It’s Snowing—Babies!

QUESTION: Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been fascinated by the little white porcelain figurines called “snow babies.” My mother had a number of them and would place them on the mantel above the fireplace nestled in a bed of fresh pine and holly. I can still remember handing them to her since I was too short to reach the mantel. What can you tell me about snow babies? How long have they been around? Are they collectible? If so, I’d like to start my own collection.

ANSWER: Believe it or not, snow babies have been around since the early 1890s. And, yes, they are very collectible. However, over the decades a number of different ones have been produced, not all of which are authentic. So unfortunately, it’s buyer beware.

Snow babies are small figurines, usually of a child, depicting a Christmas or winter sports activity. Like Hummel figurines, they emphasize the nostalgia of childhood and days gone by. But unlike Hummels, their manufacture wasn’t tightly controlled.

Since their introduction in the last decade of the 19th century, snow babies have enchanted collectors all over the world, especially during the holidays. They’re made of unglazed porcelain, also known as bisque, and show a children dressed in one-piece, hooded snowsuits covered in small pieces of hand-whipped crushed porcelain bisque, giving the appearance of fallen snowflakes.

The idea for snow babies evolved from early 19th-century German candy cake toppers, called tannenbaumkanfekt, used to decorate the tops of Christmas cakes and to decorate Christmas trees. Confectioners molded flour, sugar and gum for firmness into little figures, then painted them with vegetable dye. The best loved became known as zuckerpuppes or sugar dolls, which people used, along with igloos and polar bears, to create snow scenes under their Christmas trees. Later, confectioners began making them of marzipan, a mixture of crushed almonds, egg whites and sugar. They were especially popular with confectioners in Lubeck, Germany. One of them, Johann Moll, commissioned Hertwig and Company to re-create these adorable almond paste babies in porcelain bisque. The oldest ones were typically either all white with a painted face or painted in pastel colors.

Hertwig and Company began operation in 1864 in Katzhutte, Thuringia, Germany, making porcelain doll heads and bisque figures. However, the Hertwig snow babies didn’t thrill German children, who naturally preferred the candy version. But their  mothers loved them and used them to adorn their trees and homes during the Christmas season. Then they could pack them up and save them safely for another year.

The first snow babies produced by Hertwig were one to two inches tall, but the company also made some five to seven-inch ones. As production increased, Hertwig began creating snow babies in a variety of winter activities, such as sledding, skiing, and tumbling. Eventually, the company’s artists made the figures’ hands and feet more clearly defined, and even gave their little figures shoes. Although babies predominated, Hertwig produced some older children as well.

Because of Hertwig’s success, many other German companies began to produce snow babies, including Wagner and Appel, Galluba and Hoffman, Bahr and Proeschild, Christian Frederick Klurg, and the Huebach Brothers.

In 1893, Josephine Perry, wife of the famous arctic explorer Robert, shocked the world by accompanying her husband to Greenland on his famous expedition to the North Pole, even though she was expecting a child. On September 8, 1893, Marie Ahnighito Perry, the first non-indigenous baby to be born that far north. The native Intuit came for miles to see the white-skinned baby they called her Ah-pooh-nick-ananny, Inuit for snow baby.

In 1901 Mrs. Perry wrote a book showing a photograph of her daughter wearing a white snow suit and called her a “snow baby.” Suddenly, the German-made figures were in high demand. For many years the Nuremburg firm of Craemer and Co. exclusively exported the figures from Germany. In the U.S., Scholl and Company and Westphalia Imports, both of New York, sold them, as well as confectionery and baking suppliers in the German communities of New York, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. They reached their peak of export to the U.S. between 1906 and 1910 as women’s magazines featured them as Christmas decorations.

In 1910, the R. Shackman Company of New York, an importer of fancy goods, toys and novelties, advertised and distributed them at 20 cents each. In 1914, Sears and Roebuck and Marshall Field, who called them “Alaska Tots,” sold them through their catalogs.

Prior to World War I, snow babies had highly detailed faces, with the paint fired onto the porcelain so that the color would be longer lasting. Some figurines had different pastel colors of ground bisque decoration while others were left all white except for painted faces. But then the Great War began and the export of snow babies came to a sudden halt.

When production resumed after the war, snow babies were smaller, usually ranging from one to three inches tall. Although the paint used came in vibrant primary colors, snow babies now had less facial detail than previous models. The paint was also less durable and prone to flaking. Models in more varied poses appeared, including children singing Christmas carols, riding polar bears, and building snowmen. 

In the 1920s, Japanese manufacturers began to produce snow baby replicas, though they were generally of a lesser quality than those made in Germany.

The early Depression years brought a final group of snow babies from Germany. People once again used them to create Christmas scenes, as well as for package tie-ons and table decorations. There were babies riding airplanes, playing musical instruments, and riding polar bears. However, these later pieces lacked the detail of early snow babies and were less lovable, so their popularity declined during the 1930s and by the outbreak of World War II, snow baby imports stopped. Here in America, interest in snow babies declined from 1950 to the 1980s. In 1987, an American company, Department 56, began producing replicas of the original snow baby designs and had them made in Taiwan. This helped generate a new interest in them as well as in the early pieces.

Obviously, the most collectible snow babies are those produced before World War I. These generally sell for the highest prices. Any of the German ones are also collectible, but as a beginning collector, you need to be aware of cheaper versions made in Asia.

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Some Things to Occupy Your Time

QUESTION: My mother has a large collection of figures stamped “Occupied Japan”—at last count over 200. Over the years, collecting them has become an obsession with her. What makes these figures so special and why do people like my mother love to collect them?

ANSWER: Some people like the innocent look of Occupied Japan figures while others collect them as part of the nostalgia of Post War America. But to truly understand what they’re all about, it’s necessary to look at the history of the time.

The surrender of the Japanese occurred on Aug. 11, 1945, and the signing of a treaty to finalize the ending of the war took place on the battleship Missouri on Sept. 3, 1945. The War took its toll on the once mighty Japanese Empire. Faced with damaged and destroyed buildings and factories, the country faced real hardship unless something could be done to restore its economy. Harry Truman assigned General Douglas MacArthur to oversee this process as well as the reestablishment of trade. The period in which this took place became known as the American Occupation of Japan and lasted until April 11, 1952.

Using what few buildings and little equipment that they had, the Japanese exported items beginning in the late 1940s, ranging from a majority of poorly made merchandise to high quality goods. It was the poorer quality goods that gained Japan a reputation for producing junk wares.

The U.S. Customs Service required that all Items entering the United States from Japan be marked "Made in Occupied Japan." However, no one common mark existed and manufacturers utilized more than 100 of them. Customs officials inspected the goods, and if they saw no mark, they often used a rubber stamp to add one. Some pieces made it through with no mark or simply with "Made in Japan." These items have little value for the collector of Occupied Japan collectibles. In order to be considered a collectible in this category, the item must have the "Made in Occupied Japan" mark.

Figurines were one of the most prolific items to come out of Japan during this time. Artisans produced them in a variety of shapes and sizes, from large porcelain likenesses of Colonial men and women to small ones of children and animals. . Figurines also served as lamp bases or candleholders.

One of the most popular figurine styles was the single man and single woman. These single figures came in all sizes and often depicted musicians. Since many talented Japanese artisans died in the War, the ones working in the Post-War factories copied many popular styles of porcelain figurines, including Dresden and Delft. Another type of single figurine depicted an Art Deco-style woman wearing a large hat and long, flowing skirt. At first glance, it’s often hard to tell the difference on the better-made pieces, but the poor quality ones lacked the fine detail of authentic Dresden pieces, for example.

Japanese artists also introduced figures of couples. Common scenes showed a man playing an instrument for a woman. Other pieces portrayed 18th-century couples dancing. Another common motif was the woman sitting and the man standing. Like other figurines, these pieces came in all sizes. The amount of facial detail differentiates the finer pieces from the poorer ones.

Though most of these figures were bound for the United States, the artisans also produced ethnic figurines, creating Siamese, Japanese, Mexican, Dutch, and African-American figures in single and couple combinations. These figurines, available in porcelain and bisque, showcased the ability of artisans to create colorful examples of dancers and musicians.

The presence of American servicemen served as an important influence for Japanese craftsmen. They began to emulate the familiar look of Western faces in their figures. Bisque and porcelain figures depicted American Indians in full costume. Cowboys also became popular subjects. .

Figures of children were big sellers. As the Japanese emulated the work of other artists to appeal to American consumers, they chose the Hummel style for many of the figurines of children. Bisque and porcelain figures portraying seated boys with bamboo poles became popular as adornments for the sides of fishbowls. Unfortunately, many of these fishbowl items haven’t survived intact and locating one is rare.

Hundreds of animal figurines first appeared in dime stores and cost mere pennies. A majority of the animals were small and intended to be decorative items for shelves. Many of these pieces showed animals in motion. In some cases, the animals took on human characteristics and artisans portrayed them playing instruments. Another example of the Japanese attempt to appeal to Americans came through the imitation of Staffordshire-style dogs which appeared in both bisque or porcelain.

The great variety of Occupied Japan figurines available is what drives most collectors. Post-War Japanese factories produced them in great quantities to fill the store shelves of American retailers.