Happy 204th Birthday, Abe! Let’s Celebrate With a Lincoln Candy Container

Posted on February 12, 2013 by

The more time passes, the more people seem to appreciate the leadership and genius of Abraham Lincoln.  Four years ago, much was made of the bicentennial of his birth.  Right now, much is being made of an outstanding movie that focuses on a very brief period at the end of his life.

Ever since I was a child reading and re-reading a 1930’s biography of Lincoln that was passed down to me by my aunt, I have admired Abe.  And ever since I married a collector of political items, we have searched for affordable antiques that have something to do with Lincoln.  Of course, Jim wants campaign items, which are very rare and very expensive, indeed.  I’m not quite so picky.

Before there was a Presidents’ Day in February, we celebrated – separately – the February births of Washington and Lincoln.  When I was a child, the decorations for these holidays were principally cardboard cut-outs that teachers could staple on the classroom bulletin board.  However, eighty or ninety or more years ago, there were all sorts of neat three-dimensional party favors for every holiday of the year, including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays.  Here are two Lincoln pieces from our collection:

The bust of Lincoln on the left is a small candy container about three inches high that was most likely made in Germany.  A circular plug in the bottom can be removed and the hollow interior would have been filled with tiny candy pellets.  In general, candy containers from this era (about 1920 – 1930) are getting harder to come by.  They have been a “hot” collectible for the past forty years.

The unusual full figure of Lincoln on the right has a moveable arm and stands about four and a half inches tall.  At first glance, he does not appear to be a candy container since his base is merely a disc made of wood.  However, on the bottom are traces of glue.  Very likely, this figure was originally glued to a cardboard box that would, indeed, have held candy.

I am very fond of both of these pieces.  The bust, especially, is a very good likeness of Abraham Lincoln.  The other piece, which I must admit could easily turn into an Irishman for St. Patrick’s Day if painted differently, is funny and charming in its own right.  And while you do see a bigger variety of vintage Washington party favors, you just don’t see Abe very often.

Happy Birthday, Abe!  I, for one, am glad that you continue to be recognized as one of the greats.

Posted in 1800's, 1920's, Americana, Carol, Holiday, Political, Toys, Weird | Leave a comment

Copper Lustre Pitcher – Really Old and Really Cheap

Posted on February 11, 2013 by

Last weekend, Carol and I were set up at a local antique show.  We were there for two days and were among about forty dealers participating in the show.  The crowds were decent and we really can’t complain about how we did.

Being there two days also gave us lots of time to check out what the other dealers had to sell as well.  When we are selling I get in what I call a “selling mode” which means I’m not much in a “buying mode”.  Nevertheless, I wasn’t about to come home empty handed.

I ended up purchasing this copper lustre pitcher from a fellow dealer for twenty dollars.  It was the second day of the show and he dropped the price from thirty dollars to move it along.  I liked the hand painted decoration on both sides of what appears to be a mother teaching her daughter how to write.  Perhaps it’s supposed to be the Bronte sisters.  I don’t really know but it’s always nice to speculate.

Copper Lustre was made in the Staffordshire district of England from about 1820 to about 1860 when it fell out of fashion.  A lot of it was shipped to the United States at that time so it isn’t unusual to find a piece or two at your local flea market or antique shop.  Unfortunately it seems to have fallen out of fashion with modern collectors as well.  Consequently when you do find it these days it’s really cheap, which is kind of sad.

So why did I buy something that nobody else seems to be buying right now?  First, I like it.  Second, it was cheap.  Third, it can only go up over time.  Fourth, think of the history it represents.

The piece I bought was probably made in a factory at the very earliest stages of the Industrial Revolution.  Perhaps the person who decorated it lived in a cottage with a thatched roof.  Queen Victoria may not have even been Queen when it was made.  It would have been shipped by horse and wagon to a nearby port where it would have been loaded onto a sailing ship and sent to a still young America.  The twenty dollar bill I purchased it with had the picture of Andrew Jackson on it, who could have been our President at the time it was made.  The great westward expansion and Civil War were still to come and slavery had yet to be abolished.

Somehow this little pitcher survived all that in its one hundred and seventy or eighty years without any chips or cracks.  Why wouldn’t I buy it!

There was a saying back in the sixties that went “Do your own thing”.  There is an opportunity out there right now to buy true antiques at affordable prices.  I doubt it will be around forever.

 

Posted in 1800's, English, Foreign, Jim, Kitchen, Pottery | 2 Comments

A Tribute to Our Gal Sal: Sally Starr As You’ve Probably Never Seen Her

Posted on January 31, 2013 by

Ask any baby boomer who grew up in the Philadelphia area in the 1950’s and 1960’s if they remember Sally Starr’s “Popeye Theater” show, and you’ll get an immediate affirmative answer.  I truly think there wasn’t a child in our region who didn’t religiously watch the show unless his or her family didn’t own a TV.  Sally was a local superstar with a huge fan base.

She introduced us fifties kids to Popeye, the Three Stooges, and Clutch Cargo, that animated series in which the characters had weird, human mouths.  And in an era when cowboys were king and almost every child, male or female, had six shooters and cowboy hats, she was a genuine cowgirl, dressed to the nines in a shirt and skirt trimmed with fringe, her blonde hair usually pulled back into a ponytail and topped with a white Western hat.

I think what made Sally Starr so popular, however, was her warm personality.  We kids could tell that she genuinely liked us.  As happens to most performers, Sally’s show was eventually cancelled in the early 1970’s and she ended up moving to Florida.  However, as soon as she returned to the Delaware Valley, she was warmly embraced by the public who never stopped loving her.  All through her sixties, seventies, and into her eighties, Sally made lots of personal appearances.  Though I never saw her in person as a child, I saw her a couple of times as an adult, and she was just as warm and lovely and gracious as I expected her to be.  I collected an autographed photo from her each time.  I suspect that thousands of those autographed photos are out there in drawers and boxes in baby boomers’ homes, so, as a general rule, I don’t believe that a Sally Starr autograph is ever going to be extremely valuable.

That said, as soon as I saw the following autographed photo of Sally for sale at a local flea market last summer, I had to have it.

Sally Starr was a beautiful woman, and this photo proves it.  I believe it dates to the mid to late 1940’s when she would have been in her mid-twenties and her career in the Philadelphia area was taking off.  For those of us who never saw her without her cowgirl outfit, it’s a little disconcerting but sort of fun to see her in a low-cut, lacy (racy?) number like this.

In the same box was this Christmas card that Sally probably sent out sometime in the late forties or early fifties when she was a pioneering female disc jockey.  I love Christmas ephemera, so I had to have this, too.

I put the Christmas card out on display this past Christmas, never thinking it would be Sally’s last.  She passed away on January 27, two days after her 90th birthday.  When I heard the news, all I could say was, “Noooo!”  It felt like a door had shut on a little room in my childhood.

If you want to learn more about Sally Starr, she has an entry on Wikipedia or you can follow this link here to her obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Posted in 1940's, 1950's, Carol, Christmas, Ephemera, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Michelin Advertising Figure – Rollin to the “Roadshow” with Bibendum

Posted on January 23, 2013 by

The seventeenth season of PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” just started recently.  I have to admit that of all the shows dealing with antiques that have aired over the years, I still like this one the best.   Based on the even longer running British version of “Roadshow”, the simple formula of having ordinary people bring their stuff to be appraised by experts is still the closest thing to true reality TV.  When people find out what their item is worth at the end of the appraisal they truly are surprised and the reactions are real.   How do I know?  I was on the “Antiques Roadshow.”

This all happened a few years ago – 2005 to be exact, when through a happy turn of events Ben was able to secure tickets for all four of us to go to the “Roadshow”.  The bad news was that the closest event to us that year was in Providence, Rhode Island, about a seven hour drive away.  Even so, we weren’t about to pass up the chance to see our favorite show in person.  Since we knew the odds of getting on TV were less than one percent, we pretty much abandoned hope of making it to the little screen.  We figured the best thing to do was to use this experience as an opportunity to find out more about some of the stuff we were having trouble finding values for on our own.  We wanted to hear what the experts had to say.

One of the items we determined to be “Roadshow” worthy was our little Michelin statue. Purchased by Carol in 1987 for the grand sum of seven dollars, she found it at the yard sale of an auctioneer.  I received it as a birthday present that year.   Standing just fourteen and a half  inches tall, this little guy doesn’t look much like the cuter powdered doughnut version of Bibendum (yes, he has a name) that we see in commercials today.  Bibendum’s origins go all the way back to 1898 in France.  The Quaker Oats guy and Aunt Jemima have been around longer but they have human forms, they’re not made out of, well,  tires after all, nor do they smoke, drink and dance with women in their early ads either!  Leave it to the French to have an advertising icon with a true joie de vie!  Indeed, Bibendum, by the way, is Latin for “drink to be done”!  He was sort of the bad boy of early advertising icons!  Like all bad boys, however, that made him kind of cool.

We arrived at the Rhode Island Convention Center at about 8:30 that June morning and were greeted at the door by volunteers wearing light blue “Antiques Roadshow” polo shirts who directed us to go up the stairs and to the end of the ever growing line.  The line moved quickly, however and soon our tickets were checked and we each showed our items to a couple of ladies who determined which appraisers we would each see.  The Michelin Man earned me a ticket to the “collectibles” line which was understandably among the longest there.  In about only fifteen minutes or so though, I found myself face to face with Gary Sohmers (the guy with the white ponytail) who looked at my little tire guy and determined that Noel Barrett (at the adjacent toy table) would know more about it than he.  Suddenly there was Noel Barrett holding my little French advertising icon in his hands.  They seemed to be sizing each other up!  The seasoned dealer, auctioneer and appraiser looking down and Bibendum looking up.  There obviously was a bond forming.

Noel Barrett (the other guy with a ponytail by the way) then motioned that I come over to the toy table and have a seat behind the appraisers desk while he contacted his producer.  Holy cow, he wants to put us (mainly Bibendum) on TV!  I motioned for the rest of the family to join me and nobody seemed to mind all of us sitting there watching all the activity before us.  We also met a nice lady from Maine with her doll furniture, who was also waiting to talk with the producer.  She would end up on TV also.

Eventually the producer (Marsha Bemko) came over and talked first to the nice lady from Maine and then to me.  After a few question I was asked if I would like to be on TV and escorted to the “green room”.  The green room wasn’t actually green but was a separate area partitioned off by curtains.  There were several long tables by which to sit and wait your turn.  In each corner was a monitor showing the live raw feed of what was being taped.  There were also two make-up people.  The appraisers would go to one before their taping and the rest of us went to the other.  While in there we met Mark Wahlberg, who was on his first day on the job as the new host.  He, Noel Barrett, and everyone else was very nice to us.

My turn finally came and out I went holding the Michelin Man.  I was directed to one of the three tables in the center of the room set up for taping.  My microphone was hooked up and soon Noel Barrett joined me and off we went.  My three minutes of fame had begun!  I can’t say that I wasn’t at least a little nervous but I was really enjoying drinking in the experience (that would be bibendum in Latin) and I realized that I was actually living something that I had dreamed about.  One of the advantages that comes with age is that you worry less about what other people may think – even if there’s several million of them.  I had a great time.

I would have to wait eleven months to see if I made the cut that day.  As with most TV shows, the “Roadshow” tapes more material than it uses, so the possibility of ending up on the cutting room floor still existed.  Finally in May, 2006 in hour 2 from Providence, Rhode Island, there I was.  I was on TV.  I had made the cut.  So far my episode seems to run about every two years.  The last time I saw it on TV was last summer (2012).  It became the gift that kept on giving!

As far as the appraisal is concerned, below is the page from the 2010 “Antiques Roadshow” calendar which tells the story.  You can also view the appraisal on the “Antiques Roadshow” website in the archive section – just type in “Michelin”.

Watch the clip and read the transcript here at the Antiques Roadshow website.

By the way, the Michelin Man is still with us.  He wasn’t so valuable that we felt we had to sell him.  Valued at $1200 to $1800 he went right back to his familiar spot in our family room, but now he has a great story behind him.  He was, after all, on the “Antiques Roadshow”.

As for me, it didn’t exactly make me rich or famous.  Many people I knew told me that they saw me on TV but nobody ever asked for my autograph.  The whole experience, however, has only made me fonder of the “Roadshow”.  May it keep going for many years to come.

Posted in 1800's, 1900's, 1910's, 1920's, Advertising, Foreign, Historical, Jim, Weird | 4 Comments

LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fortress of Fangs

Posted on January 14, 2013 by

When I go to a toy show or a flea market, chances are that I can afford whatever I want to buy. Granted, the things that I collect tend not to be terribly valuable. Most of the most valuable things I own in my collection are worth a couple hundred bucks each.

However, I do remember a time when I really started actively hunting for vintage toys and action figures that I simply didn’t have the kind of budget I do now. It didn’t help that much of my expendable income went toward new Star Wars collectibles for a good portion of the 2000s.

Still, even with a limited budget, I remember making some great scores back in the day. Today’s find was purchased back in 2004, and I remember the find vividly to this day.

Back when I was a wee lad in the 1980s and 1990s, my sister and I shared a special assortment of toys we referred to as our “monster collection.” While I primarily played with toy lines like Star Wars, G.I. Joe, X-Men, and Transformers as a kid, during the month of October, we would pull out an assortment of older figures my mom would pick up for us cheap at yard sales that would get us into the Halloween spirit. Monsters, goblins, dragons, orcs, spirits…anything that vaguely resembled something spooky found its way into this particular collection.

When 1980s nostalgia surged in the early 2000s, I was delighted to discover that our monster collection ran the gamut of action figure lines from my youth. Ghostbusters, Masters of the Universe, Blackstar, Madballs Head Poppin’ figures, Bravestarr, Mego’s Mad Monsters, Remco’s Universal Monsters, Rocks, Bugs, and Things…many different toy lines were represented across this assortment of random figures.

However, one toy line dominated our monster collection, and that was LJN’s incredible Advanced Dungeons and Dragons toyline. For many years, I had no idea which toy line these figures came from. All I know is that we had a bunch of them. Virtually all of them came from one yard sale that my mom went to while I was at some sort of youth art program thingee at our local county college. I think the figures were a nickel or a dime a piece, so my mom wisely decided to purchase every single figure for sale.

The value of the line has fluctuated wildly over the last decade. Unlike many of the most popular 1980s action figure lines, LJN’s D&D line did not have a corresponding cartoon designed to specifically promote the toyline. There was a Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, but virtually none of the characters from the action figure line made an appearance in the show (save for the hero Strongheart, villains Warduke and Kelek, and the five-headed dragon Tiamat, all of whom made cameos at various points during the series). However, since the toy line was not specifically made to promote a cartoon and vice versa, that gave LJN the freedom to create a colorful and inventive bunch of action figures and toys.

None of the toys from the Dungeons and Dragons line are easy to find, at least in the dust-covered bins of childhood action figure collections I run across at flea markets, and the assortments that dealers have for sale tend to include the more common first series figures. However, once in a great while, I have lucked out in my quest to collect this toy line, and my best find came in the form of the Fortress of Fangs playset.

I really love this playset. I never associated it as a base of operations for either the heroes or villains, as was the case with most playsets from 1980s toy lines. The playset served as a fortress for a treasure chest full of gold. But beware! The Fortress was loaded with traps, including a trap door…

…a hole that figures could slide through…

…a catapult that would launch figures off of the Fortress…

…a wall of spikes reminiscent of the trash compactor scene from Star Wars…

…and it’s all guarded by a giant purple winged beast! Like most great playsets of the 1980s, it seems massive, yet when you start populating it with action figures, you realize how small it actually is.

I found this at the Berlin Farmer’s Market during the summer of 2004 at the absolute last table I checked at the entire flea market. Amazingly, the playset was complete and did not have any noticeable playwear or other flaws, like sticker wear or discloration. When the seller told me it was $5, I just about fell over. Not only was this something I was looking for, but even back then, the price was ridiculously low. The seller still sets up in the same spot all these years later, yet I have never come close to finding something this good off of him since this one amazing find. In fact, he hasn’t really ever had any action figures for sale since he had this one item, which is probably why it was priced so inexpensively.

I luck out rather frequently finding old, rare toys at really good prices, but for some reason, this is one of those finds that I remember very vividly because it was just so unexpected. The best days at flea markets are when you spend very little and leave very happy, and so I think that’s why the Fortress of Fangs is so memorable. However, this playset is so cool that had I not made that score, I would have gladly paid much more for it.

 

Posted in 1980's, Action Figures, Ben, Monsters, Toys | 4 Comments

Happy Holidays from Collectorgene!

Posted on December 25, 2012 by

Earlier this year, we posted pictures of this fantastic miniature house that Jim found at a local flea market.  Here it is all dressed up in its Christmas finery.  We considered it a fabulous find when Jim first brought it home, and as 2012 winds down, we’ve decided that it’s our favorite find of the year.

Posted in 1900's, Americana, Carol, Christmas, Hand Made, Holiday, Miniatures | Leave a comment

G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero Christmas Ornaments

Posted on December 21, 2012 by

I’ve been fortunate to grow up in an era in which character ornaments have been commonplace. Heck, in 2012, it’s a great time to be a child of the 1980s. In Hallmark stores alone, there’s a DeLorean Back to the Future ornament, a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man ornament, AND a Thundercats Lion-O ornament, in addition to the usual assortment of Star Wars, Star Trek, Disney, and Marvel and DC superheroes that are offered year after year.

While Hallmark seems to have a monopoly on well-made pop culture ornaments these days, it hasn’t been too hard to find Christmas ornaments of your favorite characters for quite some time. I think the success of the Star Trek and Star Wars ornaments in the early and mid 1990s showed that geeks don’t want snowmen or angels or Santa gracing their tree if they can spend their money on something much nerdier instead.

However, if you grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s like me, getting characters on your tree was much more of a challenge. Sure, I’ve had Disney, Warner Brothers, and Sesame Street characters on my tree since I was very, very young. But finding ornaments based around “action heroes” (not just action figures, but fictional heroes of my youth) is fairly challenging. I had a few as a kid, like Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles building a snowman, but it was the exception to the rule.

In recent years, I’ve come to appreciate these types of ornaments more, and so I was thrilled when I found three ornaments based on characters from G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero (ARAH) posted on a message board earlier this year.

Standing a couple inches tall, these are ornaments of Dee Jay, Countdown, and Alley Viper from the 1989 batch of new ARAH figures. If you love G.I.Joe, I’m sure you were expecting me have ornaments of Duke, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness, or any of the other myriad of far more memorable members of the Joe and Cobra teams. Hence, these ornaments are a bit of a mystery to me. Even in 1989, there were new versions of Snake Eyes and Rock N’ Roll.

My first thought was, “Well, if it was 1989, maybe whoever made these ornaments was simply trying to promote some of the new and exciting characters that kids are sure to love!” That hypothesis was quickly refuted when I saw that all three ornaments were dated 1991, two years AFTER these third-tier ARAH characters premiered. Additionally, these ornaments are copyrighted “Hasbro,” although that copyright might represent the company that owns the rights to ARAH and not necessarily the manufacturer of these ornaments.

I cannot find any information on these ornaments and whether there are more in the set. This is such an odd combination of ARAH characters that I feel like more popular characters had to be represented as well. If you have any information on these ornaments, please let me know! Regardless of how these ornaments came to be, I currently have them proudly displayed on one of my Christmas trees this year, and I plan to do the same for many years to come.

Posted in 1980's, 1990's, Action Figures, Ben, Christmas | 2 Comments

When Your Holidays Need a Little Less Cheer and a Little More Fear, Bring in the Krampus.

Posted on December 20, 2012 by

For many years very few Americans seemed to be aware of some of the stranger characters associated with Christmas in other countries around the world.  Every country has their own traditions, and ours are rather tame compared to most.  All in all, our version of Santa is pretty darn nice.  The worst thing he would ever do to a kid is put coal in his or her stocking for being bad.  Coal in your stocking is no fun, but when you compare it to alternatives like being hit with switches and thrown into hellfire, I know I would happily take the coal.  In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the Austrian Christmas villain, Krampus.  If you haven’t heard about this lovable fellow, he looks like a devil with a very long tongue, and his sole job on this earth is to spend one day of each year, December 5th, punishing naughty children with blunt instruments (or giving switches to the children’s parents so they could do the punishing).  Often the way to tell a Krampus from a regular devil is that the Krampus will often have black skin (the literal color black, this isn’t a race thing), though sometimes he is a more typical red devil.  He will also most likely have a very long tongue to lick children with, and be carrying switches, shackles, or a basket on his back to carry children away to Hell in.   Krampus is St. Nicolas’s sidekick in Austria, and while in America Santa doles out both gifts and punishments, Krampus does all of the dirty work while St. Nick only gives presents to good children.  Krampus has been growing in popularity in America in recent years, and now several cities around the country celebrate Krampusnacht, or have a Krampuslauf (running of the Krampuses).  Krampus has been immortalized through Christmas decorations and postcards for many, many years, and every now and again we have been lucky to come across some Krampus memorabilia.  I can try to describe Krampus to you with words, but the best thing I can do to introduce this ominous Christmas character, is to show him to you.

One of the most popular Krampus collectibles is Krampus postcards.  Krampus became a very popular subject for holiday postcards in the mid-19th century as postcards became a huge craze in Europe.  Even though Krampus’ job was mostly to punish and scare children, many postcards of Krampus exist that show him reacting more to the sins of adults.  The only card I have obtained (because Krampus postcards can get mighty expensive) is this one from about the 1960’s.  It is a great card with a sort of child Krampus sitting on a pretty girl’s lap.  Clearly, this Krampus is being seen as a more humorous figure than a scary one, and this card was made for adults to send to one another.  Another thing to note about Krampus is that, because he is an Austrian figure, almost everything you find with Krampus on it is in Austrian or German.  “Grub vom Krampus”  translates to “Greetings from Krampus”, and is found on almost every Krampus postcard you find.

This next Krampus piece I have is a paper cutout of the Christmas devil himself.  He is seen here with red skin, but the switches in his hand, the shackles, and the tongue let you know that this is Krampus, not an ordinary devil.  Paper cutouts were used for a variety of purposes in decorating, and there are several designs out there that are being reproduced today.  This piece is one of the more common Krampus pieces that I see, so it is a little bit more affordable for a new Krampus collector.  I found mine in a local shop, but they show up on eBay fairly regularly.

Little fuzzy animals made in Austria similar to this fellow were very popular in the 1960’s, so it isn’t too surprising that they produced a Krampus.  Again, this is a red Krampus, but you still know it is him because he has a little orange tongue sticking out, and switches in his right hand.  This might be the cutest Krampus ever made.  There is nothing imposing about this little guy at all.  He stands about 4 inches tall, which is fairly large for the little creatures made by the ARA company.  Clearly Krampus took on more of a comical role in the 20th century, which is why some of these cuter and less ominous Krampus items can exist.

My mom found a few of these Krampus ornaments at a flea market.  The dealer she got them from said he bought them in the Czech Republic.  They are really cool, but pose a bit of a mystery.  This ornament is made in the Dresden style, but looks awfully clean and new for a vintage ornament.  I have always heard talk about people finding warehouses with vintage holiday stock and toys in them in Germany and Eastern Europe, but there are also a lot of reproduction holiday pieces that look a lot like the original pieces floating around on the market.  This can make you wonder if the “warehouse” stories are true, or if they are made to fool people into spending more money on reproductions.  Could this Krampus be a great, vintage piece?  Maybe.  Could he be a new piece done to look old?  Maybe.  The bottom line is, he is really cool looking, and I haven’t seen any others on the market to compare him to.   It is probably best to error on the side of caution and say that there is a good chance that he isn’t too old, but he looks great and we love putting him on the tree.  And if he is old warehouse stock, that is a bonus.   There is a whole discussion that could be created right now on vintage a reproduction Christmas decorations coming out of Europe right now, but right now I want to divert into a conversation about some of Santa’s other ominous sidekicks from Europe.

Before learning about Krampus I was in introduced to Knecht Ruprecht, a similar character from Germany, by one of my high school friend’s mom who happened to be a German teacher.  Knecht Ruprecht is a very similar character to Krampus in that he punishes bad children, but he has a beard and looks more like a creepy and mean Santa.  Another similar character is Belsnickle, who is also associated with Germany and the Pennsylvania Dutch.  I think this ornament most likely represents one of those two fellows. He is just another one of St. Nick’s friends doing all of the dirty work, while Santa rewards the good kids.  There are many other mean Christmas characters besides Krampus, but I think Krampus fascinates the public so much because he is so scary and disturbing.  I mean, I wouldn’t want a scary old man hitting me with switches, but I would take that over a devil licking my face and hitting me with switches.  This nice early Knecht Ruprecht/ Belsnickel ornament is a perfect segue into our favorite Krampus piece, a fairly early unassuming box with a fantastic surprise.

This little paper lithographed box holds a secret, and since you already know that we are talking about Krampus, I am sure you figured out that there is a Krampus in that box…

I am a little bit embarrassed to say that we did not know that this piece was most likely a Krampus when we bought it.  The dealer selling it made no mention of Krampus on his price tag, and we just took it for a really neat gag gift with a devil.  After several years of owning this piece, we learned about Krampus and started putting two and two together.  This devil head has black skin and a pronounced tongue, his box has Christmas colors on it, the sentiment of “Think of me” could mean that children should be thinking about Krampus to help remind them to behave at the holidays.  It really makes sense for this piece to represent Krampus.  The one thing that throws me off more than anything is that the box is in English.  Krampus didn’t infiltrate the pop culture of Americans much at all until probably within the last decade.  In Europe his reign of terror was seen only really in Austria, some of Germany, and a little bit of Eastern Europe, but not English speaking countries.  This piece isn’t marked, but is probably German, and the Germans imported a lot of decorations and toys to America.  I propose that this toy might have been produced as a Krampus piece in Europe, but that they sent it to America to represent more of a novelty.  It does work as such.  You don’t have to know who Krampus is to see the humor in handing a person a box with a sentimental message on it, and then laughing at their shock when a devil pops out.  Anyway, that is my thought on the matter.  It is a great Krampus piece, and by far the favorite in our collection.

I am all about festive cheer at the holidays, but I can’t help but be fascinated by Krampus.  Clearly I am, because I made a Krampus knee hugger this year…

…which is sold out on Etsy.com at the moment, but more will be available soon.  There is always something interesting about learning about strange traditions and characters, and that is why Krampus has become a part of our holiday decor.  He is just a scary little reminder to be extra nice at the holidays.

Posted in 1800's, 1900's, 1910's, 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, Amy, Art, Christmas, Dolls, Foreign, Hand Made, Holiday, Humor, Miniatures, Monsters, Toys, Weird | 1 Comment

Pick of the Week: Sad Santa Story Told in Six 1906 Keystone Stereo Cards – Or a Real Nightmare Before Christmas!

Posted on December 12, 2012 by

We haven’t featured a “Pick of the Week” in a while, but we wanted to share last weekend’s holiday-themed find with you.  It’s a set of six stereo cards published by the Keystone View Company in 1906 that Jim and I picked up for $15 at a local antique co-op.  We may get all nostalgic about a kinder, gentler spirit that prevailed a century ago, but these cards will prove once and for all that that notion is false, and that people in the “olden days” had cruel senses of humor just as they do today.  Indeed, I doubt that most people today would tolerate the story that unfolds on these stereo cards, and that’s what fascinates us about them.

I should note a little history about the stereoscope (sometimes also called a stereoptican) and the double-image cards that it used.  This simple, hand-held device was found in most American homes between 1860 and 1920.  It allowed the viewer to see a 3-D image when the two photos “blended” into one.  Subjects on the stereo cards ran the gamut from tourist views of famous sites and cities around the world to humorous images that told a little story.  Presidents, kings, generals, and other people of note also had their likenesses appear on stereo cards.

The Keystone View Company was founded in Meadville, PA in 1892 and continued operation until the 1960’s.  They really cornered the market on educational stereo views and eventually survived longer than any of their competitors.  In 1905, a year before our set of cards was copyrighted, Keystone was the largest stereographic company in the world.  In addition to educational views, humorous cards were a mainstay of the company’s vast catalog, and that’s where our cards come in – if you can call them funny.  You be the judge.

Card #1 shows a “real” Santa with a real, somewhat short beard peeking out of a snow-covered lair.  The script reads:  This is the cold little home in the North, from which old Santa is just starting forth.

Card #2 shows the same Santa hugging one of his reindeer (which happens to look very taxidermied).  Here’s what it says:  This is the deer old Santa loves best, ready to travel away with the rest.

It’s a bit hard to make out, but the third card shows a Santa with a much longer beard cracking the whip and urging his team of deer on.  It says:  This is the good old saint on the road, skimming along with his precious load.

Here’s where the happy story takes a sad and dramatic turn.  Yes, that is a hunter firing on Santa’s reindeer.  The card says:  This is the hunter with intention good, shooting a deer as he roams through the wood.

It goes from bad to worse.  Not only does a deer lie dead, but jolly old St. Nick is clubbing the nasty hunter with a stick!  Here’s the next line:  This is the mischief that hunter did cause, and the awful wrath of old Santa Claus.

Now we see our Santa, in a terribly fake wig and beard, dragging along on foot with his giant pack of gifts on his back.  The end of the story goes like this:  This is poor Santa, feeling so blue, for fear he’ll be late and disappoint you.

Now I ask you, would we subject our children to a cruel and humorless story like this today?  I think not.  Yes, we certainly have movies about “bad” Santas, and there’s a very famous Christmas movie in which a cat gets electrocuted, but parents would be up in arms if a movie depicted Rudolph – or Prancer or Vixen for that matter – being shot point blank by a hunter.  Times have certainly changed, and, maybe in this instance, it’s for the better.

Posted in 1900's, Americana, Carol, Christmas, Ephemera, Holiday, Humor, Weird | Leave a comment

Have a Very Disney Christmas with Mickey, Goofy, Tron, and V.I.N.C.E.N.T.

Posted on December 4, 2012 by

As evidenced by the other articles you’re seeing pop up this month on The Collector Gene, we’re a family that’s very, very, VERY much into the holiday season. My parents have been very, very lucky to amass such a nice collection of antique Christmas ornaments and old German decorations, and my sister seems to be cornering the market on vintage knee-hugger elves (even going so far as to create her own interpretation this year). But how am I able to collect Christmas memorabilia that reflects what I collect?

Well, what I collect involves a lot of characters from the 1980s and 1990s, and to cash in on the holiday spirit, many of these characters appeared in various Christmas specials or comics or whatever. From He-Man to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there were a fair number of idols from my childhood who donned their gay Christmas apparel for the sake of my amusement.

It wasn’t until a few years ago when I rented my first house that I had enough space to really go crazy with my own Christmas decorations. A wreath and two three-foot-tall Christmas trees filled with ornaments just weren’t going to cut it though. I needed something BIG, a standout piece that said it was time to celebrate the holidays while also celebrating my everyday nostalgic existence.

I made that find at a flea market that fall for a whopping $10.

Walking in an 1980s science fiction wonderland...Walking in a science fiction wonderland…

This large cardboard display stands about four feet tall and a little over feet wide if it’s folded out flat. It’s a winter wonderland populated with some of Disney’s classic characters, from Mickey and Goofy and Chip and Dale to Tron and V.I.N.C.E.N.T. from Black Hole. Wait…what?

These days, Disney is laying claim to all sorts of hot properties, including the entire Star Wars and Marvel universes. Back in the early 1980s, though, the Mouse House only dipped its toes into nerdy properties after the blockbuster success of Star Wars. Tron was only a moderate success, while The Black Hole barely turned a profit on its $20 million budget, the most expensive movie made by Disney at that point in time. These two properties weren’t profitable or popular enough to continue pursuing, but they had enough of a cult following to be remembered fondly.

The back of this display says Walt Disney Home Video, so my guess is that this is one part of a massive store display to promote Disney home videos in the early 1980s. Tron was first released on home video in 1983, so I think this is from around that time. If Tron and V.I.N.C.E.N.T. were not on display, I don’t think I could date it that specifically, although the other Disney characters are very reminiscent of how they looked in the 1980s.

Obviously, my main reason for buying the display was those two center characters. I usually place this in my living room around the holidays, and for some of my friends, it’s the first decoration they see in my house.

Since then, I’ve added many more items to my “pop culture Christmas” collection, but this was always the starting point, and I am thrilled that what was once a disposable store display has become a holiday tradition for me.

Posted in 1980's, Advertising, Ben, Disney | Leave a comment