What Did Santa Bring?

This year, Santa brought an assortment of toys from the 1890s-1900s, including:


-an unusual, beautifully lithographed, folding dollhouse room box with its original furniture, made in Germany

-two early American tin pull toys

-Bradley's Toy Town Post Office playset

-two miniature tin toy kitchens

-two lithographed tabletop games


Also under the tree were a miniature tin toy grocery shop, the Corner Grocer, made by Wolverine in the 1930s, and a bunch of old Halloween decorations from the 1920s - 40s.


Pics coming soon (except the Halloween, which I'll save until next October, of course!)


What did Santa bring you? Tell us in the comments!

Antique Christmas Board Game

What better way could there be for a Victorian child to while away the days until Christmas than by playing this board game? The Game of Merry Christmas, or, What Will Santa Claus Bring, was produced by the J.H. Singer Company of New York in 1890.

The beautifully lithographed box cover depicts Santa, clad in a fur trimmed suit and with the stump of a clay pipe clenched in his teeth, about to head down a chimney with a sack full of toys.

Inside, the board features an illustration of Santa about to deliver his gifts below the Christmas tree. A rocking horse is already in place.

The game itself is a simple numbered track. Players roll the die and then move along the board. If they land on a space that is labelled with a gift, that's what they'll be getting for Christmas.

There are some wonderful items listed: a Punch and Judy show, a hobby horse, a doll, and a box of tin soldiers are just a few of the options.

But lest we assume materialism is an exclusive feature of our modern Christmas, note that "a pocket full of money" is one of the gift possibilities.

There are also some present pitfalls to be avoided: I can imagine no one wanted to land on "a box of corn salve," or "some good advice."

I hope Santa brings you just what you want, and no corn salve! May you have space number 114 this year and always. Merry Christmas everyone!

Antique Diecut & Cotton Batting Santa

Made in Germany circa the 1890s, this large diecut Santa is 18 inches tall and features a cotton batting cloak with gilt paper embellishment.

He has an exceptionally soulful expression on his face:

The Santa came from an elderly woman whose family had hung it each Christmas in their house from the 1890s all the way to 2010. It's incredible that this fragile piece survived so well for so long, and intriguing to imagine all the family Christmases it witnessed over those 120 years!

Vintage Chenille Santas

These little chenille Santas were made by the millions in Japan and sold in American dime stores from the 1930s to '50s. Averaging 2.5 inches tall, their little faces are usually made of molded clay, and they each have their own unique character.

Closely related to the chenille Santa is the cotton batting Santa. These are harder to find than the chenilles, probably because of their greater fragility.

When new, these little Santas decorated Christmas trees and gift packages. Now they are highly sought by collectors and their prices have risen accordingly, typically $10-13 each, but occasionally as high as $28 for an early or unusual example. The lucky hunter can sometimes still find them for a few cents at garage sales, so it pays to dig through boxes of vintage Christmas decorations whenever you can.

I keep my stash in this old glass candy container, where they are safely lodged in the chimney.

Christmas Candy Containers

Ninety years ago, children were delighted to find candy in their Christmas stockings, just as they are today. But while modern children might see plastic PEZ dispensers peeking out of their stocking tops, children of the 1920s would have found these beautiful glass candy containers nestled within. Once the candy inside was gone, children often saved the containers to use as toys, and so they have been preserved through the years for lucky collectors to discover.

This 4.5 inch container depicts a belsnickel-like Santa in a long coat and hood. It still has its original metal lid capping the bottom opening. When new, it would have been colorfully painted (remnants are visible on the face) but even bare, it's a beautiful thing, full of character. 

This container featuring Santa and a chimney is just under 4 inches tall. Originally the chimney would have been filled with colorful round, pellet-like candies, and capped with a thin metal lid.

They just don't make candy packaging like this anymore!

Antique Santa Claus Postcard

December is here at last, the toy collectors' favorite time of year. This month I'll be featuring a variety of Santa Claus themed items from my collection, including candy containers, decorations, and a rare board game from 1890.

First up is this fabulous postcard, circa 1906. The colorful card depicts a busy Santa listening on the wireless station at the North Pole. Looks like he's receiving lots of orders (I got mine in early.) Note the Northern Lights flickering overhead.

Santa Was Here!

Santa has been and gone, and left behind some great toys. (There they are, all wrapped up in the back of his old pedal car.)

This year's Christmas loot included one of the scarcest (and strangest) of all vintage Mr. Potato Head items, along with a tiny antique dollhouse, a rare old doll kitchen, and a 1908 Steiff bear. Pics coming soon.

Christmas in July

I rescued these from someone's trash on my way home from work tonight: a life-size, light up plastic reindeer and his snowmen friends. Can you believe someone threw these out?! Me neither.

Victorian Scrap Snowmen

We got our first big snow of the season here on Christmas night, with a little more falling this morning. The drifts are up to my knees now. Seemed like a good time to post some of my stocking stuffers: these Victorian scrap snowmen, circa the 1880s-90s. The larger snowman is 6 inches tall, while his little friends are a wee 2.5.

 

Unlike the snowmen currently outside in the yard, these embossed paper varieties won't melt away, and have lasted for the past 130 years.

 

What Did We Get For Christmas?

 

 For the holidays, I  got a respiratory infection, an asthma flareup, and the flu...but I also got:

 

-an 1870s children's sleigh

-an antique German wooden toy village

-a 1906-1908 teddy bear with photographs of its original owners

-a set of 1916 Schoenhut Alphies blocks

-some antique photographs of children with their toys

-some beautiful Victorian scraps

-and a new Peng Peng bear

 

Pictures to come soon...

 

What did you get? Tell us in the comments!

 

 

Vintage Snowmen

From my collection of vintage Christmas, these two little snowmen, just a couple of inches tall, are some of my favorite pieces. The smaller snowman has a peel off sticky label on the back: he was meant to be attached to a package as decoration. The larger snowman is made of mica-covered cardboard with a spun cotton head, and carries a pipe cleaner candy cane.

Vintage Santa Claus

This tiny Santa, about 3 inches tall, has the same molded plastic face as the Christmas elves posted yesterday, and dates from the same time period. I believe those are supposed to be candles he's holding.

Pine Cone Elves

These little Christmas elves sitting on pine cones were made by the millions from the 1940s-60s, and can be found today in lots of variations.  Some are singing carols, some are working on toys, some are reading books...these are two of my favorites. Made from cotton batting, chenille sticks, felt, paper, cardboard, and plastic, the elves measure about 3 1/2 inches tall.

Merry Kitschmas!

Happy December! We've come to one of my favorite times of the year: Kitschmastime! I rabidly collect vintage Christmas decorations from the 1940s-1960s, the kitschier the better. This month I'll highlight some of my favorite pieces.

These are some small ornaments and decorations that I wired onto a vintage bottle brush wreath.

 

 

A plastic snowman that looks a bit like Jimmy Durante,

along with a rather creepy elf. 



 

A super-cute cotton batting and glitter snowman,

just 2 1/2 inches high.

 

More Christmas kitsch to come this month...

"Black Friday" Finds

As much as I love hunting for treasures, I don't really go in for the day-after-Thanksgiving "Black Friday" shopfest. TVs, video games, appliances, and all the other electronic gadgets that seem to be the focus for shoppers that day don't really appeal to me much, and you couldn't pay me enough to be in those crowds. Instead I sleep in, then eat breakfast while watching the news stories of riots at the local Walmart. Fueled by Captain Crunch cereal and self-righteousness, I then go the opposite direction, visiting my favorite little independently owned shops in small towns.  My goals are chiefly: 1) supporting them, in an effort to avoid nothing but Walmarts in our future; and 2) seeing how they've decorated for the holidays.

So yesterday found me in a little "County Store" in a remote area, as far from the malls and big box places as I could get. This particular store, housed in several old farm buildings, specializes in holiday decorations along with some local crafts and baked goods. Occasionally, an antique toy can be found in its densely packed display cases, too.

And this trip didn't disappoint: I spotted this little doll's legs sticking out from under a pile of tinsel. Just a tiny 3 1/2 inches tall, this dollhouse doll was made in Germany between the 1890s-1900s, and is still wearing her original clothes.

Other finds included these old Christmas ornaments. The 3 inch snowman is made of cotton batting, and dates from around the 1930s-40s, while the chenille Santa is likely a bit older.

Who needs Best Buy's "door buster" deals when there are things like this out there, just waiting to be discovered?

What Did Tracy Get For Christmas?

Apparently I was very good (or we were very fiscally irresponsible) this year. I got:

-a cast iron and pressed tin chiming pull toy from the 1880s

-a miniature 1920s Schuco teddy bear, cinnamon colored

-a vintage toy department sign

-two mod-era Barbies and several outfits

-two Peng Peng bears

-two antique wind-up toy dogs

-a vintage Love Boat board game

-a Victorian travel dollhouse (most unusual)

-a huge, German two-story room box style dollhouse, circa the 1920s

-a houseful of antique dollhouse furniture and accessories (for the above)

-a German doll kitchen, circa the 1930s, with original art-deco-ish furnishings

-a blond frozen charlotte doll, circa the 1880s, with her child-made wardrobe and homemade armoire, constructed from cigar boxes

As you can probably imagine, it will take me some time to photograph all this, but I'll get the show and tell ready as soon as I can.

Hope you all had a happy Christmas too!
 

What Was In Tracy's Stocking?

Stocking stuffers are one of my very favorite Christmas traditions. The sight of a Christmas stocking bulging with mysterious small objects just makes my heart go pitter-patter. As miniature collectors know, very great things indeed can come in small packages, and this year Santa outdid himself.

My stocking held a couple of vintage 1940s MinToy dollhouse miniatures in their original packaging (a set of kitchen knives and a box of silverware); old dollhouse cakes; a 1920s-'30s Austrian-made celluloid dolly in a peanut; part of an antique miniature German teaset; a 1920s-'30s Old Maid card game; and a huge assortment of 1920s and '30s joke boxes. If you were reading the blog back on last April Fool's Day, you'll know that I have a passion for vintage pranks and jokes. I'm going to wait until this April to post the joke boxes properly, but here's everything else:

MinToy was a Chicago based manufacturer of dollhouse miniatures in the 1940s-'50s. Their motto was "The Big House of Little Things," and they made very nice things indeed. This carded set of kitchen utensils measures  4 1/2 inches, while the itty bitty box of silverware is just 2 1/8  inches.

Little dollies in peanut shaped molded cardboard containers were a mini-fad in the 1920s and '30s. This Austrian-made version features a celluloid doll with her original glass baby bottle. The peanut is 4 inches long.

This partial German dolly's tea set just delighted me. I love the colorful stripes, reminiscent of a circus tent. Circa the early 1900s-'20s, the teacups are 1 inch in diameter.

This Old Maid card game dates from the 1920s-'30s. It features fantastic caricature art: click on the photo to see the cards in more detail.

Lastly, a lot of wonderful old dollhouse cakes, dating between 1920-1960. Why all these dollhouse cakes? Because my biggest gift this year was an 1890s German dollhouse pastry shop or confectioner's. It needs a complete restoration, and then these cakes will fill its empty shelves...pictures to follow once it's all done!

Teddy Bear Christmas

Recently, I found this tiny, 5 inch tall vintage aluminum Christmas tree, dating from the early 1960s. Maybe it was intended for a funky, modernist dollhouse. It's now the perfect size for my little Peng Peng polar bear.

It's Almost Here!

For those who have been tormented by my Christmas peek posts, the wait is almost over: only 5 days to go, and all will be revealed!


Merry Almost-Christmas!

Santa Welcomes You To Toyland

Here's a peek at an antique toy exhibit I just put in at my library for Christmas.
(Sorry the pics are not the best: it was hard to get good images through the glass and around the awkward angles...)

 

Mounties and sailors and bears...oh my!

 

An aeronautically themed corner.

 

Dollies and tea sets have always been great Christmas gift ideas.

 

I spy a Steiff kitty, Little Orphan Annie, Mickey Mouse, 

and a ray gun...

 

...and a soldier, a sailor, ninepins, and a dolly.

The Lone Ranger keeps watch over a china head lady doll 

who appears to have fainted.