Prize Winning Dumplings

Prize Winning Dumplings

 

 

 

 

Before she ever even reached her teens, she had her first job cooking for a doctor and his wife.  Although none of us today could attest to her culinary skills as a child, we all consider her in adulthood to have been the best cook we ever knew.  Her meals were often typical Southern fare - cornbread, pinto beans, turnip greens, etc.  Her most highly acclaimed dish was chicken and dumplings.  Family reunions, birthday parties, and other events demanded that she prepare this delicious dish.

 

 

 

Two of my most prized possessions are a Hoosier Cabinet (actually Sellers brand cabinet) but in the South everyone calls these type a "Hoosier" whether it's the Hoosier brand or not...kinda like all sodas are Coke whether they are Coca-Cola or not and a hatchet.  Both items are directly related to chicken and dumplings.  The Hoosier cabinet was a prized piece of her kitchen. 

 

In this cabinet she stored her flour, spices, and other items necessary in the preparation of her meals.  That Hoosier cabinet has now found a home in my kitchen where I store many of my cookware items.

 

 

 

My other prized possession, the hatchet, hangs from the rafters of my screen porch.  What, you may wonder, could a hatchet have to do with cooking a meal?  The truth is that my grandmother (the perfect example of someone who knew how to prepare true Southern cuisine) often used this hatchet to decapitate the chickens for her chicken and dumplings.  Throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, I can recall time after time of watching her catch a chicken, hold it over a tree stump with its neck extended, hack off its head, catch its flopping body, and place the body in a clean, lidded garbage can until the lifeless body of the chicken was motionless.  After killing the chicken, she would pluck its feathers and use alcohol to singe the pinfeathers.  Once the chicken was cleaned, she boiled it to make the broth for the dumplings.

 

 

 

Why  not just buy a chicken from the store?
Was this process really worth the time and trouble?
If you want to know an honest answer, just ask any one of the hundreds of people who ever had the pleasure of eating Opal Cookston's chicken and dumplings.  They will tell you that no others could compare.

 

 

My grandmother Opal passed away shortly before the Blizzard of 1993.  Her chicken and dumplings are but a memory for those of us who live on.  And though I inherited some of her cooking skills, I have no desire to put the hatchet to use.  I'll leave it there in its place of honor on my screen porch.  If the notion hits me to cook a pot of dumplings, I much prefer to purchase my own chicken from the store.  After all, not all of my memories of decapitated chickens are pleasant, but that story remains to be told.

 

- Cody Cookston
Memories General Store, owner
www.memoriesgeneralstore.com

Trash to Treasure - The Story of a McCoy Pink & Blue Stoneware Bowl

Trash to Treasure - The Story of a McCoy Pink & Blue Stoneware Bowl

"One man's trash is another man's treasure," or so the cliche goes.  But is that true?  Can something that is totally worthless to one person actually have value for someone else?

The answer to this question came to me quite unexpectedly.  I was in my late teens or early twenties at the time.  I had begun to acquire quite a bit of knowledge of pottery and glass collectibles and antiques.  My mother and I had been selling on Ebay for a few years, and we had discovered that some antique & collectible items just would not sell on Ebay so we began exploring additional markets for some of our finds.

One day I learned that an antique mall had been opened in Monteagle, Tennessee.  After talking with the owner, Mama and I decided to rent a booth.  We stocked the booth with a variety of items hoping that someone would find some pieces they just couldn't pass on.  Soon, I found myself going by the antique mall and hanging out with the owner.  I shared my knowledge of pottery and glass while she educated me about jewelry.

One morning she called to tell me that a man from Germany had come by to see if she was interested in buying some items.  His mother who lived in Sewanee, TN, on the campus of the University of the South had passed away.  She had left behind some antiques and collectibles that her son was either unable or unwilling to take back to Germany.

Mama and I were so excited.  We hurried to the antique mall, met up with the owner, and made our way to Sewanee.  Many of the items for sale were out of our budget, and we purchased very little that day.  In fact, I can't recall a single item we bought.  However, there was on treasure we did bring home with us.  At the back of the house was a large trash can.  Broken bottles, antique dishes and pieces of pottery filled the can.  Unashamedly, I dug through the contents.  A few layers down I dug out a 1920s Nelson McCoy Pottery pink and blue band mixing bowl.  It was the 5" diameter size...the rarest size you can find in this pattern.  Although the bowl was cracked, to Mama and me it was a great find to add to our collection.  This man, whose mother had left the bowl behind when she passed away, had seen the bowl as a cracked, worthless piece of trash.  To us, however, it was a treasure to bring home and display proudly above the kitchen cabinets.  So, there it sits in its place of honor --- a treasure rescued from someone's trash amid other treasures all with a story to tell if only an audience of busy passersby will listen.

"One man's trash TRULY is another man's treasure."



Hoping for Spring - Collecting Daffodils

Hoping for Spring
Collecting Buttercups, Easter Flowers, Jonquils

Buttercups, Easter flowers, jonquils...there are so many names for them, but I prefer the term daffodils.  It's just such a fun word, so much more interesting to me than the other choices.  I have always loved these flowers, especially the bright golden yellow variety.  Long before I ever even knew how they grew from bulbs or what they symbolized, I loved them.  I remember as a young girl roaming the 20 acres my parents owned looking for daffodils peeking their way out of the cold ground.  Their first blooms usually arrived in March before even the threat of snow had passed.  They always reminded me that the cold winter was nearly over and warm spring sunshine would soon be brightening my days.

Now as I write this, it's late December and snow flurries have been teasing the Cumberland Plateau all day.  Snow is beautiful, but it's cold and I prefer the warmth of Spring.  So what will I do for the next 2 or 3 months when the chill of winter has set in and I'm missing those warm Spring days?  I'll cheer myself up with the beauty of the daffodils on display inside my home.

Here in my kitchen are two bouquets of artificial daffodils and purple irises.  They are arranged in vintage 1940s McCoy Pottery vases...white sand dollar floor vases to be exact that came from the local elementary school and had been used for many graduations as decorations thru the years and now found a way to my home as a reminder of days gone by and them also being part of my son's 8th grade graduation in 1996.  Both the vases and the bouquets were used in my wedding nearly three years ago.  On the end table in the living room is the wedding album featuring a cover background of (you guessed it) - daffodils.  An ivory bowl and pitcher featuring daffodil decals rest on the same table. 



Atop the curio cabinet in my living room sets a book by Carey E. Quinn entitled Daffodils Outdoors and In.  Inside the curio cabinet is a decorator's plate, a trinket box, and a teapot my son bought me in 2004 at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN.  They were handpainted by Ruth Widener, an elderly lady who was able to capture a piece of nature's beauty and display it forever on porcelain.  On the same shelf is a painted ceramic egg that was purchased just outside of Dunlap, TN during the 127 Yard Sale.  A boxed ladies handkerchief rests at the center of the shelf with an unusual blue embroidered daffodil.  What collection could possibly complete without Fenton Glass?  Two glass vases - 1 pink & 1 cranberry - with those same favorite flowers join my trove of treasures.  Perhaps one of my favorite daffodil pieces is on the top center shelf - a Johnson Brothers (Johnson Bros.) cup and saucer set with those beloved bright yellow daffodils dancing merrily around the rims of both pieces. 

Yes, Old Man Winter has arrived with his blustery breath and his chilly fingers flinging snowflakes down on our heads, but he won't last.  In a few months, sunshine will win and warm the soil of my flowerbed.  My flowers of hope (for that is what daffodils are) will burst from the frozen ground and nod to me assuring me that they are still there.  Old Man Winter may throw a few icy winds their way, but the flowers will win in the end reminding me that even after many cold, dark days there are warmer days to come.  Until then, I'll sip hot chocolate and enjoy my indoor collection of springlike blossoms as snow falls softly on the other side of the windowpane.

Lavona Reeves Parson

Collecting Memories

Collecting Memories

       

Collecting. How, when, where and why did I ever decide to collect this assortment of treasured items displayed proudly above my kitchen cabinets, in my china and curio cabinets, and on the walls of my home?  Such a variety of trinkets that have found their way into my hands over nearly two decades.  There they all perch or hang looking down on me - Waiting on me to take them down, dust them off and place them back in their honored spot.  There is the rose teaset  that belonged to my paternal grandmother on the bottom shelf of the china cabinet.  It came to me when I was in my early teens after she had passed away. 

On the shelf above and just to its left stands the bowl I bought my own mother at an auction in Ooltewah, Tennessee.  Victorian children facing outward holding the bowl in their hands beckon to me to come play "Ring Around the Rosey."   Just above the bowl on the top shelf sets my 8th Grade Prom glass - nothing special - just a cheap trinket to remind me of days gone by.  Yet, it holds its own small place of honor there among my other treasures. 

My eyes roam to the right and up to the top of the kitchen cabinets.   There they are - my original Fire King jadite green glass mixing bowls once owned by my middle school math teacher, my mom's collection of McCoy pottery pink and blue stoneware, Sanders Dairy & Cole Farm Paper Milk Cartons previously collected by my former pastor, a pair of Hull Brown Drip salt & pepper shakers given to me by my Great-Aunt Louise shortly before she lost her fight with emphysema, an enamelware fruit bowl that belonged to my great grandmother Josie, and just beside it an aluminum apple cookie jar that once held my great-grandmother Myrtle's fried apple pies.  The list goes on and on inside and outside my house ---  my paternal grandfather's plant stand he welded for my grandmother at work after them having a lover's spat, a cowbell from my maternal grandfather's childhood home, so many trinkets gathering dust and being wiped clean, and then gathering dust again.  How, when, and where did I ever begin collecting these items?  Those stories could fill volumes, but in my walk in and around my home I have certainly stumbled upon the why of my collecting.  For I realize that I am not only collecting antiques, memorabilia, pottery, glass, and paper goods.  No, it's not really the material things I see around me that brings a smile as I write this.  Rather, I realize that in collecting I've managed to collect memories.  Memories of days gone by in my early childhood & teen years, memories of those who have passed from this life & passed on their treasures to me, and memories given to me of those I never met but have had the pleasure of coming to know through the memories shared by others.  After all, the best collections of all are made up of memories.

Merry Christmas Everyone from Memories General Store.  May you have a blessed time with family and friends and make some wonderful memories!

Visit our main website at:

www.memoriesgeneralstore.com

Real, Fake, Fantasy - An Explanation of McCoy Pottery

So you have a piece of pottery marked McCoy and you're wondering...is it Real, Fake, or a Fantasy Item?  Well...here is a easy explaination.  In the late 1800s making stoneware and utilitarian pieces.  It was started in Ohio and was a family business.  The business expanded and became the McCoy pottery we are all familiar with, Nelson McCoy pottery.  However, the founders of McCoy did not register their trademark so anyone could legally make pottery and place McCoy on the bottom and it be the exact mark they were using.  This was found out in the early 1990s by a man named Roger Jensen.  He was from Rockwood, TN and began making pottery with his business partner, Larry Martin.  Martin and Jensen at the time were making pottery by the truckloads (literally).  I have actually seen the warehouse that he used back then and it was a huge building with loading docks for tractor trailers and all. The cookie jar business has since fallen and that building has not been in use since the 1990s.  His items were the first items that were made and marked McCoy but were not Nelson McCoy pottery. However, Jensen and Martin using the McCoy mark was perfectly legal because of the trademark never being applied for.  It did cause a major headache in the antiques community, however, cause now you had old Nelson McCoy and then all this new stuff that looked old but was not in any reference guides.  Back then, Martin and Jensen's cookie jars would bring hundreds of dollars each because no one knew the difference and unscrupulous wouldn't tell the difference.  Recently, I saw one of Jensen's Luzianne Tea Mammy Cookie Jars sell for $200 on an antiques website (not mine)...and it was sold as being a cookie jar not made by Nelson McCoy but newer McCoy item.  So, their items are now becoming collectible even with people knowing they're not Nelson McCoy. Jensen briefly held the patent for the McCoy mark and Jensen McCoy mark, however, he lost it after a short amount of time for an unknown reason.  Jensen and Martin finally split up and went their separate ways, both still making their own versions of jars.  Several years ago a company in Georgia applied for the patent for McCoy and Shawnee pottery.  This company now owns all trademark rights to McCoy and Shawnee.  They import their items from China, however, the quality is good.  It is not as good as USA made items, but they are very beautiful and acceptable cookie jars.  These are all legal imports and are good sellers on Ebay, flea markets, antique shows, etc.  So there you have it...they all are real cookie jars but you just have to know which manufacturer made your jar to determine values.  Some items called "Fantasy" pieces (that is what people call items not originally made by the Nelson McCoy pottery) are not fantasy pieces at all.  They are just new originals made by these other companies...so...know your products that you're buying...Old Nelson McCoy, 1980s to circa 2000 Roger Jensen and Larry Martin McCoy or Brand New Licensed and Trademarked McCoy from the company that currently holds the rights to manufacture.  I sell the New McCoy on my website http://www.memoriesgeneralstore.com/ and this is all from the company is Georgia.  Nice, Fine Quality imports.  I have some of the cheapest prices out there for these beautiful cookie jars.  I have carried Jensen and Martin's jars and wares in the past, however, I am pretty sure that Martin retired and no longer makes any pottery items.  Jensen is not making pottery like he was either. I talked to a dealer some time ago and he told me that Jensen had not sold him any wares in about 9 or 10 months, so undoubtedly it's just not as profitable for them as it once was.  HOWEVER, supply and demand will take hold and that mean's Jensen and Martin's cookie jars will be going up in value.  I've not had the opportunity to buy any of Martin's jars for about 5 or 6 years now and I haven't been able to buy any pottery wares from Jensen for about 3 or 4 years now. I hope this helps all of you collectors and dealers who haven't been able to figure this out thru the years.

Who Says The Good Stuff Still Isn't Hid Away Somewhere?

Some dealers have the attitude that all the good stuff is long gone from attics and basements, but I beg to differ.  There still are those diamonds in the rough so speak you just have to be willing to go looking for them.  Just a few weeks ago I went to do work for my grandma and low and behold guess what I found...in her basement was a Roseville jardinere flower pot dating back to 1917.  She had bought it at an auction or garage sale years ago because it had roses on it and she thought it was pretty. She had not idea of its value and when I told her it was Roseville she gave a slightly blank look.  She said she had heard of Roseville but wasn't sure what Roseville was.  So see there...even your grandma may have a treasure that you know nothing about.  So next time you're at grandma's house see if she will let you look around for a bit where you don't usually look.  You may just find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  I explained to grandma what it was and it is now available for sale on my website.  Grandma had no need for it once she learned it had value...she'd much rather have the money as her and grandpa are getting up in years and material things just don't matter to them much anymore.  So, if you would like a 1917 Rozane Line Roseville Flower Pot with Roses, check out my website at http://www.memoriesgeneralstore.com/ and we can ship it out to you asap.  So see there...there are still good items hid away here and there...you just have to be willing to get a lil dirty and dig thru all that junk that no one else would dare touch!!! Happy Hunting and HAPPY THANKSGIVING if I don't blog again before turkey day!

RIP to the Cookie Jar

     Well I am beginning to wonder if we all should just gather up all of our cookie jars, bury them in the ground...place a nice monument above them with the inscription, "RIP - Mr. Cookie Jar - You Once Were Worth More than the Dirt You're Now In".

     When I first got in this business, I was about 15 years old...it was 1996.  I had no idea what I was doing but I was a fast learner.  I learned quick that cookie jars were a hot item to have especially if it was made by Nelson McCoy, Hull or Shawnee or one of the other big name manufacturers. I can remember seeing cookie jars go for hundreds and some rare ones even up to the thousands of dollars.  NOT ANYMORE!!!

     Back then, Roger Jensen had found out that McCoy never trademarked their mark so not only did you have the original items selling and selling high, you also had his cookie jars making their way into the market.  Along with him and his partner, Larry Martin, they dominated the market for years with Antique Reproductions cookie jars.  I can remember a dealer in South Carolina selling Jensen's cookie jars back then for as high at $800 to $1,000 each.  Now I don't want you to go to thinking that an antique reproduction is normally worth that much money because THEY'RE NOT.  This dealer never disclosed whether it was new or old and because of that I am guessing buyers assumed they were old ones and possible non-production pieces.  But nonetheless, they sold and sold high.

     Jensen no longer manufactures as he once did.  Matter of fact, one dealer that used to buy from him has not bought from him in close to a year.  I've not had the opportunity to buy any of his wares in going on 3 or 4 years now.  Every now and then you may see one of Jensen's jars on Ebay as if you know what to look for his jars can be distinguished from other manufacturers just because of the style of the eyes and designs that Jensen made. 

     Several years ago a dealer in Georgia obtained the rights to legally manufacture trademarked and licensed "McCoy" and "Shawnee" pottery.  These are brand new items and have no association with the owners of Nelson McCoy Pottery or the Shawnee factory, but there are reproductions of antique Shawnee and Nelson McCoy items plus new designs that are marked McCoy and Shawnee.  They are beautiful jars, however, they are not selling anywhere near what one would expect a cookie jar to fetch.

      Considering that 14 years ago a Black Mammy Cookie Jar would bring a minimum of $150 to $300, it is so disappointing to see what cookie jars are doing now.  They seem to be dead in the water for the moment.  I've seen original Mammy cookie jars sell on Ebay for as little as $50 and the new Licensed McCoy Mammy Cookie Jars are selling consistently for about $40 to $60 each.  That is what really puzzles me...a reproduction item bringing more money than an old original...BUT IT HAPPENS!!!

     Now to today...I was watching an online live auction stream from Chattanooga, TN.  Up for bid was a "McCoy" Leprechaun cookie jar.  The original sells for $3,000 to $5,000 and only 3 or 4 are known to exist.  Now knowing from experience, this was one of Larry Martin's reproduction jars because of the way it was painted.  I've seen so many in my experiences that I know how to recognize who has made what.  Now I thought even with it being a newer jar it would bring at least $75 to $100 just because that was always one of my best sellers...but do you know what it brought???  TWENTY DOLLARS!!! Only $20 for a nice reproduction cookie jar.  That is less than today's wholesale prices for dealers on the new cookie jars that are available.

     So....RIP TO THE COOKIE JAR....I'm about ready to dig a big whole and bury mine...who knows a 100 years from now when I'm dead and gone someone may dig them back up and them be priceless...RIP COOKIE JAR...You once were dealers biggest moneymakers!!!