McCoy is the best known American company for producing cookie jars and pottery. If you doubt me, go to a mall, antiques shop or show, there most likely there will be quite a few McCoy pieces there. the problem is, they aren’t always the Real McCoy!
Unfortunately many dealers consider themselves experts or at least want their customers to think they are and will very emphatically say, “this is a McCoy piece”. Well, it might be, butMcCoy is also the one company that has been most often reproduced.
Education and few good books are the only recourse buyers have when wanting to buy authentic pieces.
Beware of:
- Sellers who say “This is marked McCoy”. Sure, it might be marked, but that doesn’t make it real.
- Cookie Jars that have the mark Brush McCoy on the bottom. There were never, ever any cookie jars made with that mark. Never.
- McCoy Mammy jars — there are only two different molds made, with a very slight variation on one mold. Learn what those two are
and how they were finished before buying one of the hundreds of fake Mammy jars on eBay. - If a seller mentions the New McCoy Company — keep your money in your pocket.The New McCoy Company started producing jars in 1992 and it’s just another name for a fake cookie jar, that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual McCoy company.
When looking at cookie jars on the Internet and at shows,
the Top Reasons why you should back away from the sale.
- It’s claimed that it was found in the estate of a very old lady, most likely in her attic.
- The seller does not give refunds.
- There is a very heavy distinct and even crazing over the entire cookie jar.
- Or the jar looks too new and too good. Old jars should not look like new.
- The seller has many auctions of similar jars that are usually hard to find.
- Size is off — lightweight or shorter
- The jar is unknown, but the seller has sold duplicates of it, check previous auctions.
- More bidders than expected or typical. Think shill bidding!
- More than a few negative feedbacks on eBay.
