Question:
I have a cookie jar that belonged to my great-grandfather. I would like to know if you have any additional information about the piece. It is a monk, and at the bottom it has a ribbon that says "Thou shalt not steal." It is light blue and about 11" high. It is in good condition with a couple small chips. It has three patent numbers on the bottom of it, 130328, 130329, 130330

Answer: Friar Tuck is the name of your cookie jar. The Friar Tuck cookie jar was introduced by Red Wing in 1941, along with his friends Katrina the Dutch Girl and Pierre the Chef. Price lists from 1942, 1943 and 1944 show them as being available in blue, yellow, and tan colors. An undated brochure, probably from the mid to late 1940s adds green as an available color. These three cookie jars were great sellers for Red Wing. Many thousands of them were made and production continued into the mid 1950s.

While these cookie jars are not at all rare, jars in excellent condition are not easy to find in any color. After years of use (often by the small hands of children more interested in the contents than the jar), these jars are usually chipped or cracked and have grease stains.

In the early years of production the patents numbers were marked on the bottom of the jars with an ink stamp. Some collectors place a higher value on jars that include the patent numbers, so add an extra $25 to $50 to the values listed below for your patent numbers.

A Friar Tuck cookie jar in excellent condition would be worth around $75 to $100 in the yellow or tan colors, with another $25 or so for blue. Green would be worth more because the color is less common. The small chips will detract some from the value, about as much as the patent numbers would add. It depends to a large extent on the location and visibility of those chips.

Larry