By Larry Coonrod, Lebanon Express writer | Posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 12:00 am
It started out innocently enough for Clara Daily in 1981. Seeing a lamb-shaped cookie jar at a garage sale and thinking it was "kind of cute," she bought it. Twenty-seven years later, 750 or so cookie jars of every imaginable size and shape fill the Daily house.
There is one that looks like a John Deere tractor. A fire engine with working sirens that come on when the top is lifted off is parked on top a display case. Disney characters fill a whole shelf and the family room is filled with Christmas themed jars.
"It's kind of a very interesting and fun hobby, but it's kind of gotten out of hand," she said.
Floor to ceiling shelves line rooms to accommodate the collection. Her husband, Bud Daily, even added another room to the Lebanon house they've shared for the past 61 years to help hold the still-growing collection.
When Clara first began collecting, it was common to find cookie jars for as little as 50 cents at garage sales. Those days are long gone. The advent of the Internet and eBay sent prices soaring.
"Now they're $10, $15 or $20, if you can even find anything," Bud Daily said.
Some of the Daily's jars, which date back to the 1890s, are now worth between $400 and $500. Every one of the collectibles has been photographed, cataloged and insured.
These days, Clara is more selective in the cookie containers she acquires, looking for those with "pizzazz." Wal-Mart and other retail outlets occasionally offer new jars with collectible value, particularly during the holidays. Unfortunately, in recent years there have been fewer offerings.
"They come in and out of vogue. It's harder now to find something unusual," Clara said.
The grand collection might very well be the envy of other collectors, but the Daily's three grown children don't have that attitude.
"They give us a lot of static about it," Clara said. "I told them it's going to be their problem after we're gone."
With eight grandkids and seven great-grandkids, it might seem that so many cookie jars might be in danger from curious hands. That's not the case though. Of the several hundred jars the Dailys own, there isn't a cookie in any of them.