Questions and Answers
 

QUESTION:  My grandmother gave me a Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar approximately twenty years ago.  I know she had it for a very long time.  It is marked on the bottom: “967 / HULL-WANE / LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD / PATENT APPLIED FOR U.S.A,”  There is one chip on the edge of her hood in the front.  I see so many different kinds of Little Red Riding Hood cookie jars that I am having trouble determining the value of the one I own. – RM, Allentown, PA, E-mail Question

ANSWER:  Hull’s Little Red Riding Hood pieces are so popular that an entire reference book has been devoted to them—Mark E. Supnick’s Collecting Hull Pottery’s “Little Red Riding Hood”: A Pictorial Reference and Price Guide (L-W Book Sales, copyright by author 1989, 1992 value update; 64 pages).

A. E. Hull, Sr., founded the Hull Pottery Company in 1905 and remained in control until his death in 1930.  A. E. Hull, Jr., his son, assumed the leadership of the company.  In March 1937 he resigned to become the president of the Shawnee Pottery Company.  Gerald F. Watts directed the company from March 1937 until January 1952, at which time J. B. Hull became president.  When J. B. Hull died in 1978, Henry Sulens assumed the presidency.  The company ceased operations in 1986.

On June 29, 1943, Louise Elizabeth Bauer of Zanesville, Ohio, acting on behalf of the E. E. Hull Pottery Company, received Design Patent 135,889, for a Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar.  Hull began producing the blank immediately.  A. E. Hull did not decorate its ware.  The Little Red Riding Hood blanks were decorated by the Royal China and Novelty Company of Chicago, Illinois.  The decorated blanks were returned to Hull for distribution.  This explains the confusion that occurs when attempting to research Little Red Riding Hood items.  Some price guides list the pieces under Hull while others list them under Royal China.

Supnick notes: “It is the belief of this author that A. E. Hull Company only produced some of the early cookie jars, marked ‘#967 Hull Ware, Little Red Riding Hood, Patent Applied for USA’ and the dresser jar with large bow in front marked ‘Hull Ware #932 USA.’  These items are the only ones that have the typical creamy off white pottery consistant (sic.) with Hull’s other lines.

“Items other than the two described above all have a bright white china that is inconsistent with the other lines of the A. E. Hull Company.  This bright white china along with the paint, decorations, and type of design is consistant (sic.) with the type of items that were produced by ‘The Royal China and Novelty Company’ a division of the ‘Regal China Corporation.’  The Regal China Corporation did produce a kitchen novelty line called ‘Old MacDonalds Farm.’  This line of kitchen novelty items follows very closely that of ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’….”

Five different marks were used on the bottom of the Little Red Riding Hood pieces.  Your mark appears to date from the mid-1940s.

Mark and Ellen Supnick’s The Wonderful World of Cookie Jars: A Pictorial Reference and Price Guide (L-W Book Sales, copyrighted by author in 1995, 1997 value update; 448 pages) pictures over thirty paint/decal variations of the Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar.  No wonder you are confused.  I did find an example that had identical decorations to the one you own.  Based on the Supnicks’ pricing structure, your decorating scheme is among the most commonly found.

The cookie jar market was hot in the early to mid-1990s.  The Supnicks valued your cookie jar in fine condition between $400.00 and $450.00.  Today the cookie jar market is in the doldrums, largely due to a flooded market on eBay.

I did a completed auction search for “Little Red Riding Hood +cookie jar” on eBay.  The result was eighty-three listings with two-thirds being the Hull/Royal China example.  Sellers who set high open bids close to book value saw their pieces attract little or no buyer attention.  An example offered at $300.00 failed to attract a bid.  Another example received one bid of $250.00, but it failed to trigger the reserve.  One example did sell for $179.19 (no shipping charges specified).  However, the vast majority that did sell sold for less than one hundred dollars, e.g., $86.01 plus $15.00 shipping, $76.00 plus $16.30 shipping, and $51.00 plus $16.70 shipping.

Thus far, I have not taken into account the damage to your jar.  Today any damage, especially when it is on the visible/display surface, is major.  The damage on your piece reduces its value by forty to fifty percent.

Your Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar has a value between $50.00 and $65.00, a far cry from what it would have been worth in the glory days of cookie jar collecting.  Given the survival rate of these jars, many examples in fine or better condition are available.  Hence, I doubt if a collector would be interested in purchasing your jar.  However, it does have value to individuals wishing to use it for decoration, which was my primary consideration in assigning the above value.

AUTHOR’S ASIDE – The McCoy Pottery Company failed to register its trademark.  As a result, Roger Jensen of Rockwood, TN, registered the mark on January 1, 1991.  Jensen has issued a Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar with a McCoy mark that is identical to the examples issued by Hull/Royal China.  This reproduction has a secondary market value of less than $50.00.
 

QUESTION: When I was a teenager, my father took me to see the “FREEDOM TRAIN” which toured the U.S. during the U.S. Bicentennial.  It has been almost thirty years now.  I am a little surprised at the lack of interest in collecting items from the Bicentennial.  When I searched eBay, I did not find many items offered as Bicentennial collectibles.  You can find items from the Bicentennial, but nothing seems to be aimed at this specific group of collectors.  If you collect Sevres, then sellers try to aim their items at you by including “Sevres” in their description or search terms.  Very little came up searching “Bicentennial.”  I may be mistaken about the collectivity of Bicentennial related items.  What is your opinion?  --  EE, E-mail Question

ANSWER: Using Rinker’s Thirty Year Rule—“For the first thirty years of anything’s life, all its value is speculative,” it would be fair to assume that a strong and stable secondary market for collectibles from the 1976 Bicentennial should exist.  Yet, I agree with you.  It does not.

I am a strong believer that collecting is memory driven.  However, recently I have begun asking the question: “Are there memories that do not trigger a collecting category?”  The answer that I have arrived at is “yes.”  Bicentennial memorabilia is an excellent example.

Centennial memorabilia is collected because it is associated with a world’s fair held in Philadelphia in 1876.  Although the 1926 Sesquicentennial did not produce a world’s fair, there was a major exhibition held in Philadelphia.  While Centennial memorabilia has attracted national collector attention, Sesquicentennial collectors are primarily found in the greater Philadelphia region.

The 1976 Bicentennial lacked a central location focus.  Jealousy among the states and state committees planning the event prevented agreement on the site for a world’s fair.  The 1976 Bicentennial focus was local and regional.  Having lived through the Bicentennial, I well remember the hype and celebrations that took place during the five years leading up to the Bicentennial.  By the time 1976 arrived, everyone was tired.  Most individuals just wanted the celebration to end, which, thankfully, it did.  Within months, Bicentennial memorabilia was relegated to the basement, attic, closet, or sent to the landfill.

I decided to check your assertion that Bicentennial memorabilia is hard to find on eBay.  When I searched “Bicentennial” I obtained 1,728 listings.  A quick glance told me my search was too broad.  The listings covered a host of Bicentennial events, including the current Lewis and Clark Expedition celebration.  I narrowed my search by using “Bicentennial +1976.”  This resulted in 543 listings, a far higher count than I expected.

Collecting markets can and are created.  My recommendation is to establish a website that provides information about Bicentennial memorabilia.  Include a chat board as a means of establishing a source of regular communication with other collectors.  Assuming you obtain enough e-mail addresses, consider starting a collectors’ club.

Write articles about Bicentennial collectibles and offer them to the trade periodicals.  Hopefully, one or more of the price guide authors will take note of all this activity and include a Bicentennial category in their next price guide.

Good luck.

QUESTION: I recently came across a set of thirty postcards.  The postcards are in their period box which is labeled “Fine Arts Card Set / Negro League / 5,652 of 10,000.”  What is their value?  --  CJ, E-mail Question

ANSWER: I had difficulty finding information about your postcard set on the Internet.  The only reference I found was to a set that was part of Lot 829, a “Large Negro League Autograph Collection,” sold  August 18, 2005, at Mastronet Auction.  Reading the lot description, I found that there were at least two sets, with thirty cards in the first set and thirty-two in the second.

What distinguishes the cards in your set from those offered for sale by Mastronet is the fact that nineteen of the cards were signed by the players.  Although the Mastronet listing calls the cards “visually alluring keepsakes,” they were mass-produced commemorative sets.  Any long-term investment potential is illusionary.

Ten thousand sets were produced.  Chances that nine thousand plus sets survive are great.  People who bought them did not throw them out.

Value is based on demand.  Based on my research, there is little to no secondary market demand for these sets.

Not having found specific value information, I am aware the following is purely judgmental.  The value of your set, assuming none have been signed by the players pictured, is under $50.00.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth century.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5093 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus, PA 18049.  You also can e-mail your questions to rinkeron@fast.net.  Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

HOW TO THINK LIKE A COLLECTOR (Emmis Books, 2005: $14.95), Harry’s new book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via www.harryrinker.com
 

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