Warman's Cookie Jars

If you love cookie jar collecting, add this book to your collection. You can never have enough books showing jars and prices. But if you're looking for information on newer jars (after the mid '70s) this book isn't for you. Warman's Cookie Jars (author Mark Moran) covers the 1930s to the early 1970s.

As a jar collector, I've been eager to see the "new" book. There are lots of pictures along with a short sentence under each picture with the size, mention of the mark and price estimate. Throughout the book are little blurbs about particular jars, e.g. the McCoy Mammy, which helps make a more interesting book.

Although some sections had very clear pictures, others were a bit fuzzy or too bright. I'm not sure if the problem is in the printing or the actual picture, but I would love to see more consistency in the images.

Also an index by category would have been nice, no index makes it hard to find a jar when you have no idea of the maker, the only choice is leafing through the entire book.

The book covers quite a few of the pottery companies and some are well done, such as McCoy, Red Wing and Abingdon. These chapters include not only numerous pictures, but information relating more about the company and jars, as well as interesting tidbits not always known.

As for prices, with few exceptions, I felt they were on the high side for today's market. Moran establishes the prices "using the resources in large, private collections and with the help of respected dealers". Realistically, auction prices, both online and from auction houses, should also be factored into the price.

No matter what the collectible, you can rarely expect to sell an item for the price mentioned in a price guide. And as for buying, there aren't many, if any, jars I would purchase at the price shown in this guide.