Question:
I have a cookie jar that belonged to my grandmother. We always called it "Pierre." It is about 12" tall, and in excellent condition. It has tremendous sentimental value to me, but I would be curious about it’s actual worth. I would love to know how old it actually is, where it was made, etc.

Answer: Your grandmother most likely called him Pierre because she knew his name from Red Wing promotional literature. The earliest Red Wing catalogs listed him as "Pierre the Chef". Later catalogs simply called him "Chef".

The Pierre the Chef cookie jar was introduced by Red Wing in 1941, along with his friends Katrina the Dutch girl and Friar Tuck. 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 oldest jars are stamped "Red Wing" in bluish-black ink son the bottom along with three patent numbers. Jars made a bit later do not include the patent numbers. Eventually (around 1950) the ink stamp was omitted and only "Red Wing USA" appears on the bottom, imparted by the mold that formed the piece.

The Pierre the Chef cookie jar was made by Red Wing Potteries in Red Wing, MN

.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. A chef 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. Chips, cracks and staining will reduce the value significantly.