Jan 2018
by Lin Romberg
Shawnee Tales
Happy New Year!!! Hard to believe another year has passed - 2018 - they really do go by faster as we get older!!!!
Hope everyone had a nice holiday season and some Shawnee surprises. As some of you know I had quite a special early Christmas gift from a dear friend - he sent a handmade sign made of Arizona license plates spelling out I Love Shawnee - So clever and something I will treasure forever!!! He had teased me ahead of time that it was Shawnee but not pottery. We laughed as it had to be difficult to find enough license plates as Arizona has so many varieties but we both love the Southwest ones with Cactus. Thank you so much Brad!!!!
Another friend sent pictures of a metal pig bank that is a strong resemblance to our Smiley - have any of you come across this in your travels? No idea who produces it.
"Hey Girl!
look it what I found... Its an iron bank, looking like our Smiley... Brand Damn New..
Do you know anything about these?
The little bank? ADORABLE and not a sloppy thing about him--always indication of overseas???--He's just a magnificent little guy."
A word of warning to collectors - we are all so looking for the unusual and hard to find pieces.
There are always sellers out there looking to take advantage and scam us. A collector drove over two hours one way to purchase a red headed Smiley cookie jar. He sent me pictures as had a bad feeling about it - it was an authentic gold shamrock Smiley jar but had hair painted on the lid that screamed tampering - looked like flames on a dragster hot rod as another collector commented on the Facebook posting. In a shop marked $995 - worry someone inexperienced is going to purchase it not suspecting it being fake - a lot of newer collectors that could be fooled, some experienced collectors as well.
"I was on the hunt for months to find another Hairy. I finally get a great lead the seller said he had one with orangish red hair green bib. I emailed & called well over 2 months. My 8 emails mighr get one response!I was hoping to get it for Christmas price was $800 in mall. I asked to pick up jar to save from mall costs. Still I have not seen jar. Seller was hard to get hold of for these 4 months. Finally I get a hold of him he said he put it in the mall two days ago! I asked for pictures time and time again. I then asked how much did he put on jar? $995! I thought we had a deal near $700 before? He did say he work with me on price. I never got a answer on how much? So I went to mall yesterday in our first snow storm of the year on a 2 hour drive one way. Right off the bat I see the hair it looked fishy? I needed back up here! I would hate to spend $750+ on reproduction I call Linda Norland Romberg.. She confirmed it was a bad reproduction. Most of me was bummed not a real jar. Price wise Way Way out of my comfort zone! Wife was very happy another thing I promised not to buy anymore jars until March! Seller told me he paid $600 in our first call. Then I told him send pictures for there are reproductions he did not. I got a little satisfaction telling him it was a reproduction just because he was so hard to deal with. Sad he did not email me with pictures before he bought it!"
Many of the long time collectors going back some twenty years will recall a dealer who was tampering with genuine Shawnee pieces - he was repairing and doctoring pieces - putting gold on plain jars - using decals not vintage. Our first discovery of him was at a southern Calif antique market where he sold someone a gold sailor cookie jar - two other collectors saw the sale and mentioned wanting one - he took their names and numbers saying he would keep an eye out and be back next month so check him out. Lo and behold he had two or three next month - as our small circle began sharing information - the decals were not vintage nor in the pattern usually one the sailors and the gold was duller than normal (not reflective) He also sold a gold Puss n Boots with "odd" decals - Dutch pieces, jars and salt and peppers with weird decals - guys, these pieces are still floating around out there, some in collections where the owner has no idea. Friends of mine sent me a pair of Dutch boy and girl shakers they bought from him - the same set I had seen at the Arizona Fairgrounds market and scraped a small area of the fake decal off the month before!!!! This guy sold all over California, Nevada, Arizona - he wintered here in Apache Junction and allegedly was living in Ohio the rest of the year.
Another friend from NYC bought a group of pieces from him at the Cow Palace show in northern Calif and his wife called so excited. When he went back to confront the dealer - a lot more gold pieces had replaced the ones he bought, he certainly brought inventory with him. I had received a call from one of the major cookie jar dealer/author who was selling at the same show. She mentioned this guy saying he was from Arizona - one story was having purchased a collection for $15,000 - she had in her booth a damaged Muggsy - he grabbed hold of it like it was gold (probably was going to be) - when he went to pay the forty dollars for it and recognized her having inquired about his stuff - his comment was "good thing I already have this puppy or I would buy him)" - set it down and walked out of the booth.
At the Phoenix market I was across the aisle from his booth - saw a gold Lucky elephant from a distance - by the time I got over to that aisle someone had bought it that I knew slightly - big blueberries on it's back side and she thought Supnicks would jump at the chance to buy him!!! I could go on and on with stories like this - trust your instincts or reach out - at least now we have cameras and phone to share. Any of us can have something that has been tampered with or doctored, me included - all we can do is share information and be aware - especially if the piece is priced high - be suspicious.
Some collectors restore damaged pieces, I have never been inclined to repair nor purchase known repaired items but have been told many pieces are not even identifiable as restored. I would rather have a slight "as is" piece if priced low but that is my personal preference.
Several fake red heads have been reported - another light blue bib Smiley with fake hair that friends drove almost six hours to view in Pennsylvania - picture from my archives.
Another guy, Larry McKinley, out of Kentucky who has now passed away produced a lot of fake pieces - one being a solid gold Puss n Boots, some odd hairy jars and lots of gold on planters and figural pieces. He also did a lot of gold addition to hard to find McCoy vases, several in the McCoy club gave me a heads up on his antics. I heard rumors of dealers in Texas selling possible fakes under the dealer name of "All That Glitters" Cute, huh? Bob Tarlton the guy out here used the name Lost Dutchman - a play on the tale of a lost gold mine in our Superstition Mountains. So ironic!
At any rate, all this rambling is just so readers know to pay attention to detail (and decals). We have so much information and reference materials at our disposal these days. It is one thing to over pay on select pieces, but really hurts to be conned. Always reach out if you have questions.
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