Tootsie Roll bank is a sweet collectible
Q. This is a photo of a Tootsie Roll bank I own. It is shaped and decorated like a Tootsie Roll candy and made of cardboard. Tin lids cover both ends, and one end has a coin slot. It is about 11 inches tall and 2.5 inches in diameter. Marked on the side are the words "Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc., Chicago, Ill. U.S.A." There is also a bar code. I don't remember where I got it or how long I've had it. The candy is gone, and now I empty change from my pockets into the bank.
Is this a collectible? How old is it? Does it have any value?
A. The Tootsie Roll was created by candymaker Leo Hirschfield. He was born in Austria and immigrated to the United States around the turn of the 20th century. According to one source, Hirschfield opened a candy shop in Brooklyn, New York, in 1896. The Tootsie Roll was named after his daughter Clara's nickname. It was an individually hand-wrapped chocolaty taffy penny candy. Hirschfield eventually merged with the candy manufacturer Stern & Staalberg and went on to become vice president of the company. Tootsie Rolls were trademarked in 1908. Some believe that each daily batch of Tootsies included some of the previous day's batch.
Since bar codes were first used in 1974, your bank was made circa the mid-1970s and would probably be worth $15 to $25 in an antique/collectibles shop.
Q. This mark is on a cut glass relish dish that belonged to my mother-in-law. It is stamped into the glass and hard to find. My mother-in-law gave it to me just after my husband and I were married in the '60s. She told me it was a wedding gift to her parents in the early 1900s. It measures about 8 inches long by 2 inches wide. It is in mint condition.
Could you give me any information on my dish?
A. You relish dish is an example of early American pattern glass, not cut glass. It was made by the Imperial Glass Co. in Bellaire, Ohio, from 1901 to 1984. Its Nucut line was introduced in 1911 and designed to look like cut glass.
Your relish dish was made around 1915 and would probably be worth $20 to $25.
• Address your questions to Anne McCollam, P.O. Box 247, Notre Dame, IN 46556. Items of a general interest will be answered in this column. Due to the volume of inquiries, she cannot answer individual letters.
© 2016, Creators Syndicate