Note: This is an archive of "Papa" Ted Althof's online tribute to cardboard Christmas "putz" houses and their history. At Ted's request, this archive was established in early 2012. Except for critical updates and announcements, it will remain exactly as Ted left it in October, 2012.
For more information, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

*House of the Month*
- 2003 -

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Vintage Christmas village putz house

January, 2003

Sorry to disappoint you "Coco-Nuts," but I felt better starting this new year with a modicum of humility after what 2002 did to us. This seemingly humble church is really quite special, because it is very early - mid to late '20's - with the style and spotted roof characteristics of that period. The style and finish are exclusive to these very earliest examples. For one thing, the flat cardstock base is not a defect, though many neophyte collectors will avoid them for this reason. This house is equivalent in size to the medium "coconuts" and other, later styles. Underneath, however, the heavy cardstock is painted and stamped "Made in Japan" in purple with a circle around it. Many examples from this era are found with trapeziodal rather than rectangular base-shapes, too, which does not occur with the box based styles. Also characteristic are extraordinarily tall and skinney chimneys and church steeples. In general, exaggerated vertical lines are indicative. They have a whole aesthetic of their own. Perhaps they're not as spectacular as those huge, fancy "coconuts," but they've seen more Christmases, and are half a decade closer to the innocent American Christmas that used to be .....

(Tucson Collection)


February,2003:

Vintage Christmas village putz house Vintage Christmas village putz house
















LARGE full coconut, ca. 1932, with many interesting features. Especially intriguing is the split pathway to both the main door and the "doghouse," as it is popularly called by collectors. The base of this piece is fully 8 1/2" wide, 5" deep and the house stands almost 7" high. That's a BIG one! Hard to find these semi-giants. This piece was recently at auction on eBay and was picked up cheaply, I think, at $121.

Vintage Christmas village putz house

One of the two trees is missing, as can be seen by the hole at Santa's right boot.


March,2003:

Vintage Christmas village putz house
This is a really nice full coconut with the early '30s slit windows. I would be inclined to place this as late as 1934-35, because of that Santa figure. It's the very same one that occurs on the later "haciendas," and doesn't have the rich hand painted detail of the very early '30s. But then, I can't say that this is the original figure. Dealers have been known to screw around with pieces like this. But it could also be factory. I can't tell, because I have not examined this piece myself, but I like it from a lot points of view. The style of the house says early - the Santa somewhat later.\, but the piece has individuality and CLASS. This is a large one - nearly 8" X 5" on the base. It's a little worse for wear, but let's be forgiving. How good do YOU look after 70 years? It's missing it's luffa trees and the rafia fence is somewhat the worse for wear. Of real interest, here, is the BLACK coconut chimney. Black coconut is a fairly rare thing. I mean, it is made of finely shredded opaque, black cellophane - and how many uses were there for that?That balconey on the end that overhangs the fence is really neat, too. By the way - if any of you, my precious visitors, would happen to know where the strip rafia that is used to make these fences can be obtained PLEASE let me know! Christopher Radko has found it for his large reproduction "Shiney Brite" houses, so it must be out there somewhere. I would like to be able to make it available to all who need it on the site.



April, 2003:

Vintage Christmas village putz house
This month's pick is from Tom Hull of Kansas. It's remarkable for two reasons: one, it's a fourth type of "clock house," and one I hadn't seen before. A medium sized late prewar "greenspot." Two, this is a complete restoration, resurrected from a pile of miserable-looking junk, so i guess that makes it appropriate for Easter. After expertly gluing it back together and applying a masterful repainting, Tom took our "cel"-type windows, traced the mullion lines with clear fingernail polish and flocked them, as the originals were flocked in this case. They look perfect. Great job, Tom! A+++++++! By the way, if you still have a "before" picture of this piece, please send it to me so I can post them side-by-side.

May,2003:

Vintage Christmas village putz house

Vintage Christmas village putz house

Black Santa?

Tom Hull came up with this unusual piece. It's a fairly routine prewar coco-house, but that figure! Tom has scrutinized it, and so have I, and I cannot see that it's a paint-over. The color is not the same as the boots, but the tell-tale brush marks are absent and the aging matches. There were at least three major black communities in the '30s that could have attracted such commercial market attention; Haarlem, Washington DC, and the Pittsburgh Hill. But what could the Japanese have known about that? That's a fascinating open question here, especially from those times. But what clues me is that the beard is also painted black. A black family retouching it would hardly have made that mistake! This is so far out and rare! The only one I've ever seen.

JUNE,2003:
Vintage Christmas village putz house
Vintage Christmas village putz house
Vintage Christmas village putz house
They needn't be big to be wonderful! At only 4 1/4" by 2 7/8" by 4" high, I would trade almost any of my biggest for this exquiste little charmer! Just look at that porch and stairway - and the condition! Probably 68 years old and look at those vibrant colors! Green foiled chimney! What can you say about a piece like this, except I wish it were mine!

(Actually, I do have one of these. I forgot! It can be seen in the "1930's" section under "GREENSPOTS.")

July,2003:
Vintage Christmas village putz house

A really interesting full-coco in gray and red from the Tucson Collection. Note the slit windows, "doghouse," and especially those dormers! ... What is that absurd little structure on the left - ??? I don't understand it - but I think it's wonderful!


August,2003:
Vintage Christmas village putz house

Vintage Christmas village putz house

Vintage Christmas village putz house

Tom Hull has this one,too. He calls it his "hotel." Whatever it's creators intended, it's an amazing piece! Note especially the tree, which is a type of bottle-brush, but made of tiny paper tubes twisted into the wire trunk rather than the usual sisal or bamboo. These trees are found only on the early houses, along with such rich and novel building designs and details. (The houses had a kind of "reverse-evolution, didn't they? Starting out most lavish and complex, then growing ever simpler and less interesting as time went on.) These "tube trees" also almost always are accompanied by that squarish style of fence with the capped wooden posts. The top is removable for shipping purposes and most often these upper sections served as "candy-boxes," but this one has a hole for illumination. Tom claims it wasn't cut at home, as is so often the case. Too round and perfect, and the support structures can be seen within the building itself, so this was intentional from the beginning. I see quite a bit of retouching, I think. I wonderered if this was originally a full coco, but then again I thought not. Mixed coco and stucco occurs quite frequently in this and later eras.

September,2003:
Vintage Christmas village putz house
This is just a fine medium large full-coco. Double trees and not-too-often-seen boy figure. Interesting roof, and what a staircase!
Vintage Christmas village putz house
A variation on the house above: It's the same house, but with different fence and figure and in orange....demonstrating that you will often find the same piece in several different finishes, colors and base details. This was probably a year-to-year production phenomenon. If we only knew, we could probably nail these variations to an exact year. The different angle and missing tree allow us to see that the house (top picture)also has a balconey on the right end - and a "doghouse."


October,2003:
Vintage Christmas village putz house
Vintage Christmas village putz house
Early! Early! Early! The rounded slit fences and hand-painted, highly detailed girl-with-doll figure just SCREAM ca.1930-31.

November,2003:
Vintage Christmas village putz house
Vintage Christmas village putz house
At first glance this very ususual house seems rather simple and small, but it is neither. Broader, plainer walls and surfaces make it seem small in the picture, but at 7 1/8" by 4 3/4" deep and 5 3/4" high it's actually a full "medium large." It's BIG! The glossy slit porch railing, hand painted girl on the porch and the two doors bespeak ca. 1930 details. The outstanding feature here, however, is the cut-in porch! - actually recessed into main building body itself, rather than added onto the outside. It's the only such design known to incorporate this feature, and only two specimens of this house are known to exist.

December,2003:
Vintage Christmas village putz house Vintage Christmas village putz house
Vintage Christmas village putz house
Vintage Christmas village putz house

Look what Antoinette Stockenberg got for Christmas! This has 1930 richness. Take in the rounded slit fence, the embossed doghouse roof - and in this case there is no doubt that it's a doghouse. I have never seen the dog figure before.


Well ...
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..to us all!

 

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Copyright 2000-2012 Theodore H. Althof,Jr.Except where noted, the contents of this website and all it's pages and submissions therein contained are the intellectual property of Theodore H.Althof,Jr. All rights are reserved. (Background musical selections are,of course, excepted.)



Note: This archive was set up at Ted's request in early 2012, and, except for critical updates and
announcements, will remain exactly as Ted left it in October, 2012.
The archive is kept online with the help of volunteers from:

Visit the FamilyChristmasOnline site for Christmas music, stories, craft resources and much more.
Visit the OldChristmasTreeLights site for the history of Christmas tree lighting, including Bubble Lights and more.
Visit our collection of resources for collecting, restoring, and making your own cardboard Christmas houses.
Visit Howard Lamey's glitterhouse gallery, with free project plans, graphics, and instructions.
Check out  a very active, quality craft and collectibles blog (with local news of Croton NY).
Resources for making seasonal villages and model railroads for O, S, and On30 model railroading