A Special Retirement Cookie Jar

One of the best perks I have had as President of the AJCA is the number of great people I have had the opportunity to meet through the Internet. On an average, I receive 3-5 emails a week from folks curious about the identity of a jar they inherited from Grandma, or how they can find a lid replacement. Occasionally I am asked to help locate a particular jar. This has led to some wonderful adventures, and this is the story of my favorite one!

I received an email late in May from Sharon Riggs of Connecticut, who had visited my personal website which shows photos of my collection. Sharon wished to purchase our California Originals Tigger cookie jar for a retirement gift for a teacher friend. Her friend had a wonderful collection of old Winnie the Pooh Cookie Jars in her kitchen and she was certain the old Tigger jar would be the perfect gift.

As many of you know, Pooh and Tigger hold a special place in the cookie jar collection in our house. Ron had spent several years searching for that special Tigger jar in mint condition to add to our collection. The thought of selling it was just not possible.

I replied to Sharon explaining to her that the jars on my site were my personal collection and not for sale. But.... I told her I had a wonderful resource of friends through the ACJA and would help her find the jar. And so our adventure began.

My first line of communication was through my newsletter mailing list, so I sent out the APB for the Tigger jar. I received two replies in one day, and thought, gee this is going to be easy. Little did I know!

Sharon was looking for a jar in MINT condition. This jar was made under glaze, but with a portion of it done in cold paint. And we all know how hard it is to find cold painted jars in mint condition! One of the replies came from an ACJA member in Chicago with a mint condition jar, AND the original box to boot! What luck! I forwarded her note to Sharon, and thought my mission was complete.

Several days later, I arrived in Belleville, IL. for the National Cookie Jar show. I visited Barbara's booth, spotting the Tigger jar on display. I asked her why she still had the Tigger jar, she replied that she had not heard back from Sharon, so she brought the jar with her. Not having my computer with me or a phone number to call, I had no way of reaching Sharon. I was perplexed! What do I do now?

As I cruised the showroom floor that weekend, I did spy another Tigger jar in mint condition and took a business card...just in case!

Two days after I returned from the show, I had a frantic note from Sharon. She and Barbara had somehow missed each other, and once they finally connected, Barbara had told her the bad news! She had sold the jar on Sunday at the show! The retirement party was rapidly approaching and we were back to square one! I told her, not to worry, I had the card for another dealer with the jar. Now where on earth did I put that card? If any of you saw me at Belleville, you know first hand what a ton of stuff I toted around that weekend. I came with a pick up truck packed full, and went home with almost as much stuff as I came with. Somewhere in that pile of stuff was a tiny little business card calling my name! I searched for hours through boxes and boxes of stuff, but alas, the card was not to be found!

I knew exactly where that dealer had been located, I could see his face, I had drooled over his wonderful Regal China Alice in Wonderland jar, but his name totally escaped me! I finally had a brainstorm and emailed the show promoter, Norman Vitez with the location of the booth and a plea for help. Norm replied the next day with two names of folks that had booths in that corner of the showroom. I just knew we were on the right track. I forwarded the names and numbers to Sharon, and said a little prayer. (Divine intervention always helps!) I received a note back the next day! We had made the connection! The deal was finalized and now we just had to pray for delivery in time!

You can imagine the smile on my face when I received a note the day before the party telling me the jar had arrived and was perfect! Below you will see the end result of our adventure. The first photo is of Kay Milbury proudly showing her wonderful Tigger jar to friends at her retirement party. The second photo is of Sharon Riggs, her thoughtful, diligent friend. You can bet, if I am ever in Connecticut, I will be dropping by to meet Sharon!

I wonder what wonderful new cookie jar adventure awaits me in my e-mail box today?