A ceramic pig-shaped cookie jar once owned by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, purchased for $1.50 by a teenager, became the centerpiece of an unusual trade with pop artist Andy Warhol. The exchange resulted in the teenager, Marc Cheshire, receiving iconic prints from Warhol and eventually saw a Polaroid photograph of Cheshire and his mother, Maxine, taken by Warhol, included in a Whitney Museum of Art exhibition.
The incident began in March 1973 when Marc Cheshire, then a teenager, accompanied his mother, Maxine Cheshire, a columnist for The Washington Post, to an estate sale following Hoover's death. Marc acquired the pig cookie jar, which he felt was a fitting, albeit cheeky, memento given the era's slang term for FBI agents. The jar, stamped "USA" on the bottom, seemed an ideal acquisition for the notorious director.
Through a mutual acquaintance, society publicist R. Couri Hay, who was connected to Warhol, the possibility of a trade emerged. Hay suggested exchanging the cookie jar for one of Warhol's "Cow" wallpaper prints. Hay then contacted Warhol, proposing the trade to add to the artist's collection and potentially inspire Maxine Cheshire to write a story about the encounter.
In October 1973, the Cheshires traveled to Warhol's studio, The Factory, in New York. Marc Cheshire, now 70 and working in rare documents, recalled carefully packing the cookie jar. Hay described Maxine clutching the jar like "a pot of gold" upon their arrival. Warhol, known for his constant photography, was immediately taken with Maxine, whom he found amusing. He reportedly greeted them with his Polaroid camera and tape recorder in hand, accompanied by his dachshund, Archie.
Warhol photographed Marc and Maxine, producing images that would later become part of his "Family Album" series of Polaroids. He gifted the Cheshires not only the Polaroids but also one of his famed Chairman Mao prints, acquired from his personal collection of prints intended for giving away. "He wasn’t handing out hundred-dollar bills to people, but he was very generous with the prints," Hay stated.
The value of the exchanged items has since significantly appreciated. Examples of Warhol's Mao prints can sell for tens of thousands of dollars, and signed "Cow" wallpaper prints are valued similarly. The cookie jar itself resurfaced in April 1988 at a Sotheby's auction of Warhol's possessions. Marc Cheshire had intended to bid up to $1,000 for it, but the cookie jars were a highly sought-after lot, with one collector acquiring multiple jars, including the pig, for approximately $200,000.
Years later, Marc's daughter encouraged him to visit a Whitney Museum exhibition featuring Warhol's work. There, they discovered the Polaroid photograph of Marc and his mother, which had been initially listed as "unidentified." The discovery marked a full circle for the cookie jar, transitioning from Hoover's possession to a $1.50 purchase, then to an art trade, and finally to a place in a significant museum exhibition.