McCoy Pottery Davy Crockett Hand Painted Cookie Jar

Collectibles : Cookie Jars : Mccoy

 

This item is another current fake available from a well known wholesale source of non-authentic fakes and reproductions. The McCoy Pottery company produced more than two hundred cookie jars but only made one Davy Crockett cookie jar in 1958. Though this item is marked "McCoy" on the bottom, this piece bears absolutely no resemblance to the figural Davy Crockett cookie jar that company actually made.

This specific piece has been seen advertised on-line as a "Regal China McCoy" cookie jar with the suggestion that it was actually made for McCoy by the Regal China Company. That is to explain to the curious why this cookie jar cannot be found in a McCoy reference work, yet it bears the McCoy name. Although it may sound somewhat plausible this tale, too, is an invention.

The piece is marked in relief on the bottom. Compare the mark you see in this listing with known marks that the company used that can be found in various good reference works available on McCoy Pottery. This raised "McCoy" looks marginally like an original mark but is not very well done and has several easily spotted characteristics that differentiate it from any original mark.

Also note the all-over, inside and out, false 'age-crackle' effect given to the piece at manufacture. This is a common effect that will be found on many newer fakes as their makers know that it will more quickly allow the assumption to be made that the item must be old. The particular example shown in this listing has also had the cold paint decoration 'distressed' to improve its chances of being mistaken for a much loved, well-used, 50 year old cookie jar. But while the face, hat and body appear to have seen handling and abuse, strangely regular patterns of wear cannot be noted underneath on the base. It still has crumbs of kiln debris not yet worn smooth and spots of white glaze apparently unaffected by abrasion. Two areas toward the front of the jar have some abrasions, but they go only on one direction, suggesting sand paper, not normal irregular wear. The state of this foot-rim makes clear that while all the cookie filling and emptying went on above, apparently the base did not ever move at all across a counter top or table during these activities.

To see what this cookie jar looked like when purchased directly from the wholesale source not so long ago (and for a very nominal price unlike the hundreds of dollars often placed on it in the secondary market), see the "Another Batch of Nelson McCoy Fakes" link in this shop's Favorite Links section.

This jar is approximately 11 inches tall, 8 inches shoulder to shoulder and 8 inches front to back.

Item ID: 2007RP00039