Cookie jar collecting became enormously popular in the late 1980s. After Andy Warhol died in 1987 his cookie jar collection was sold by Sotheby’s in 1988. Jars that would have cost about $75 were sold for over $1,000, and the final price for the collection of 175 cookie jars was $247,830. Publicity pushed the prices of the popular collectibles even higher and soon there were many reproductions. One that is still seen but is easy to recognize is “Muggsy,” a dog with a toothache and a bandage tied around his head. The reproduction is clearly marked “Brush McCoy” but the original cookie jar was made by Shawnee Pottery. Brush McCoy never made cookie jars. There were other well known cookie jars faked in the 1990s, most with the incorrect maker name of Brush McCoy, and some are still being made. Muggsy cookie jar fakes were also made in colors never seen on originals. Most originals had a blue bandanna but a few were green. Cookie jars with added decals and gold trim sell for more than plain ones so many of the fakes were made with the added decoration. Muggsy cookie jars were first made in 1946. In the 1990s the real jars sold for $250 to $995, but now the jars sell for about $75 to $150, and advertised fakes bring about $30.

Real Muggsy cookie jar by Shawnee