Who Made the “Hen With Bonnet” Talking Cookie Jar?

This colorful vintage hen cookie jar has been something of a mystery to collectors. It is always unmarked, and surviving examples are almost always missing the original voice box. Today it is commonly described as a “Hen with Bonnet,” “Talking Hen,” or simply as an unidentified hen cookie jar. Some examples are attributed to Shawnee Pottery.

Period advertising tells a different story.

The Talking Hen

The jar was introduced by at least 1950 and originally contained a mechanical voice device inside its removable head. When the head was lifted and turned over, the hen would “cackle” or cry “Ma-Ma,” supposedly alerting mother that someone was stealing a cookie.

The same distinctive jar appeared in advertisements under several names, including Henny Cackler, Talking Hen, TAT-L-TALE, Mrs. Hen, Hen Cackle, Crying Hen, Setting Hen and Cookie Jar with Voice. One advertisement even described its head covering as a red bonnet, a term sellers still use today.

The varying names have undoubtedly made identification more difficult.

The Cardinal China Evidence

The most important evidence is a period advertisement headed:

“CARDINAL CHINA — for home & table”

Among the Cardinal pieces illustrated is the same distinctive cookie jar. The bonneted head, scalloped collar, rounded body, wing, tail, and pedestal base match surviving examples.

This establishes that the jar was marketed as Cardinal China.

The remaining question is whether Cardinal manufactured it or merely distributed it.

Carteret China Made Cardinal Ware

A newspaper feature published August 27, 1950, provides the answer.

The article describes the Carteret China Company of Carteret, New Jersey, operated by Sidney Darwin, Samuel J. Kronman and Charles H. Dengrove. Carteret employed approximately 100 ceramics workers and manufactured its own Cardinal giftware line.

Significantly, cookie jars are specifically listed among the products manufactured by the company.

The accompanying factory photograph shows Cardinal novelty pottery in production, and several pieces visible in the photograph can also be recognized in Cardinal advertising.

Cardinal did distribute some pottery manufactured by other companies, including American Bisque. However, this hen lacks characteristics normally associated with American Bisque cookie jars: its lid is unglazed inside, and it does not have the familiar American Bisque wedge-shaped bottom.

Shawnee or Carteret?

Some modern examples are identified as Shawnee, while many sellers simply leave the manufacturer unidentified. I have found no contemporary evidence connecting the jar with Shawnee Pottery.

In contrast, the period evidence provides a documented trail:

The jar appears in Cardinal China advertising; Carteret China is documented as manufacturing the Cardinal giftware line, including cookie jars, at its New Jersey factory in 1950; and other Cardinal-advertised pieces can be seen in contemporary photographs of that factory's production.

Based on this evidence, I identify the “Hen with Bonnet” Talking Cookie Jar as a Carteret China Company product, marketed under its Cardinal China line, circa 1950.

The talking mechanism may usually be gone, but period advertising also explains the otherwise mysterious hollow head. This hen originally did more than guard the cookies.

It told on you.