Choo-choo! Cookies coming through! This adorable, unmarked steam locomotive cookie jar sold at a QBO Estate Sale was made by Maurice of California, AKA Maurice of California Pottery, or Maurice Ceramics of California. At 9″ tall, 10″ long and 8.5″ wide, this engine hauls a lot of cookies! There was just one basic mold of this green locomotive jar so each one is identically shaped, but there was quite a lot of variation in the painting – on some the little bolts are left white, on some the window panels have yellow curtains or no curtains, on some the wheels are all black, or all white. The variants are different enough that sometimes they don’t even look like the same jar; unusual for a mass-produced product even when painted by hand.
The ceramic company was founded in Los Angeles by Maurice Pechman in 1954, starting out with a variety of housewares including mod Mid-Century Chip & Dip sets, serving platters and abstract art ashtrays. As well as locomotives, there were also monkey cookie jars, koala cookie jars, clown cookie jars, etc. being made well into the 1970s. Most popular of the Mid-Century cookie jars at the time of production was a tall, lovely basket piled high with healthy fruit. But surprise, it’s a Trojan Horse of calorific cookies! As the company expanded it also imported ceramics, glass and dinnerware from Europe and Asia. Maurice of California closed in 1985.
This ‘Bud the Soldier’ was made earlier, in the 1940s during WWII. The cookie jar is 11″ tall, and 6″ x 6″ at its base. It was produced by the Robinson-Ransbottom Pottery Company (R.R.P. Co Pottery) which also made a sailor cookie jar dressed in Navy blues and sporting a jaunty white sailor cap. The two military men stand in the same posture and have almost identical faces, but the molding details of their uniforms differ. Unlike the glossy glaze on the locomotive, Bud here has a matte finish all over, like a bisque China doll.
R.R.P. Co Pottery started as Ransbottom Brothers Pottery in 1900, when brothers Frank, Ed, Johnnie, and Mort bought the Oval Ware and Brick Co in Roseville, Ohio. By 1916 they were the largest producer of stoneware jars in America. They next merged with Robertson Clay Products Company in the 1920s to become the RRP Company, producing a variety of art pottery, and garden and household goods such as crocks, serve-ware and cookie jars. Under their Crown Pottery brand, R.R.P. Co. produced the Old Colony line from the mid-1930s – 1950s and the Rustic Ware line from the mid-1930s – 1960s. R.R.P. Co. made it to the 21st Century, closing in 2005. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has RRP Co. catalogs in its library.
These two jars seem to have nothing in common besides cookies, but the existence of the locomotive jar is due in part to the actions of the soldiers depicted by the other. Maurice Pechman, founder of Maurice of California, was born in Krakow, Poland in 1924. A teenager when World War II broke out, he survived the brutal German occupation of Krakow only to be transported – probably by train – to the Auschwitz concentration camps where over a million people died. When Allied troops (American, Russian and British) liberated concentration camps in Germany and German-occupied territories in 1945, they were traumatized by what they found. But young Maurice Pechman survived to make his way to the U.S. in 1950 and brighten the lives of others with his fun, well-made products, living to the age of 87. A vintage cookie jar may seem a trivial memorial, but it’s a great conversation starter with kids, isn’t it? (P.S. Be kind! Vintage cookie jars can’t go in the dishwasher, just hand-wash with dish soap and air dry.
Tuesday Treasures was started by our staff member, Jeanne Lusignan. Each week she will be featuring items that have been found at our estate sales. If you would like to submit a treasure for Jeanne to feature in a future installment of “Tuesday’s Treasures”, please follow the button below and send us an email! Please attach a few photos of your treasure in a beautiful setting as well as any details you have about your item such as manufacturer, use, age, region of origin. If you don’t know about the piece, that’s okay! We still might be able to research it for you! Don’t forget to tell us what makes this item such a treasure to you!