we all fought for that one..)
The six Pewter Tokens were changed to :
Mickey Mouse
Minnie Mouse
Donald Duck
Daisy Duck
Pluto

Heres a charming Video of Minnie Mouse showing you around her house .

So thats where Mickey and Minnie Live ..(full refridgerator too !)

Minnie poses for pictures after with a cute little girl.