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My mother-in-law gave us this cute Raggedy Andy cookie jar this past summer. It’s the very same jar that my husband swiped cookies from when he was a child, and now our kids are following the tradition. When I look at this well-loved and well-used jar perched on our kitchen counter, I can see how people fall in love with collecting cookie jars.

Their bright colors and fun designs make cookie jars popular with collectors. Cookie jars have been made in all sorts of styles, from whimsical cartoon characters to pretty floral designs. Some of the biggest names in pottery have created cookie jar designs, including McCoy, whose jars are highly sought after by collectors today.

The beginning collector will discover that there are a lot of great jars out there, and if you’re not careful with your selections you’ll soon find yourself drowning in cookie jars. It’s a good idea to narrow your focus. For example, you could build your collection around a certain style of cookie jar, such as television characters, or a certain manufacturer. While it may be difficult to focus when first starting out, as you become more knowledgeable about cookie jar collecting you’ll begin to notice which types of jars attract you the most.

When buying cookie jars, try to find them in the best shape possible. If you hope to sell your collection at some time in the future, jars with fewer flaws are bound to sell faster and fetch better prices. Of course, if you come across a rare jar that you know is valuable even with a few small chips, go ahead and pick it up. If the jar is missing its lid, then pass it over – it’s not worth much.

Books such as Warman’s Cookie Jars: Identification And Price Guide can be helpful for identifying the manufacturer, age and value of a collectible cookie jar. These are especially helpful to the beginning collector, who might not know which cookie jars are rare and which can be easily found.

Political collecting can be a strange area. Not just because politicians are strange, but because the details may not transfer with time.

Culture, pop culture especially, is a funny thing that way.

There are specific issues that defined the times, the climates in which men (and a few women) ran for public office. Political slogans & emblems are often mysterious or strange years later because the reasons for the symbol or even the political issue itself is no longer ‘important,’ perhaps it is even no longer remembered.

Looking at them now, you learn a lot about American history. OK, sometimes you laugh too, either at the symbols or the issues, or the freakin’ candidates themselves. But looking at political collectibles is rarely boring.

For example, did you know that the Republicans have used other symbols besides the elephant? Did you know one of them was a dinner pail?!

Starting around 1894, the pail symbolized the party’s commitment to protecting American industry and labor by supporting a tariff on imports & to advocate full employment. It was first used on the all-important political campaign buttons (or pin backs) in the 1900 campaign, with over 15 different versions.

It was so popular with the Republicans that this pail symbol was used until the Depression.

Pins & buttons have always been popular. And confusing. Like those shown above. The chemical symbols for gold &/or water, were displayed on items supporting Barry Goldwater for president in 1964. And the”Willkie Says Spinach is Spinach—It Sure Is, Franklin” is something you’d likely never guess…

This button was derived from a New Yorker cartoon, in which a kid tries some broccoli, then pushes her plate away with the words “I say it’s spinach and to hell with it.” The button’s message is that Willkie would ‘tell it like it is.’

But political campaigns have used more than the traditional buttons to promote candidates & issues. Ceramics, glass, bandannas, canes, hats, jewelry, lampshades & pipes have been used to carry the message, the face & the slogans of candidates & parties. Even cigars have been a powerful political symbol through the years. (Struggling to refrain from any Clinton comments!)
Where-ever there has been a symbol available to rally the public, it has been used as well.

In 1901, the political news was about the organized power of the railroads and how it concerned the finances of the farmer. A popular novel about farmers and the Railroad Trust was titled “The Octopus” inspired this glass flask.

The ‘odd’ orange octopus covering this milk-glass silver-dollar flask is an example of such symbolism, and while it may not be the same message used with today’s symbolism of the octopus, it is still valued by collectors today — In fact this flask, dating to 1901, sold for $1,000 at a Glass Works Auction in East Greenville, Pa.

Like the octopus, many political collectibles are hiding their political connections — and thus their interesting stories. Like this stick pin.

Stamped “Carry A Nation” this hatchet stick pin might be overlooked by the average person at a flea market who didn’t know of it’s importance. “Carry A Nation” was not just a slogan, it’s the name of Carry A. Nation, one of the leaders of the temperance movement. The short version of the fascinating story of Carry is that of a woman called by God to rid her country of the ills of alcohol. She became so frustrated with the lack of enforcement of temperance law that on June 1, 1900, she smashed her first saloon. Thus, the hatchet pins were sold to supporters to raise funds for the cause.

Perhaps the oddest political collectible that I’ve seen yet is this century-old “soap baby.” This baby wears a tag that says “My Papa will vote for McKinley,” but there were those endorsing Bryan as well. (And Bryan ones are much rarer now than ones promoting McKinley.)

The soap baby was used in the election of 1896, aka Republican William McKinley vs. Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

McKinley items are very popular to collectors as this was one of the first ‘modern’ political campaigns — the amount of advertising material put out (by both candidates) was huge.

Even if you are not a person who values the cultural or historical value of political collectibles, or, dare I think it, you lack the ability to value the hysterical in many of these items, keep your eyes out for unusual political pieces — They sell for high prices!

The soap babies, while maybe fetching auction prices of $15 to $30 (for McKinley anyway), are given replacement values of $75 by insurance companies – indicating they will only rise in value. The dinner pail pin above, in nice conditions, sells for well over $100 (and that was in 1997!)

The rare items, older candidates, etc. will fetch the highest prices, but even some more ‘modern’ candidates have larger price tags. (Think “Kennedy” — Heck, if it was worn by a Kennedy, or sneezed on by a Kennedy… But ‘that *snot* glamorous’ is it?) And who knows what the present day campaign bumper stickers, pins, sweatshirts, comics, etc. will fetch at the auctions of decades from now?

So while you search flea markets for the old campaign trail items, pack away a few ‘classics’ from current elections — even local political office campaigns too… You never know where that bum in office will end up!

By way of concluding coverage of the pleasantly chaotic Toy Fair, I think that’s it’s really important to mention some of the stuff that people generally don’t get to see. There are three enormous floors worth of toys and games and ideas in the Javits Center alone. That’s without even taking the free shuttlebus to the Toy District, which has two towers interconnected by a bridge and each floor full of showrooms and offices, all dedicated to the pursuit of innocent pleasure. Far too much flies under the media radar, some of it exciting and innovative, and some of it hopeless and bound to crash and burn and give off highly toxic fumes. I’ll let you decide which is which in this small gallery.

By way of ‘collectability’, Spin Master has two different Marvel Comics items planned for this year. The first of these is a series of super-tiny comic books that can only be read with a magnifying glass, to be packaged in groups of seven, which reprint both recent and classic Marvel comics. Reprinting comics in teensy form isn’t a NEW idea, and DC Direct did it exceptionally well when they packed in mini-comics in their ‘First Appearances’ line of action figures, but these… seriously tiny. Eye-strain tiny. ‘Secret cabal with the optometrists of the world’ tiny. And presumably, one can also play games with these tiny comics, like a trading card game.

The second innovative collectible idea from them is individually packaged Marvel chess pieces, representing a wide array of superheroes and bad guys in 3D, mini form. I remarked that I was surprised to see Red Skull among the characters, given the fact that he has serious Nazi leanings and most companies shy away from using him, but Captain America DOES need someone’s butt to kick. These chess pieces will be sold at your local toy store for around 2 bucks. It may take a lot to fill up a chess board, but when you’re done, it really looks like a lot of double-nerd fun. They’re more like miniature statues than actual, delineated chess pieces, but they’re an interesting concept.

LEGO will be expanding their Star Wars line of products to include more mini-figures (arguably the best part of collecting LEGOs) and scenarios. I practically squealed with delight when I noticed that they’d finally made a Boba Fett in a little LEGO Sarlacc Pit. You know, the sand-hole-with-teeth that he fell into on Tattooine? Like a total goober? THAT pit, in blocky LEGO form. LEGO will also be rolling out the first in a Batman themed set of products, ranging from ten dollar vehicles to high priced playsets like the Batcave. Mini-figures will include Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Penguin, the Joker and Killer Croc, among others. There are no plans to release these separately, but if you get those late night Batman Mini Figure pangs like I do, you can always look up Art Asylum’s C3 line of construction kits, which include mini-figures of many DC characters at a cheap price. Be warned that many of these C3 sets had missing and malformed piece issues which can no longer be resolved with the company, as the line has been discontinued. You can’t beat Lego anyhow, and if you tried, you’d probably totally cut up your hands on their damned sharp corners. It can just about kill you if you step on a LEGO in the dark – I care not to fathom what one could do should you engage it in fisticuffs.

Also, be sure to check out the LEGO Factory, where you can custom design ANYTHING you want online and have them ship it to you. It’s amazing beyond words.

My number one favorite Toy of the Year [non-mainstream category] is by far Product Enterprise’s prototype ‘Space Vixens of Galaxy Vega’ line. Call it a love of retro-space-chicness (or ‘chickness’), or call it a simple appreciation of women in all of their spacebound forms, but Captain Peggy Rider took my breath away. She’s but the first 12” figure in a line of many that are planned, and while Product Enterprise (a European company who has previously focused on sci-fi vehicle reproductions) is searching for wide distribution on these, I’ll be dreaming of what could come next. If the final product is anything like the prototype, this will be one of the rare instances that an original intellectual toy property completely takes the market by storm. Keep an eye out for this – I predict great things.

Mimobot presents a completely useful functionality to the world of collectible mini-figures. Not only are these little guys very indie-art stylish, but you can pop open their heads and store a considerable amount of data on them via a USB port! Some people might call them flash drives. I call them ingenious. The ‘urban vinyl / designer toy’ market is burning up right now, merging pop surrealist artistry with toy culture, and now with computer culture and functionality. These start at about 60 bucks and work their way up in price as data storage increases. And it’s a lot more fun to store your term paper on a ninja.

One of the more literally rewarding items we found is ‘Perplexcity‘, and by ‘rewarding’ I mean ’solve a series of puzzles and get $200,000 in real cash money’ rewarding. Worldwide puzzle games with actual buried treasure are nothing new, but Perplexcity adds a new spin on the genre of real-live adventure by incorporating it into a trading card game. Collect packs of cards, solve the increasingly difficult puzzles on each card, trade them with other puzzle solvers and tally your points online to unlock deeper and deeper clues. Eventually, these clues will lead you to finding ‘the Cube’ somewhere in the actual world. I’ve played games like this before, and they’re HIGHLY addictive. Subcultures are formed around them, and the earlier you get in on them, the better off you fare in the game. Similarly, the wider your unmoving butt grows as you seek out each progressive clue. The second wave of cards is coming out now, and many of the players have almost 7000 points, so you’d better hurry.

I found myself wishing that I’d had a few more days just to take in the sites, see more costumed characters, pick up another sack full of free goodies and samples, but the highly inclement weather and fatigue and a lack of traveling companion prevented me from visiting the event on a second day. We sampled milkshakes and played drums and suffered through barely-English presentations of completely bizarre board games that promoted unhealthy lifestyles. Last year, I got in trouble for my lambasting of certain items by name, so I’ll avoid those strings of diplomatic eMails this year by being polite. Poke around through the photo gallery and see what we saw.

There’s dreams and aspirations packed into the halls of the Javits Center during Toy Fair. Sometimes, you recognize dreams from last year and you’re pleased that the dreams are still alive, no matter how crazy. Some dreams you never see again, and some blossom into incredible things. And some dreams are spandex-clad girls who giant metal helmets with Jimmy Durante noses on them, and you sigh and wander to the next booth.

I can’t wait to do it again next year.

I adore the romantic, old-fashioned look of a table set with crisp white linens and gleaming sterling silver tableware. It reminds me of something out of a Katherine Hepburn film set in the forties. Candlesticks, coasters, salt & pepper shakers, silverware – I just love collecting that stuff. All that beautiful silver needs to be taken care of properly, though, to keep it looking its best. Here are a few tips for caring for silver.

While I think that a little tarnish deep in the grooves of a piece with raised surfaces has a nice old-fashioned look about it, most people want their pieces on display to be tarnish free. Tarnish removers can usually be found at home stores or even the cleaning section of the supermarket. You don’t want to use tarnish removers too often, because they can contain harsh chemicals that strip some of the silver from the piece you are cleaning. Look for a tarnish remover that’s specifically meant for silver, and use a gentle rubbing motion with a soft cloth when removing tarnish from the piece.

After the initial tarnish removal, it’s best to prevent tarnish from forming again on your silver that’s on display. When silver is being displayed, in a china cabinet for instance, silica gel can be used to keep the air dry and limit the amount of tarnishing. A monthly cleaning with just a clean, damp cloth should keep the tarnish away. After using the silver, simply washing by hand and drying it can keep it tarnish-free. It’s a good idea to empty salt from silver salt shakers between uses, since the salt can corrode the silver.

When the silver is not on display, wrap it in silver storage cloths which are designed to limit the formation of tarnish. These can be found at jewelry shops and stores where silverware is sold. The silver can then be placed in a plastic bag or storage chest.

Magazines written by and for collectors fill a wide range. My experience is a great many limit their focus to price guides, appraisal tips for items, and profiles of the most obsessed among them. I admit, I read those — I’m a sucker for explanations of slight variations in paint colors and a grinning Iowan standing in front of a wall covered with John Deere green Ertl reproductions — but they lack sticking power. Every issue is about a long-lost item and a obsessed collector. There’s a superficiality, the loss of something in in the gulf between the tiniest aspects and the largest volume.

Fine Books & Collections is a fresh exception to the collecting-magazine rules. It doesn’t miss on auction prices and appraising details, but the core of article selection appears to be the love of the collection itself. The cover stories, in particular, are not about the minutiae of a valuable book. Significant space is devoted to the beauty of the books that collectors have safely stored away. One issue focused on the dustjacket art of Joseph Capek, another on classic ABC books, one further on books bound in hand-crafted silver. Voice is given to the usual collector news (“one recently sold at auction for $50,000″), but the captions and notes express the aspects collectors love about their collections.

Most collectors compile their collections for reasons other than auction value or rarity, and for this reason many collecting magazines fall short. FB&C’s article on ABC books, for example, could have displayed a photo of a collector sitting amongst his bookshelves, describing in detail the whys and hows of his collection. Instead, the article gave readers an insight into the collection itself: twenty-six of the finest examples of ABC books, organized alphabetically, of course. Sure, the Dr Seuss ABC, owned by every child whose parent sent $1 for the first 5 book-club selections, is included in the list — but how could it not be? Its place in the perfect ABC collection should not be understated. Printing the biography of yet another collector gives little insight into what collectors want to see: the collection itself. This devotion to collections also manifests itself in the Collegiate Book-Collecting Championship, a competition sponsored by FB&C which rewards the “intelligence and originality” of each entrant’s collection.

In a market where collection magazines miss their mark on what collectors do, Fine Books & Collections shows how to publish a quality magazine worth reading again — in fact, worth saving and becoming a collection itself.