SHAWNEE TALES 
Nov  2005
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by  Linda Romberg
Oct 2005
Last month I received some terrific pictures of hand painted decorations on Smileys and some on Dutch girls as well.  So much variety out there and by looking at these pictures, it helps collectors know what is authentic decoration on the vintage jars - the same rust and green colors run through most of these
decorated jars and are very distinctly similar.  It is such a thrill to find these uniquely decorated pieces and often the ones with hair or patches will also have the hand painted flowers either under the bib or along the shoulders. Most of these jars but not all have some minor blemish that resulted in the additional decoration being applied.

Appreciate this collector sharing these pictures with all of us.
Often times in our search we come too focused on mint mint mint but often these jars were not as perfect as we expect to find them today - I hate to admit in early days how many pieces I left behind because I wanted it to be nearly perfect - a Smiley clover bud cookie jar that had extra red paint NOT ON A BUD, kiln smudge on a gold Smiley range shaker when I had NONE.  We need to remember this was dime store pottery and as such was not always perfect.  I have heard stories of shakers being picked out individually from bins and often buyers bought matching decals rather than hole count or specifically bought different decals and hole count to differentiate between the salt and pepper more easily.  I am sure the same happened with jars and their lids being switched around in the store.  Hence, the green Smiley gold bib on the decaled base we normally see with a yellow or blue bib.  Many of these jars go back to the forties
and fifties and we have no way of knowing if they were produced as a matching jar or married at the retail outlet.  Years ago when I was picking up Blue Bonnet Sue advertising jars at Pic N Save for a friend, many of the lids and bases we damaged so we put together whole jars -  I realized this may have occurred fifty to sixty years ago as well or just because of a color preference.  A few months ago there was a Winnie bank head lid on a Smiley chocolate base - first thought would be someone put it together to sell on Ebay but back in
Pennsylvania about fifteen years ago, I know a gal who bought the same married jar from the original owner who received it as a wedding gift and had no idea they didn't go together.

Ebay continues to allow the reproduction pieces to be listed without any repercussions to the sellers who, in most cases, KNOW these items are fakes and are intentionally misleading unsuspecting buyers HOWEVER Ebay does seem to be reimbursing some of these buyers under their protection service for buyers using Pay Pal - if anyone has this happen to them and they don't get satisfaction from the seller, please file a complaint and pursue it via Ebay/Pay Pal as only
when it begins to cost them more and more will we likely see any change in their policy.  They have made a fortune in commissions on these fake listings and look at all the novice collectors who quit after being burned.  Collecting should be fun for all and bring us enjoyment, not bad feelings.Doug has a wonderful array of fake and reproduction pieces as well as many pages of 'NOT SHAWNEE" to help the collectors see pieces which are often misidentified as Shawnee - most of the times these pieces tend to be honest errors when sellers are not experts. Both of us are more than happy to answer questions regarding authenticity whenever someone contacts us.
Until next month,

Lin    linromb@aol.com
Doug's Corner
More pastel Valencia and some special pieces have shown up in my mail box.
  While we are on the subject of Ebay - I will share a couple emails I got this month. The first is the initial contact and the second a follow up.
"Hello - I have begun collecting vintage Shawnee Smiley and Winnie cookie jars and may have to replace these.  There are 2 shamock (Winnie and Smiley) and 1 Smiley tulip.  The Shamrock Smiley has a shamrock right on the top of his head and the tulip Smiley has a tulip on the top of his head. I don't think that the vintage ones had this.  I am afraid that these are reproductions that were passed off as vintage and I don't recall seeing these in any cookie jar book.  These tulips are different from the ones I was familar with.  Smiley Shamrock and tulips are marked USA on the bottom.

These jars look brand new.  Each jar has the same exact, and what looks like synthetic, crazing and were all bought from the same seller. I was told by one dealer that these are coming in from Mexico.  It appears the crazing was added somehow to create an aged look. The old adage of if it looks too good to be true, it most likely isn't is right on.  These jars were each bought under $100. That should have been my first clue.

Many thanks for any info that you can give.  Did Shawnee make any jars that had these markings?  Do you think these are vintage original Shawnee?"

"Hi Doug-
  I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your website AND the newsletters.  I wish I had known about it earlier.  You may remember me...
  I emailed you a little over a week ago about some auctions on Ebay (tulips and shamrock) where I got stung - can you believe it - on all 5 jars I bought.  Fortunately, I am coming out, thus far, on 4 of them.  I should get my money back on the other one as well.  A fluke, the guy sent it to the wrong address and the post office sent it back.  He called me with a slew of threats.  Nonetheless, he was suppose to mail it to my confirmed and verified Paypal address.  Total out-of-money for me - about $15.00.  I am breathing a sigh of relief.
  I have a Shawnee website that I am updating and would like to do what I can to alert new collectors to the fraud that is going on at eBay.  Would it be all right if I linked to your site?  I fully intend to put 5 complaints, one for each jar, to eBay.  I also alerted a seller that he was selling a jar, exactly like the one I bought.  I sent him your link and he pulled his auction.  His mother had bought the jar a month ago for him to sell.  He obviously didn't realize what he had. and said he would be filing a complaint as well.  fayer_southern_memories is a real piece of work on eBay and I am convinced that HE is selling under different IDs.
  Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your help and I will be delving through the archives now."



The follow up
More Valencia on the website later this week.
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"Hi Doug and Linda -

  Great Newsletter!  Is this a Shawnee?  (photo included) I am looking at private auctions while updating my website.  This is a new seller that I had not seen before.  eBay #6221877824. Got my money back, including shipping, from fayes_southern_memories. Paypal found in my favor!  Thanks both of you for being a great resource."
Latest update Nov. 1st -