Question:
Growing up in the 50′s my Nannie had a Frier Tuck cookie jar in blue. I always loved the jar. Upon her death years later i ebecame the new owner. One day a friend noticed it up on my plant t in my kitchen and said she recently saw it online. Is this a special addition or a valuable piece? Its valuable to me is it reminds me of the smell of warm cookies baking in my Nanny’s kitchen! ;) Cindy

Answer: 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.

The Friar, Chef and Katrina cookie jars are popular with collectors today. While these cookie jars are quite common, 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. A blue Friar Tuck cookie jar in excellent condition would be worth around $75. Chips, flakes, cracks, stains or other damage will reduce the value significantly.

If your Friar Tuck cookie jar was around in the 1950s then it is almost certainly an original Red Wing piece and was a standard production item. The bottom should be marked RED WING USA, and most jars also were marked with a dark ink stamp.

Larry