A number of years ago I visited with a friend in Chicago at his home. He was a collector of cookie jars. Shelves lined every inch of wall in his home filled with cookie jars. Over 300 cookie jars were prominently displayed. His jars, which began as kitchen decor had spread throughout the halls, into his bedroom, and eventually into his bathroom. I was struck by the exciting array of colours and designs and the history of  each jar. I am a big guy and I had to be very careful as I navigated my way through his halls to make sure that I didn’t  bump into a jar and create a domino. Affect  the bathroom was the most scary as my 6’, 300lb frame was surrounded  by cookie jars. My friend was 5’6” and  140lbs soaking wet.

My friend was a true collector and knowledgeable about the history of every jar and its rarity and value. “this piece was manufactured in Japan in 1962. I discovered it at a garage sale for $10.  Last summer and was recently offered  (and refused) $200.” That's all I had to hear.  I was now a cookie jar collector. 

When I returned to Toronto I decided I would become an expert on cookie jars and purchased  a couple of books on the subject. I never really got around to reading them but every Sunday was spent at garage sales, flea markets, and antique markets.  My investment philosophy was simple, if I paid 50% of the asking price, it must be a “deal”.

Over the next few years I managed to collect 150 + cookie jars. Inevitably some broke, cracked , lost their tops, and some never even left their  news paper wrappings . When the time came to downsize from my home to an apartment I had no option but to turn my cookie jar collection into cash and hired a university student to catalog and appraise my collection.

After 2 weeks of research the student came back with her assessment. “The cookie jars are worth $10. Each” My girlfriend seemed to relish the findings and urged me to accept the student’s  assessment and free myself  of my collection. I, of course, was not prepared to accept my failure as a renowned expert in the world of cookie  jars, so I fired the student immediately. I owned  “Suckers Candy (http://www.suckerscandyco.com/)" store, probably the biggest producing, retro candy store in the country. Suckers was well known for it's broad selection of PEZ.  We catered to the Pez collector and stood on the sidelines  as I saw 1000’s of Pez snatched up by our Pez hungry clients. Pez are cute, entertaining, can be educational, can be packed into a small space and at any point in time, be sold at a profit at least equal to the difference between my cost price and the original retail price. If I owned a cookie shop I could have rationalised the selling of these used cookie jars in my store, even with the nic's and scratches but I owned  a candy store....how to rationalise the sale of my cookie...oh sorry, I meant candy jars...My collection of “Candy Jars” filled the window  to the excitement of my customers, within 6 weeks all but a few  jars were gone at a bargain price of $69. Each.

Today my passion is collecting and trading Pez, over 400 fill my drawers and decorate my kitchen...

Picture has been taken in Suckers Candy store.