McCoy Pottery

McCoy Pottery of Roseville, Ohio, was a leader in production pottery for almost sixty years, and their cookie jars have always been a popular part of the McCoy line of products.  First made in the 1930's, McCoy produced cookie jars in hundreds of forms and finishes.  Blanks were glazed in a wide variety of colors, and decorated individually and by hand.  Occasionally, a potter would modify a blank, creating a  true one-of -a-kind piece.  Nelson McCoy Jr. once told me that the most valuable cookie jar he'd ever heard of was a version of the 1955 Jack-o-lantern jar in which the potter had cut out the features to create a lantern.  Only one of these is known to exist.  

The McCoy Mark

Sometimes, a piece would be taken out of production, only to be brought back years later, occasionally with changes in glaze or detailing.  Because of this, the best way to date a particular piece is by the style of the backstamp, or manufacturer's mark, usually on the bottom. 

Depending on the age of the McCoy, it can be marked on the bottom with an embossed NM or NM USA (1930-40's), the McCoy logo or McCoy USA (1940's-60's).  McCoy from the 70's and eighties show an LC and McCoy or MCP and McCoy, McCoy inside a circle or a silhouette of a pitcher.  The most recent logos tend to be more elaborate.  Some McCoy products were unmarked, however, and some were marked simply USA.

How to Spot the Real McCoy

Dating and/or authentication genuine unmarked McCoy is more difficult but not impossible.  The most obvious step is researching at your public library, where information is readily available.  Having been a popular collectible for a number of years, many collector books have been written on both McCoy and cookie jars.  If you can't find a book, a clue for authenticity can be found on the bottom of even an unmarked piece of pottery.  McCoy products always have a dry foot, meaning a portion of the bottom that is unglazed where the bottom rested on the kiln.  This either shows up as a ring that follows the contour of the bottom, or lines that resemble feet.  Check the bottom of your cookie jar.  If it's completely glazed on the bottom with three or more small unglazed spots (from where the spurs, or racks held the piece during firing) it probably isn't a real McCoy, even if it looks like one.

McCoy's Most Popular Cookie Jars 

At present, some of the most popular and valuable cookie jars are McCoy's various Black Americana models.  Collectors refer to these as Mammy jars, and since they have crossover appeal (items sought by both collectors of Black Americana as well as cookie jars) prices remain high, but have dropped significantly in the last ten years or so.  The line of Black Americana jars are popular, especially the Mammy and Broccoli version, and the early 1940's jar that had the words, "Dem cookies sho gots dat Vitamin A" on the skirt.  This cookie jar was never in full production, so examples (which are found in yellow, white and aqua) are rare.  Other highly collectibel cookie jars include the Davy Crockett model, The Negro Chef, the Majorette, and the Reclining Cow with the words Cookie & Milk.  This one sold in 1998 for $10,000!

Beware of McCoy Reproductions

Anything as popular as McCoy is in danger of being reproduced, so collectors should be cautious, especially of online bargains.  A quick check on eBay today turned up a large number of Cookie Jars that are probably fakes, even though they have the McCoy backstamp.  One cookie jar that appeared numerous times was called "Sassy Mammy", an Aunt Jemima type with her hands on her hips.  I have never seen this jar, nor is it in any of the five McCoy collector books in my library.   

Sometimes, the unscrupulous use a geniune McCoy piece to produce a mold, then make copies the same way McCoy would have done 60 or 70 years ago, but these jars are smaller than the originals.  This isn't much help unless you have access to the exact dimensions of the originals, or are able to make a side by side comparison.  A better method of spotting a fake is by the condition of the painted decoration.  A large majority of McCoy cookie jars with details in colors in addition to the base glaze were decorated with a "cold paint" technique, that is, the paint is applied after the glazing.  This type of paint has proven to be not terribly durable, and highly suseptible to chipping. 

Unlike art pottery, McCoy was made to be functional.  Housewives loved and used their McCoy cookie jars, and most authentic vintage jars show their age.  Be leery of purchasing a highly decorated cookie jar with perfect paint, especially in the most popular forms such as Black Americana, as the chances are strong that you are buying a Fake McCoy.