Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Leeds Alice Cookie Jar

Leeds made several cookie jars over the years, most famous were probably the turnaround jars from the 1940s. In the 1950s they simplified their jar design by using a standard jar with different embossed characters. This Alice jar is of that later design.

As with all (or most) Leeds cookie jars, the decoration is painted overglaze. And in this case, Alice had donned her fetching red dress which was so popular with RKO and the National Screen Services posters we saw a while back. The lid is cool, with the word Cookies embossed on it.

Now above I said that most Leeds jars were decorated overglaze. But there is a variant (I love it!) of the Alice jar that is underglaze. The white jar.

This cookie jar is so different from the much more common blue jar that it really can't be considered a true variant but a separate jar altogether, but I'm on a schedule so no separate post for you - so sue me.

The basic Alice figure embossed on the jar is the same, but the decoration is totally different (and correct), and of course underglaze. The jar itself is totally different in material composition, shape, and glaze, and the lid has some sort of candy or cake as its finial (looks more like a nipple to me, but I won't go there). And what is that mutant sombrero plant thing next to Alice supposed to be? My guess is that it is supposed to be a mushroom, perhaps upside down having been recently plucked for accelerated Alice growth, but it sure is weird looking.

The campaign book pictures yet another variation that appears to be a hybrid of the two above. I don't think it was ever produced in this style (at least I've never seen it), although I have seen that jar style on a Donald Duck cookie jar

1 comment:

Tara Beaulieu said...

Hi there! I just came across this post while Googling.

I acquired the blue version of this Alice cookie jar this morning and I'm wondering if you can tell me anything else about it.

Mine is in far worse condition than the one in your photo- nearly all of Alice's paint has worn off, but the jar itself is still in really good shape. Was her skin ever painted in or was it always blue? Mine is totally blue and based on what I can see in your photo, yours is too.

Also- I don't know if there's any monetary value in this jar. I bought it (cheap) purely for nostalgic purposes. I was thinking about repainting Alice, but if it's a valuable piece in "as is" condition, I'll certainly leave it alone.

Any info you can give me is greatly appreciated! Thanks!