Leeds Alice Cookie Jar

Leeds made several cookie jars over the years, most famous were probably the turnaround jars from the 1940s. In the 1950s they simplified their jar design by using a standard jar with different embossed characters. This Alice jar is of that later design.

As with all (or most) Leeds cookie jars, the decoration is painted overglaze. And in this case, Alice had donned her fetching red dress which was so popular with RKO and the National Screen Services posters we saw a while back. The lid is cool, with the word Cookies embossed on it.

Now above I said that most Leeds jars were decorated overglaze. But there is a variant (I love it!) of the Alice jar that is underglaze. The white jar.

This cookie jar is so different from the much more common blue jar that it really can't be considered a true variant but a separate jar altogether, but I'm on a schedule so no separate post for you - so sue me.

The basic Alice figure embossed on the jar is the same, but the decoration is totally different (and correct), and of course underglaze. The jar itself is totally different in material composition, shape, and glaze, and the lid has some sort of candy or cake as its finial (looks more like a nipple to me, but I won't go there). And what is that mutant sombrero plant thing next to Alice supposed to be? My guess is that it is supposed to be a mushroom, perhaps upside down having been recently plucked for accelerated Alice growth, but it sure is weird looking.

The campaign book pictures yet another variation that appears to be a hybrid of the two above. I don't think it was ever produced in this style (at least I've never seen it), although I have seen that jar style on a Donald Duck cookie jar

Leeds Alice Jumbo Planter

And finally the grand-daddy of them all, something I did not even know existed until 2001, the Alice Jumbo planter.

This was found for me by someone who attended an auction of the remaining Leeds stock almost 10 years ago. It has the remnants of some grease pencil writing on it that I've never removed, I guess I hoped I could figure out what it originally said, but seems pointless now.

This piece is unbelievably rare, it may be unique, I have never seen nor heard of another. And it is huge compared to its more common sisters.

Leeds Alice Bank

Third in the Leeds series is the bank. The bank is essentially the same Alice as on the heart planter though slightly larger.

The bank is truly rare. I imagine lots got broken when trying to get money out of them. One thing that has always intrigued me is the possible existence of a Alice figure. Leeds made a Snow White bank and a figure, it stands to reason that there could be an Alice figure, but I've never seen one.

Leeds Alice Double Planter

Continuing with our Leeds series, next up is the Alice Double Planter. This is much much scarcer than the Heart Planter from yesterday. And of course, there are variation, this time in the color of the planter pockets. Most common is red,

followed by blue,

and last but not least yellow, by far the scarcest color variation of them all.

Leeds Alice Heart Planter

In my early days of collecting, filled with rampant paranoia about earthquakes in Southern California, I avoided all breakable items. Not so anymore! This was the very first vintage breakable item I ever bought.

This is the Alice Heart planter, by Leeds China Company of Chicago. There is some confusion about what role Leeds actually had. Most people think that Leeds was actually not the manufacturer but rather a distributor; production being done by many different companies including American Bisque, American Pottery and Regal China. To my knowledge there is no way to distinguish any differences between manufacturers.

There is no makers mark on the planter, but there is a bold copyright notice on the bottom.

The Alice heart planter is from later in the Leeds line, which started back in the 1940s; they did lots of pieces. Most of the salt and pepper shakers, cookie jars and planters you see with Dumbo, Mickey, Donald, and Bambi figures are by Leeds. Alice and Peter Pan were the last two films for which Leeds produced pieces, and as such they are much harder to find (the Peter Pan Treasure Chest planter is exceedingly hard to find). The heart planter is by far the most common of the Alice pieces, I'm pretty sure the reason is that it makes a damn fine Valentine's Day present.

The Alice Heart planter does have a variation (yay!), that being the same planter with gold highlights.

The gold highlight version is quite scarce, you will see perhaps hundreds of unhighlighted planters before seeing a highlighted one.