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 as Ted left it in October, 2012.
For more information, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

Christmas houses website banner graphic
Christmas holly bar graphic
ONLINE PRICES!

If you dog the online auctions, then it's no news to you that madness has seized this area of collecting! I'm out to demonstrate some examples, here. These are the actual prices paid for the items shown. Crazy as it seems, five years from now many will look like bargains! It gets worse with every passing Season. In fact, there is no "Season." When a good house comes up it usually gets it's price at any time of year. It can't be long before these little fellas come under
the Harrison Act as a Type II controlled substance. They are undeniably addictive.

Just because you see a high price here does not neccessarily mean that it's the true worth. Sometimes it is, but every year a new crop of neophytes discover them, go nuts - and pay fortunes for relative junk. We "Old-Timers" just shake our heads. remembering when we did the same, and blame it on the schools ....
Christmas holly bar graphic

online auction Christmas putz item
Oct,'05: $217.50.
Another one exactly like this, but slightly nicer, went the first week in December for $26.
Go figure!

online auction Christmas putz item
Nov.,'05 - $560. Just barely okay buy.

online auction Christmas putz item
Nov.,'05 - $480. Poor buy. 2 1/2 decent items.

online auction Christmas putz item online auction Christmas putz item













Nov.,'05 - $324.95 Insane! 1 good item...................................Nov.,'05 - $304. ($40 tops!)


online auction Christmas putz item online auction Christmas putz item













...Dec.,'05 - $300. Worth $40 tops............................................... ..Dec.,'05- -$162.50; Poor buy.


online auction Christmas putz item online auction Christmas putz item















Dec.,'05 - $268.95.Boxed set, probably OK................................... Dec.,'05 - $255. $60 > Max.


online auction Christmas putz item online auction Christmas putz item













Dec.,'05 - $159.59 Very small, but unusual. Okay, I suppose................. .....Dec,05: $70. Lucky buy! Worth $70 each!



online auction Christmas putz item
Dec, '05: $167. I would have paid it. Choice and unusual.
Marvelous condition!

online auction Christmas putz item
Dec,'05: $165.31 -
Oh, my Dear God! "10 Little Indians:" -and I stress LITTLE, because these are the smallest size before "ornament." Late 50's early 60's. No detail charm.The sort of thing I stll pass by at fleas and shows. No item here is worth more than $5.






Christmas holly bar graphic
Dec,'05: $272 -
"Oh, my Dear God-II:" 2 medium common postwars, 1 ho-hum late '40s flat-card,1 decent prewar Dolly Toy. Some trees. My computer was built for less. Hey - it's your money! - or rather WAS your money....










online auction Christmas putz item
Dec,'05: $241.50 -
"Oh,my Dear God-III - The final Insanity." " 3 tiny little flat-card early '60s - 2 very common late '40s. Somebody's sure a sucker for "Rembrandt Lighting!" I'm going to start grabbing these (and I still see them all the time) for resale on eBay. I see a new car in my future ...






online auction Christmas putz item
Dec.05: $15.50 -
Now, that's more like it! (Actually, a steal!)Two fairly nice medium-sized "haciendas" from the mid 1930s. Compare with the 3 above.
My my my! Buyer wins! online auction Christmas putz item
















online auction Christmas putz item
Dec,05: - $560.





Ho-hum! Just another $560 town. Two nice, big pieces, one pretty good, and the rest are just so average, common and small. Half that price would have been high. Seller wins big with expert photography!- but the poor buyer won't get those lovely , velvet tiers when he/she opens the box.....










online auction Christmas putz item

Dec,'05: - $83.
Perhaps prewar Dolly Toy Co. American are finally getting some respect. Before WW II cut off the Japanese product, they made some really quite decent and interesting houses, but once that competition was removed they went down to very plain things of simple design, and not much variety until the '50s after the Japanese had come back and Dolly Toy just sort of disappeared. Still, I wouldn't have given more than $20 for this one. Very plain and often found.

There's that deep-maroon velvet again. I'm getting some of that....




Christmas holly bar graphic
BIG EBAY PUTZKRIEG!

online auction Christmas putz item

I hate to see lovely sets that have seen together 3/4 of a Century of Christmases Past
torn asunder.
Some kind of a special sin in that. Below are some family members separated from the lovely putz above.
The seller - who deals in this kind of stuff all the time and knows better - touted these as being from "1910 to 1919." That's wrong. We all know that there were no Japanese houses of anykind before 1928.
The 1920's
Prior to WW I, Christmas stuff and toys all came from Germany. The War caused buyers to seek salable holiday goods in Japan. There was almposy no "Made in Japan" stuff in the stores before WW I. The houses below all date to about 1932-34. See ..
BUTLER BROS.CATALOGS
The buck speaks ...with fork-ed tongue!

online auction Christmas putz item

Jan,06: $86.

8" X 5" X 9" high.











online auction Christmas putz item

Jan,06 - $145.45

8.5" X 5.5" X 5.5" high.











online auction prices Christmas village item

Jan, 06 - $140.45:

6.6" X 4" X 8.5" high.











online auction Christmas putz item

Jan,06 - $170.25:

6.5" X 4" X 5" high.











online auction Christmas putz item

Jan,06 - $256.66

7.75" X 4.75" X 5,5" high.











online auction Christmas putz item

Jan, '06 - $457.63

So far the record for a single piece, I think.

7.75" X 5" X 9" high.









online auction Christmas putz item online auction Christmas putz item















online auction Christmas putz item


I simply had to add a few more views to this one, known as "City Hall" to collectors.











I did not start this feature simply to chide fools, though that is often unavoidable. Had I the money, I'd have paid the price for the above and bought them all! Houses such as these are the CREAM. But alas, it happens every year; newcomers with bottomless pockets and the fever show up and spoil it for everyone. I suppose we understand. Not having seen something since childhood can instantly transport one to "The Magic Window," and who would not pay ANYthing for that?

The following two items are another matter, however ...

online auction Christmas putz item

Jan, '06 - $204.45

Are you kidding? For a 14" bottlebrush tree? $20 would have been steep...
















online auction Christmas putz item




Jan,'06 - $338.50 .....I repeat, $338.50 ! ! !

For a COMMONLY found 1950's 13"bottlebrush tree? On a flat plywood base? Every collector I know has several of these. We look down on them because of that stupid painted plywood disc instead of the far more desirable turned-hardwood "tub" bases of the prewar trees.

Hey - get in touch! I'll sell you all you want of these for $300 each..















online auction Christmas putz item


Jan,'06 - $24

This tree - identical to the one above in every way except it has glass ornaments,was won on the same auction site about 10 days later.
What further comment could be made?














Christmas holly bar graphic
online auction Christmas putz item





Feb.14,'06: - $1,224.99
That's right, I said $1,224.99 !!
And it's kind of dirty and missing both trees.
Somebody sure bought themself
a valentine.
NEW RECORD !!!












online auction Christmas putz item





I blame myself, really. I had to open my big mouth and say in the Dec.05 House of the Month how rare it was and that only one was known to exist. Well, now there are two!










online auction Christmas putz item

Dec.28, '08: $337.89


Saddest case in years! Two very common little postwar houses and a bottle brush tree. In original condition I wouldn't have paid $25 for the lot. But here the pieces have been gooped up with artificial snow and other non-original crap. In a year or two that snow will turn brown and the lot will look like something you'd only pick up with a "pooper-scooper." I wouldn't have paid $5. Not only was the buyer a complete idiot, but this will encourage the seller to mutilate further originals.
Another fool and his money have been parted....
















Christmas trees bar graphic

holly
For information about this site, please contact us at:
http://cardboardchristmas.com/papateds/contact.htm

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 as Ted left it in October, 2012.
The archive is kept online with the help of volunteers from the following affiliated sites and resources:
- Christmas Memories and Collectibles -
Visit the FamilyChristmasOnline site. Visit our collection of resources for collecting, restoring, and making your own cardboard Christmas houses. Return to the OldChristmasTreeLights Welcome page Visit Howard Lamey's glitterhouse gallery, with free project plans, graphics, and instructions. Visit Papa Ted Althof's extensive history and collection of putz houses, the largest and most complete such resource on the Internet. Craft and collectibles blog with local news of Croton NY.
- Family Activities and Crafts -
Click to see reviews of our favorite family-friendly Christmas movies. Free, Family-Friendly Christmas Stories Decorate your tree the old-fashioned way with these kid-friendly projects. Free plans and instructions for starting a hobby building vintage-style cardboard Christmas houses. Free building projects for your vintage railroad or Christmas village. Click to find free, family-friendly Christmas poems and - in some cases - their stories.
- Trains and Hobbies -
Visit the Internet's largest resource on choosing and displaying Christmas trains. Visit Lionel Trains. Click to see Thomas Kinkaded-inspired Holiday Trains and Villages.
Learn about backyard railroading with Family Garden Trains
Click to see HO scale trains with your favorite team's colors.
Resources for O gauge and On30 model railroading
- Music -
Carols of many countries, including music, lyrics, and the story behind the songs Wax recordings from the early 1900s, mostly collected by George Nelson.  Download them all for a 'period' album.
Best-loved railroad songs and the stories behind them.
Heartland-inspired music, history, and acoustic instrument tips. Own a guitar, banjo, or mandolin?  Want to play an instrument?  Tips to save you money and time, and keep your instrument playable.
The struggles and influences of early Jesus Musicians and others who laid the groundwork for the Christian music and worship that is part of our lives today.