And the Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney with Care

 

QUESTION: When I was a kid, I used to get so excited hanging a stocking with my name on it on our stair railing on Christmas Eve. We didn’t have a fireplace, so no mantel. When I became an adult, I used to see handmade Christmas stockings at church bizares and at yard sales and began to buy the ones I liked the most. Now I have quite a collection. During the holidays, I hang some of them on the railing of the stairway and other locations in my house. But how did this custom get started? Andare Christmas stockings good collectibles?

ANSWER: Before getting into the history of the Christmas stocking tradition, it’s important to put the collecting of these stockings in perspective. While people actively followed this tradition throughout the 19th century, children back then used their own stockings for the most part. At the height of the Victorian Era, specially made Christmas stockings began to appear, often made in crazy quilt designs using scraps of cloth leftover from making clothes.

But ordinary children’s stockings couldn’t hold much in the way of treats—perhaps some fruit and candies. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that larger commercially made Christmas stockings began to appear in stores. However, those with a craftier bent still made their own stockings from felt or velvet, decorated with appliques. 

Though historical origins of the Christmas stocking exist, many historians believe its beginnings date back to a legend involving St. Nicholas. As he was passing through a village, he heard about a nobleman whose wife had recently died of an illness, leaving him and his three beautiful daughters in despair. Devastated by his wife's death, he squandered all his wealth and property, forcing him and his daughters to move into a lowly peasant’s cottage. His daughters, each ready to marry, couldn’t do so because he had no money to give them dowries.

St. Nicholas knew that the father would be too proud to accept money from him, so he came up with a plan to help him secretly. One night after the daughters had washed out their clothing, they hung their stockings over the fireplace to dry. That night St. Nicholas stopped by the cottage after the family had gone to bed. He peeked in the window and saw the daughters' stockings hanging by the fire. St. Nicholas reached into his pouch and felt three small sacks of gold. He threw one of them through the window, providing a dowry for the eldest girl, then provided dowries for the other two daughters in the same manner on subsequent evenings. 

On the third evening, the father caught Nicholas throwing the third sack of gold, and thanked him for his generosity. In some versions of this story, Nicholas throws the sacks of gold down the chimney, and they fall into each of the daughter's stockings, hanging to dry by the fire. This is a bit implausible since the stockings would have been hanging above the fire and not anywhere near the chimney opening in the fireplace.

Another interpretation of the stocking custom says that it began in Germany where children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw, or sugar cubes, near the chimney for the flying horse of a legendary figure named Odin, who would reward the children for their kindness by replacing his horse Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy. 

After the adoption of Christianity in medieval times, Europeans began honoring St. Nicholas on December 6. In the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, folk traditions developed around the idea of St. Nicholas bringing treats to children on St. Nicholas's Eve. Parents told their children to leave their shoes by the fire on that evening so that the Nicholas could climb down the chimney and fill them up with fruit, nuts, and cookies. Some parents substituted stockings for shoes.

Eventually, people moved the tradition of giving gifts to children from St. Nicholas Day to Christmas. In Germany children began to hang stockings at end of their beds on Christmas Eve so that Christkindel or the Christ Child could fill them with treats as he voyaged from house to house. As Germans emigrated to America in the 19th century, they brought the stocking custom with them.

Part of the fun of collecting old and vintage Christmas stockings is in displaying them during the holidays. While most commercial stockings aren’t worth very much, collecting them is akin to collecting old Christmas balls. So as you hang your stocking on the fireplace mantel or the stairway, think of St. Nicholas. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Celebrating an Olde Fashioned Holiday" in the 2020 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Lifelike Detail of Hutschenreuther Figurines

 

Two Boys and a Bird

QUESTION: I love to browse online antique auctions. Recently I came across an incredibly detailed figurine, the description said it was made by Hutschenreuther. I collect porcelain figurines but have never heard of this manufacturer. Can you tell me more about this company?

ANSWER: Although the Hutschenreuther name has been around for over 150 years, it’s’ less well known than say Meissen. Movement, grace and lifelike detail are what  make these porcelain figurines unique.

Carl Magnus Hutschenreuther’s father owned a porcelain painting studio, and his mother's family owned a porcelain factory, both located in Wallenorf, Germany. By the time he was 18 years old in 1812, Hutschenreuther was already dealing in porcelain he had decorated.

During a business trip to Hohenberg in northeastern Bavaria, Hutschenreuther discovered a clay that was excellent for making porcelain. He became so inspired that he decided to return to Hohenberg and apply for permission to build a porcelain factory.

But Hutschenreuther encountered nothing but red tape. The local government turned him down in 1816 because of the protests of neighboring hammer mills fearing an expected wood shortage. The following year he tried again to get permission to build a kiln, and the ministry turned his request down with no explanation. Finally, after nearly six years of constant efforts and continuous protests from neighboring communities,  Hutschenreuther, the town council granted a license to build a porcelain factory in Hohenberg in 1822.

Figure frog

 made china available to the general public for the first time. The firm began making pipe bowls, dolls heads, bathing dolls, and dinnerware with as few as 10 workers. By 1841 the company employed 55 workers, including Hitschenreuther's young sons Lorenz and Christian. 

After Carl Hutschenreuther's death in 1845, his wife, Johanna, took over the management of the factory. His talented Lorenz decided to go out on his own and open his own factory in the town of Selb. He put the new factory into operation with 511 emplyees in 1859.

The Lorenz and Carl Magnus Hutschenreuther porcelain factories' coexisted as two independent businesses. When Lorenz died in 1886, his sons Viktor and Hugen took over his company, enlarging the firm through the creation of new factories and the acquisition of others during the first part of the 19th century.

Woman Dancing

Lorenz’s sons created a special art division in the Seib factory in 1917. The driving force behind this expansion was Emil Mundel, director of the firm. In 1922, he brought the famous sculptor Carl Werner in as technical and artistic director of the art division. Later that year, sculptor Karl Totter began working there.  

Both Hutschenreuther factories became known for their high quality dinnerware and figurines. The Selb factory produced the highly prized Art Deco figurines at this time. Local artist Hans Achtziger’s designs shaped the look of the firm. In 1956 the young sculptor Gunther R. Granget joined the team. Trained by Tutter and Werner, he dedicated himself to the creation of animals and birds, and today his limited edition figurines bring prices in the thousands.

Art Deco Nude

The Hutschenreuther figures designed by Tutter and Werner exhibited some of the best features associated with the Art Deco movement—restrained elegance, suggestions of speed and movement and the spirit of freedom and optimism in the future. As nude and semi-nude figures of women were favorite artistic subjects of the time, the Hutschenreuther artists created a number of lovely female figurines. Their poses varied from languid, reclining positions to ones movement. Grace and speed were exhibited by I figures in various dance positions. 

Many figures can be found kneeling or standing with arms stretched forward to symbolize movement into the future. Some of the best known Hutschenreuther sculptures have the figure holding or standing on a ball. This globe or sphere indicated an .awareness and interest in the world at large. The ball was painted gold and made a striking contrast to the stark white or flesh tones of the figure.

Bremen Town Musicians

Animal sculptures were inspired from the world of nature and carefully re-searched. Birds, such as the American Eagle designed by Tutter, had such realistic detail one can almost believe the feathers are real. To create the magnificent swan group, Hans Achtziger spent intensive study of the characteristics and movement of live models. Members of the cat family, deer, gazelles and dogs projected the Art Deco image of speed, grace and sleekness. 

Cupids and children were popular subjects with Hutsehenreuther artists, the ' glowing white porcelain showing off the qualities of innocence and purity. The molds were meticulously formed to show the curls in a child's hair or the dimples in a chubby knee.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Retro style in the Fall 2020 Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Art of the Scrapbook

 

QUESTION: I’ve been into scrapbooking for about two years. Last year I saw several older ones at a local antique show. One was rather plain, but the other was quite elaborate. The dealer wasn’t sure how old they were, but they looked like they could have been from the late Victorian Era. I’ve always wondered when the idea of pasting pictures and other items into albums began. Can you give me a little history of scrapbooking? 

ANSWER: Throughout the 19th century, scrapbooks that closely resemble what we think of as a scrapbook today began to to be popular. 

Historians believe the first recorded use of the term “scrap book—referring to a book with blank pages into which a person pasted items—was in 1821. People wrote the term as two words, "scrap book" or hyphenated as "scrap-book," but over time, the two words morphed into one, as it appears today. But it wasn’t until 1879 that people started to use the term as a verb,” to scrapbook.”

The invention of the commercial printing press in the early 19th century was responsible for the popular practice of pasting pictures and paper mementos into blank books called albums. Recipients began to view elaborately printed greeting cards, calling cards, postcards, prayer cards, advertising trading cards, and other materials as novelty keepsakes. 

Newspapers went into widespread circulation as well, and readers clipped everything from family mentions to recipes to historic news stories to save.

The increased availability of printed material sparked a new trend. People began filling blank, bound books—previously used for journals or artwork—with clippings, cards and printed memorabilia. Some of these books contained a mix of personal journal entries, hand-drawn sketches, and watercolors, along with various scraps of printed material. 

One of the most popular forms of early scrapbooks was the placement of calling cards into albums. Calling cards had long been used as a form of social etiquette, especially in England. Elaborate rules dictated how people were to use these cards to make attempts at social contacts and to accept or decline them. They were also used as a way to politely extend social greetings after an event like a birth or wedding.  

In a world where social elites hid behind a wall of servants, people didn’t just drop in for a visit. Instead, a person would drop off a card with the corner folded to indicate it was delivered in person. If the recipient wished to receive a visit, they would send their card as a reply. A card delivered in an envelope, however, was a polite brush-off.

Like so many other things in Victorian times, beautiful floral designs and pastoral scenes decorated these cards. The desire to preserve these beautiful pieces of full-color printing and remember friendships led to the growth of calling card albums. 

The Victorians loved decoration—the more the better. They also were very romantic and loved sentimentality and keepsakes. To fulfill their desire for decoration, they used embossed paper images called scraps. 

Also called die cuts or chromos, scraps were small and colorful and sold in sheets by stationers and booksellers. Their diverse subject matter included flowers, trees, fruits, birds, animals, pets, ladies and gents, children, historical people and events, angels, transportation themes, and occupational motifs. People pasted them into albums and also used them to make greeting cards and decorated boxes.

The first scraps originated in German bakers' shops as decoration for biscuits and cakes and for fastening on wrapped sweets. Printers produced the earliest ones in uncut sheets in black and white, then hand colored them. Scraps appeared in Britain in the 1850s and soon became popular as decorative additions to Christmas cards. They were also used to illustrate historical as well as events of the time.

Early in the 20th century, young ladies and children of the middle and upper classes began keeping scrapbooks that contained collections of commercially produced scraps. They organized them thematically with a single subject for the entire book or with several themes arranged by section.

Sometimes, they added lines of poetry, personal notations, inscriptions by family and friends, and drawings. 

Stationery stores sold scrapbooks with tooled leather covers, elaborately embossed bindings, engraved clasps, and brass locks. Some scrapbooks contained printed decorations on their pages, as well as centered oval, circular or square sections into which people could paste items. Other albums held printed pages with theme-setting embossed decoration-like flowers or birds. Many scraps keepers made their own albums by pasting scraps over catalog and magazine pages.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Retro style in the Fall 2020 Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

QUESTION: I discovered my first child’s advertising booklets quite by accident. I was actually looking through a box of assorted vintage paper goods at a local flea market when I noticed a tiny booklet. It was an illustrated nursery rhymes distributed by Clark’s O.N.T. Thread. I’ve seen other advertisements from the late 19th century but never thought anything about it. Why did advertisers use children in their ads? And why did they distribute children’s books to promote their products? I’d like to start collecting these little books, but I don’t know where to begin.

ANSWER:  Advertising products to children isn't new. In fact, it goes back over 100 years to the late 19th century. And while children, themselves, can't buy the products, their parents and grandparents can. As the old saying goes, "Out of the mouths of babes..."

Back then, the way to a parent's pocketbook was through the childrens' advertising booklet. Most people today have never heard of them. But during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, children’s advertising booklets were a common item in many households. Everything from coloring books to junior cookbooks caught the eyes of advertisers.

As early as the 1850s, manufacturers realized the way to a mother's purse strings was through her children. What mother could resist the purchase of Clark's O.N.T. thread when doing so would include an educational booklet of rhymes for her little one? Besides, O.N.T. Black fast thread was "guaranteed never to show white on the seams after being worn or washed” –clearly a win-win situation.

But Clark's O.N.T. thread wasn’t the only company to take advantage of a mother's love for her children. The heyday of consumer advertising in the United States was in the last quarter of the 19th century. This was a time when steam presses and chromolithography made visually appealing promotional material relatively inexpensive, and when manufactured goods proliferated.

The great Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, with its myriad of domestic exhibits, inspired thousands of different advertising handouts. Advertisers began to use the image of a comfortable middle-class life as an inducement to purchase their products. Well-fed babies and well-dressed children at play were themselves symbols of material accomplishment. Plus, they portrayed the picture of wholesomeness.

At the same time. advertisers became aware that the woman in the household made most of the buying decisions, especially of household goods. The logical conclusion was that promotions which doubled as toys for children might also attract sales.

Many of these little promotional booklets have survived. So what affects their value? Condition, subject matter, general appeal, author, and illustrator are all important when determining the value of a children’s advertising booklet or an ad with children in it. Though companies hired prominent illustrators to create these booklets, many of them aren’t given credit. Among the more famous ones are W.W. Denslow who illustrated The Wizard of Oz, Johnny Gruelle who did Raggedy Ann, and Maxfield Parrish, who became known for his high fashion Art Deco paintings. So booklets that feature these artists are likely to command a premium. 

The Wonderful Lunch Boxes, illustrated by 20th century children's book illustrator Shirley Kite is a good example. Printed in 1925 and 1927, the book came inside boxes of a variety of Post cereals, including Bran Flakes, Instant Postum and Postum Cereal, Grape-Nuts, Toasties, and a cereal that obviously didn't go over too well----Bran Chocolate.

There was also a wide variety of advertising booklets available. Coloring books, nursery rhymes, and alphabet booklets were particularly successful as advertising promotional material. In most cases, advertisers created ingenious tie-ins with their products, using verse, parody and caricature. Occasionally, advertisers included watercolor “chips” in coloring books, and sometimes interleaved the pages with glassine to protect the images from smearing once children colored them.

However, not all advertising booklets were aimed at children. In 1910, Ivory Soap issued “Elizabeth Harding, Bride,” an advertising booklet with instructions on how to clean everything from blankets and brassware to hardwood floors and rubber plants all using Ivory Snow. It seems new bride Elizabeth feared her housekeeping abilities would be unacceptable to her new husband until Ivory Snow saved the day.

Jell-O was America's first packaged dessert, and owner Orator Woodward had a tough time convincing the public that combining water with white powder would produce tasty fruit-flavored gelatin. In 1902, Woodward hired door-to-door salesmen to hand-deliver Jell-O recipe booklets. The strategy was a key part of Jell-O's marketing for decades. And as with previous booklets, prominent artists illustrated many of them. One of the most famous is Rose O'Neill, best known for the Kewpie doll. A 1915 mint condition example of Jell-O and the Kewpies now sells for over $100.

Collectors can still find great examples of charming booklets for under $100, and many are still priced for less than $50. 

Along with the promotional booklets, advertisers also used children in illustrations for some not-so-common products. One of the most bizarre was “The Dutch Boy’s Lead Party,” a paint book for children. Considering that housepaint used to contain lead, it seems a bit noxious to promote it with children. Then again, maybe that’s supposed to be pronounced “leed.”

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Retro style in the Fall 2020 Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.