Bill & Pat Wisnieski

Disney collections, Looney Tunes characters, the latest movie themes, American Indian figures, black musicians, and film stars like W.C. Fields have been brought together in the form of cookie jars. More than 1,300 of them line the china hutches and surround Bill and Pat Wisnieski's family room. The jars perch high over the shelves in the grocery store which the couple owns. Every kind of cookie jar imaginable is found in the Wisnieski cookie jar collection.

Bill and Pat began their interest in cookie jars at their Howells, Neb., home about 20 years ago (in the 1970's). They have since filled their home and store with a huge array of jars.

Their first purchase was a McCoy company Indian head jar, a $26 auction bargain. Their next pick was an apple covered Roseville jar, and the search continues.

The Wisnieski's scout flea markets and secondhand shops for the perfect jar. They also buy new jars if the design appeals to them: one filled with detail and showing skilled workmanship. They order jars from small art companies, searching for limited editions, or jars which are made by companies that have cast only 100 to 150 jars of one design before breaking the mold.

They acquire advertising jars: a Kraft marshmallow bear, a Keebler tree, a Nestle Toll House house, an Almost Home home, a Pillsbury Dough Boy or a Green Giant Sprout.

Some of the new jars on the Wisnieskis' shelves are of movie characters., old and new. The Bulldog Cafe, Aladdin's genie, and Mrs. Potts are displayed beside a Jack Skelington jar, four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle canisters, and nearly a dozen familiar faces from Looney Tunes cartoons.

The couple hunts for unique touches: gold work, flasher eyes, double-headed jars known as turnabouts, or jars with other interesting features. One jar depicts a cat sitting in front of a basket; the cat's curling tail forms the finial on the lid.

Jars which commonly appear in large retail stores are not usually found in the Wisnieski collection.

Bill and Pat have cataloged their entire accumulation of jars, a necessary step when the cookie keepers began to mount up. The name of the jar, its creator, purchase price, condition and other pertinent information is listed page by page. The Wisnieski's prefer to buy no cracked or repaired jars.

They don't buy every jar they see. "It's not like a blood transfusion. It's not like something I can't live without," Bill said. "We don't have the biggest collection by far, but we have more good jars than the average collection."

The most valuable jar in the Wisnieski collection is a Disney school bus. "There's three groups of people that want that jar," Bill said, which increases its value, "collectors of Disney, collectors of Mickey Mouse, and collectors of cookie jars. Plus, the jar is old."

The oldest jar in the Wisnieski assortment is one shaped like a woven basket, a round brown jar made by McCoy in the late 1930s.

Jars of ceramic, glass, tin, stoneware and Carnival glass are displayed beside celluloid containers (the forerunner of today's plastic), a wooden jar, and even one crafted of papier-mache.

Cookie jar companies in the United States have consolidated, closed and been renamed over the years. Some familiar names include Shawnee, Brush, Hull, Abington, McCoy, Red Wing, and Twin Winton, known for its distinctive shades of tan finishes.

The age of jars is determined by company logos used during certain periods, and jar numbers which are incised into the mold, stamped on afterwards, or listed on stickers pasted to the bottom of the jar. Other markings on the jar bottoms determine age, and are listed in cookie jar books.

An author of one of the first of these books published is Ermagene Westfall of Richmond, Miss., who inspired the Wisnieskis in amassing their collection, both by her book and in person. Cookie jar books show photographs of jars, identify the manufacturer, and occasionally show markings which differentiate an original company's design from a reproduction.

Reproductions are often smaller than the originals. "It may be less than one-half inch," Pat said. "You have to be so careful. There are lots of reproductions out now. You do have to be very wary as a collector. We've been stung, and we have more experience than some."

Bill and Pat's expertise comes in handy when scouting antique stores and garage sales for jars. "It's rare when you find a jar that's worth anything anymore," Bill said, because of the newfound interest in old jars. "You have to be out and about early in the morning to find anything," he said.

"Our looks and seeks are on Sundays or during vacations," Pat said. She has managed to find many jars that her husband enjoys. "I've talked him into a number of jars. He's a pushover - he likes them so well." (Thanks for reprinting permission to AntiqueWeek)

(written by Sue Reeves for the Columbus, NE, Telegram May 1997 and reprinted with their permission)

HOWELLS--If you're a cookie, there is no safer place to hide out than at Bill's Food Mart in Howells.

There is a yellow cab jar and a cactus jar and a Noah's ark jar. There are jars cast in the likeness of almost every cartoon character known to mankind. A brown-robed monk jar proclaims, "Thou shalt not steal." Another jar simply says, "Calories."

In all, 600 jars occupy three shelves lining the walls of the store. Another 350 are on display at Wisnieski's home. He sold 500 jars three years ago (in 1994) at auction.

The collection began 24 years ago when Wisnieski bought a McCoy Indian Head jar. It now sits between two ceramic tepee jars at the front of the store.

"It kept mushrooming," he said. He estimates about 5 percent of his collection has come from auctions, while the rest were found at flea markets and out-of-the-way antique shops. While it started as a hobby, he now views the jars as an investment.

A short, stout man with closely cropped white hair, Wisnieski leans on a stack of yellow water-softener salt bags near the checkout counter and talks of the jars.

Before the 1950's, most jars were stoneware, with designs painted on them. Now, they are mostly ceramic. Some are stamped with the manufacturer's name. Some have the name molded in. There are few companies in the United States that still make jars, he said. As a result, he hasn't bought many new ones recently.

Although there are few new jars available, some are collectible. For example, only 500 Gene Autry cookie jars will be made, and then the mold will be broken. The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans jars will be limited editions of only 1,934 each, commemorating the year in which they made their first movie together. Wisnieski has one of each.

A lot of people collect jars, he said. A cookie jar convention is held in Nashville, Tenn., every year. Newsletters and pricing books offer advice on buying and selling. Still, Wisnieski said, a book is just a guide.

"You can say you want $1,000 for a jar, but you gotta have two people that want to buy it" in order to get the price, he said.

People who start collecting jars now are never going to make any money at it, Wisnieski said.

"There are too many reproductions now," he said. "You have to be careful when you go anywhere."

As an example, he points out the 12-jar set of Warner cartoon characters above the baked goods rack.

He strolls around the store, pointing out the Ninja Turtles jars and the Michael Jordan Space Jam jar and the brown moose jar the grandkids gave him for Christmas one year.

As he warms to the subject, the smiles become broader and the stories get longer. Absently, he straightens heads of lettuce here and rotates bunches of ripening bananas there.

"A good jar is old, in good shape and made by a good company," Wisnieski said. "(One that's) old and in good shape that I bought for a few dollars and now is worth a couple hundred, maybe"

None of the jars has any real sentimental value, Pat said, although collecting them has been fun.

"If somebody came in and offered me X amount of dollars for the lot and said I could keep 10 percent of them," Wisnieski laughed, "I'd have to dig pretty deep to find 90 jars that I'd keep."

People have told him over the years that he should have gotten this jar or that jar. But Wisnieski shrugs them off.

"I'm happy with what I got," he said. "A jar is not like a blood transfusion. If I don't get it, I'm still gonna live."