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Page 32 The Antique Shoppe December, 2018
COLLECTING CHRISTMAS PUTZ Antique, circa 1920, Germany nativity scene, putz, is hand-made
and has original stick-leg camels. It is valued at $200.
By Larry LeMasters
LeMasters' Antique News Service Following WWII, made-in-Japan putz items flooded
American markets, including cardboard or plastic nativity
Putz, also known as Christmas villages, are a decorative, scenes, churches, buildings, houses, and other figurines
miniature-scaled villages set up at Christmas. The used in Christmas village scenes. Some of the small
term “putz” was derived from the German word Japanese buildings had holes in the back of
putzen, meaning “to decorate” and, by true them to admit lights for village illumination.
definition, were any figures or buildings Many of the Japanese churches had tiny,
that when displayed together, told the colored cellophane-covered windows
Biblical story of the birth of Christ. that appeared like stained glass when
The tradition of setting up a backlit. And the roofs had mica-
Christmas village is deeply rooted in dustings to appear snow laden. These
the Christmas traditions of the Moravian cheaply made Japanese putz items were
church, a Protestant denomination with early quite popular in the late 1940s through the
settlements in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. 1960s and are still popular with collectors today,
Moravians erected detailed nativity scenes, putz, at especially if the putz items are found in good condition.
the base of their Christmas trees. Moravian nativity scenes had In America, Dolly Toy Company of Tipp City, Ohio, was a
hand-carved wooden figures, representing the Holy Family, animals, shepherds, leader of the manufacturing of Christmas putz. Dolly made Christmas villages
and other typical nativity figures. The scenes grew more elaborate each year, and nativity scenes for nearly 20 years, from the 1930s through the 1950s.
including sawdust roads leading to the manger, stones and moss for grottos, Dolly putz villages frequently sell on eBay for $150 or more. An incomplete,
cut branches for trees, and structures representing the inn and other Bethlehem vintage, Dolly Toy Company putz Christmas village with mica covered snow
buildings. houses that light up was recently offered on eBay for $140. Made in the 1930s,
Secular figures, town’s people, and other buildings were added to Christmas the village’s original box reads “No. 200 Xmas Village hand decorated snow
village scenes, or putz, in the mid-19th century. Assembling putz sometimes houses with transparent windows for a lighted village under your Xmas tree,
took more time than for use with Standard Electric Tree Lights.”
assembling a family’s Nearly all department stores sold putz. Today’s collectors search for
Christmas tree. Even toy old Montgomery Ward Wishbooks (Christmas catalogs) that showed putz
trains were occasionally villages offered for sale. These catalogs are one way collectors “date” putz.
used as putz items in the A 1944 Wishbook offered complete, 8-piece, Pineville putz sets. These
village. were chalet-looking Christmas buildings on which, usually on train depots,
The term “putz” became the town name “Pineville” appeared. An incomplete set of Pineville putz
loosely associated with any buildings sold on eBay for $140.
item that was used to create Ceramic and
a Christmas “garden” or porcelain Christmas
“village.” A nativity scene villages became
usually stood at the center the rage in the
of a putz, surrounded by 1970s. Department
buildings, homemade Antique, circa 1910, “Model [putz] Village” by Spear’s 56 was one of the
or mass produced, of England, who made lots of lithograph earliest companies to
composition figures and paper over cardboard toys. manufacture and offer
animals, bottle brush In its original box, this putz village sells for $160. ceramic buildings and
trees and an assortment of figurines for Christmas
various accessories such as villages. Other
baskets, shepherd hooks, and camel packs. collectible brands of
Victorian Christmas postcards often depicted elegant and elaborate putz ceramic putz include
displays, which had been photographed for postcard production. These 1930s farm yard putz from the Erzgebirge area of Germany. Lemax, Dickensville,
cards are popular collectibles with postcard collectors, putz collectors, and Each of the miniature hand-made pieces is a wonderful and Luville.
Christmas collectors. little work of folk art. The set is unmarked since it probably The Golden Years of
By the beginning of the 20th century, a putz, Christmas nativity, or village originally sold as a play set in a marked box. The grass is true putz scenery were
had been moved from the floor at the base of the tree to the fireplace mantel made green fibered material for realism. The two farmers the late-1940s through
or side table as mass-produced cardboard Christmas stand only 1 ¼ inches tall, and the set is valued at $300. the 1950s. Today, die-
villages gained popularity in the United States. hard putz fans continue
Porcelain Christmas villages became popular in the displaying their village,
late-20th century and remain popular with collectors nativity, or town under their trees just like the Moravians
today. used to do. Based on the size and quality of the display,
Prior to WWII, most of the putz offered a collector, who displays his nativity under the tree,
at Christmas was hand-made in Germany. may take pride when he is laughingly called
Authentic German putz farm scenes often sell a “putz.” Seeing a large Bethlehem village
for $300 or more. tucked under the tree with the tree’s lights
sparkling above the village like stars is an awe-
inspiring sight.
Vintage, putz Christmas village with mica covered snow Collectors from around the country search
houses that light up. This set, from the 1930s, was made for antique, vintage, or collectible putz Christmas
by the Dolly Toy Company and is valued at $140. The box village scenes. And nearly every family in America displays
reads “No. 200 Xmas Village hand decorated snow houses a nativity scene at Christmas, proving that putz scenes may
with transparent windows for a lighted village under your change with time, but the true meaning of why Moravians first
Xmas tree, for use with Standard Electric Tree Lights.” displayed a nativity scene under their trees will never die.