It's no secret - I like 'stuff.'
You know...what many people call collectibles.
But I don't collect for resale value - I collect because I like whatever it is I am collecting!
I'm not a hoarder by any means. All of my stuff has a purpose and I actually use it or display it. Maybe not all at the same time, but, well, for instance, for the past few years I've been collecting American Bicentennial items / collectibles, and that's what I have up displayed on our shelves at this time. Other times I'll show my Franklin/Danbury Mint cars or Beatles collectibles.
Or replications of historical items.
I also like to show a variety of my ceramic lighted houses.
And that's the topic where we are heading for this week's post: lighted ceramic houses.
But they've changed for me - they aren't just for Christmas anymore...
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~There's a lot here - - but you will note how the quality of these lighted houses and accessories improved over time...some of the most authentic items in my collection are nearing the bottom of this post~
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The more I read and study history, the more I want and try to recreate it one way or another. Most often through my living history excursions, where I don period clothing and make the grand attempt to live as people once did long ago.
Another way is by reading the well-researched history books.
Then there are those few movies that tend to "do it right" - not Hollywood history out to make a buck, but quality film-making to show, for the most part, real and true history - and to show that real and true history can have a large audience.
Antiquing is also a great, but expensive, way to delve into history.
Writing in this Passion for the Past blog is another way for me to get my fix.
But there is still another way, though one that can, unfortunately, also cost a small fortune...unless you have patience and comb the internet and garage sales to find these items relatively cheap.
I'm speaking of collecting miniature lighted houses and accessories.
I've written about my lighted ceramic house collection in years past, but I don't believe I've included bits of each of my collections like I'm doing today.
During the off-season of reenacting (well...okay...there's not really an "off-season" for me---just a "slow down" season lol), I will spend more time on books, movies, and collecting. And that's what today's post is about. We are in the cold winter season here in the north, and oftentimes attempting to find something of interest to keep occupied can be a bit of a trial.
It was in, I believe, 1988 when I picked up my first lighted ceramic house. It was part of the fairly new and ever-growing Dickens Village by Department 56. And with Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" being my all-time favorite Christmas book/story/movie, it was a must have for me.
So there it sat...my one lone lit tiny ceramic house in the center of our table.
It needed more.
I found more.
I bought more.
My collection began to grow. And grow it did!
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| This was the last time I had my complete Dickens Village set up. The part closest to the camera is the outskirts of town - more "rural" - while the further away you can see the "city" - my pseudo London. It took me about a week or so to get it how I wanted it. I need to organize my basement so I can do this once again. |
Within a few years, my Dickens Village pieces began to look more like an actual village.
Now these early pieces weren't historically accurate. But as the years went by, the quality and accuracy grew higher and higher. And they replicated some actual Victorian English buildings.
I suppose for the Dickens Village I have to think of it more as old 19th century-themed London designed to capture the spirit of Christmas in Victorian England rather than a mostly historically accurate collection. That being said, there are a few ceramic buildings in this series that were actually replicated from bonafide structures, such as Gads Hill Place and Elizabeth Tower, which is the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster that contains the Great Clock known as Big Ben.
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| The Scrooge & Marley counting House---and there's the Horse & Hounds Pub. |
I remember that I would take the day after Hallowe'en off of work to begin working on setting my Dickens Village up. I would play old world carols on the stereo to keep me in the spirit - what a fun and absolute joyous time I had doing it.
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| I see Wassailers and/or Mummers moving down the cobblestone road of London, making and creating Christmas merriment! |
I then began to collect a few of the Dept. 56 Snow Village pieces, which centered on Americana - mostly mid-20th century Americana. Some fit in well with the Dickens Village, though there were some pretty cool historical architecturally strictly American houses and accessories as well, including some showing the autumn time of year.
And then it hit me that there were more than just Christmas Villages...and history began to creep in more & more:
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| The mid-18th century Daggett House and the 17th century Farris Windmill inside Greenfield Village. |
A friend of mine was at a local collectables store and made sure he stopped by to tell me that he had seen a lighted ceramic Dept. 56 Daggett-style house for sale there. If you know me at all you know I am a huge fan of the 18th century Daggett House that now sits inside the walls of historic Greenfield Village (click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE), so of course, I went to the store myself to see it.
Yep - there it was! And it was beautiful. In fact, there were four of these houses sitting on the shelf, but they were considered used (they're "retired" from Dept. 56 - no longer available from the manufacturer) and had no box or packaging of any kind.
Unfortunately, they were also rather pricey, so I decided to pass on purchasing one.
I thought about how cool it would be to have a miniature Daggett house. I really wanted to get it, but money was tight. However, after some time (and by saving my pennies), I decided to see what I could find on Ebay.
Voila!
There it was!
It was listed under the title "Home Sweet Home." Dept. 56's website said that the house was "Inspired by the East Hampton, NY historic landmark home of John Howard Payne, composer of the American classic, 'Home Sweet Home'."
And guess what? With it, in the same box, was a windmill. A windmill that looked very much like the Farris Windmill that sits next to the Daggett House inside Greenfield Village.
The windmill wasn't included at the store I went to - - - hmmm...something's amiss here...
The price for both the house and the windmill in the original packaging from a seller on Ebay was less than half the price of just the house itself from that rip-off collectables store I went to.
So I went ahead and bought it off Ebay.
I touched it up a little bit by re-painting the house a darker gray to match the color of Daggett, as well as removing a few unnecessary attachments, such as a redbird that once sat atop of the house (I know...an abomination to collectors, but I don't purchase items to resell - I purchase them because I want them for my own satisfaction)~
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| I added numerous fall accessories in my attempt to recreate more of an 18th century fall harvest scene. If you look (from left) you can see vegetables, apple cider making, baskets of apples, a woman cooking, butter churning, spinning on a spinning wheel, candle dipping, and kitchen garden harvesting. A wonderful miniature scene of my favorite season at my favorite historical house. |
Some of the accessories are from various Dept. 56 villages while other pieces came from hobby stores such as Hobby Lobby or JoAnn Fabrics. They all work together well.
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| A close up of the butter making, spinning wheel, candle dipping, and the harvesting what looks to be cabbage. Oh, and I see bales of hay and a pumpkin on the cart 'neath the autumn trees. The spinner is porcelain from the 1950s. |
Now, notice the quality and actions of these accessories - pure Americana. And notice the quality of the houses and accessories improved as well.
That's when I began my search for more like this.
And that's when I discovered a new Village series; "Williamsburg (which) delighted Village collectors and history buffs alike."
Williamsburg? As in Colonial Williamsburg??
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| More harvesting - perhaps root vegetables? - and gathering eggs. |
I was ecstatic when I found out, seemingly out of nowhere, that Department 56 had a lighted house series of Colonial Williamsburg, and I immediately set out to get as many from this collection as I could, for prices could rise and items could disappear in the blink of an eye. Some, like Independence Hall, came from Snow Village, though most came from the Williamsburg series.
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| The long road to nowhere...or all roads lead to Colonial Williamsburg. |
They did a truly wonderful job in recreating the historic houses of Colonial Williamsburg. In fact, I did a blog post showing the accuracy, bouncing between the actual houses and the miniatures - - please click HERE.
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| The Colonial Williamsburg accessories were very well made. Aside from the couple strolling, we see a cooper (barrel maker) and a woman sweeping the front of her home. |
We are heading into America's 250th anniversary as a country, and this is the perfect way to celebrate. As of this writing in early 2024, many of the Colonial Williamsburg houses and accessories are no longer available except through places such as Ebay, sometimes at way too exorbitantly high prices - patience can be a virtue in such cases, unless you can afford to pay such an amount.
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| And here we have a woodworker and, perhaps, his apprentice. I do like the fact that they've included African Americans in this series. As they should. |
There is also a pretty awesome Hallowe'en Village, initially a part of Snow Village. And some very cool accessories to go with it. But what I liked most was when they put out a Legend of Sleepy Hollow series. Spooky Americana.
It was around 1990 when Dept. 56 put out their first pieces in the Sleepy Hollow series. I didn't initially set out to get this particular collection; I began my Hallowe'en Houses with what was pretty much simply a haunted house with eerie sounds and lights flashing. It grew from there, and then I saw the headless horseman figurine, bought that, and for years following I collected the pieces to (mostly) collect the Sleepy Hollow village.
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| The Headless Horseman. |
This is based on American author Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow's" plot and even its ties to the American Revolution. The story, written in 1820, is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow.
As for me I just collect the buildings and accessories that can tell the story.
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| Pieces from my Hallowe'en Village~ See the guy on the left there reading? That's Ichabod Crane. And that's his horse, Gun Powder, next to him. Oh, yeah...and I see a hearse as well. I use this particular horse-drawn hearse for my Dickens Village as well, for Marley. |
A key component of the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” written by Washington Irving in 1820 recalls the tale of Major John André for whom “Many dismal tales were told about funeral trains, and mourning cries and wailings heard and seen about the great tree where the unfortunate Major André was taken, and which stood in the neighborhood.” The giant tulip tree which features prominently in the tale was “connected with the tragical story of the unfortunate André, who had been taken prisoner hard by; and was universally known by the name of Major André’s tree.”
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| The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery next to Jack of the Lantern holding his candle-lit turnip. The Major Andre Hanging Tree is center right. And there's an eerie covered bridge. |
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| At the base of the Dept. 56 depiction of Major Andre's Tree~ |
But there is more history coming from Dept. 56 and their ceramic villages & accessories, including Jack O' Lantern - - or - - Jack of the Lantern, vegetable and fruit carvings, which is an old tradition and exists across the world, and the traditional illumination for guisers (or pranksters) abroad on the night, which was provided by turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns, lit with coal or a candle, and often carved with grotesque faces (see in the photo below).
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| Stingy Jack of the Lantern and his lighted turnip. You can even make out the face carved into the turnip! |
Turnip lanterns usually represented supernatural beings and were used to chase evil spirits. Guisers used them to scare people, while in some cases they were set on windowsills to guard homes against evil.
Irish immigrants brought the jack-o’-lantern custom to North America. Here, turnips were slowly replaced by pumpkins to make the iconic Halloween decorations, and eventually became the plant of choice.
I just love when history can be interspersed with items such as this.
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| Imagine walking through a corn field...and coming across "The Corn Creeper" --- a two story high pumpkin skeleton! And...I saw the "real deal" at Greenfield Village:  Yes, that's me in my colonial clothing standing in front of the life-size "Corn Creeper"!
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The miniatures are certainly getting better and better...
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| Out of the graveyard comes a ghost - perhaps it's the ghost of Miles Dibble from one of my favorite childhood stories, "The Ghost of Dibble Hollow." |
The past is there in these cool ceramic miniatures...it's just a matter of finding it...for instance:
The more I read of and study ancient history - the early A.D. and B.C. periods in civilization - the more I understand the times that followed...the whys and the wherefores of the past become much clearer. And I clearly can see that the past - history - is not all black & white, as so many tend to think, but, instead, is mostly gray areas.
Never say "never," and never say "always."
That's my motto.
Early in 2023, my wife, Patty, & I began watching "The Chosen" TV series, about the life of Jesus Christ and of the times in which He lived. This series, which is still on-going, totally blew me away, for it brought Jesus to life in such a remarkable and natural manner; it is as if I am actually watching Him in His time. I do like how the actors are not all stiff and 1950s/1960s Hollywood-y like in virtually every other filmed depiction. Jesus and His Apostles in "The Chosen" are portrayed as regular people as I have always imagined them to be, and shows how they would have lived 2000 years ago. Besides learning about Christ and witnessing miracles, viewers see such things as wine making, bread making, catching fish, lighting, homes, pathways, traditions, differing occupations...just as I have read in my world history books.
Long-time past comes to life.
So it was when my wife Patty & I were visiting the Bronner's Christmas Store - the World's Largest Christmas Store - in Frankenmuth, Michigan, when we came upon a ceramic village depicting the time of Christ. It wasn't put out by Department 56, however. It was made in Italy by a company called Fontanini. Fontanini figures, which have been manufactured and hand decorated by the Fontanini family for over 100 years, are considered classic works of art. "The Fontanini tradition dates back to the late 1800s when company founder Emanuele Fontanini began creating creche figures in the little town of Bagni di Lucca located in Tuscany, Italy. Today, the fourth generation of Fontanini's follow in their father's, grandfather's, and great-grandfather's footsteps."
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| As with all new collections, you start off slowly... This shows daily life in Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth~ (from left): a wine maker ("The Wine Shop" & the Vineyard Fence), blacksmith ("The Blacksmith Shop"), a carpenter ("The Carpenter's Shop"), a baker ("The Bakery Shop"), and a produce stand ("Produce Shop"), along with a vegetable seller ("Fruit & Vegetable Stand"). Who'd've thought there would be such an awesome set such as this depicting life from 2,000 years ago? I must admit I am blown away by such miniatures! To me, it goes along with THIS post, and even THIS post. |
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| If I were a carpenter - Herschel the Carpenter |
As a young boy, Herschel stood at the door to his father's carpentry shop. The smell of fresh cut wood filled the air and wood shavings and sawdust covered the dirt floor. For hours he watched his father make yokes, wooden carts, window frames, tables, chairs, storage chests, and posts and beams for those throughout Bethlehem.
Herschel continued to learn each day by watching. And when Herschel turned fifteen, his father fulfilled the promise he had made to his son; Herschel proudly became his father's apprentice.
In no time he was using all of the tools in his father's shop: an ax, hatchet for chopping wood, an adz (a tool similar to an ax, with an arched blade at right angles to the handle, used for cutting or shaping large pieces of wood), iron saws for cutting wood to precise sizes, a bow drill and bits for drilling holes, a stone-head hammer for pounding chisels or hammering wooden surfaces together.
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| The Carpenter's Shop |
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| Orion the Blacksmith |
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| Blacksmith Shop |
What I like most is, obviously, the realism shown. From what I understand, all of the different structures and figurines show shops and homes and workers that would have been around during the time of Christ's birth and His lifetime.
And if you are not a believer, it still shows accurately life of 2000 years ago.
Where else can you find that?
Each figurine has a story card that comes with it, explaining not only the figure's relationship in the story of Christ's birth, but of their occupation...historically.
For instance, Ruth:
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| Ruth...but not the Ruth of the Bible. This Ruth is a bread baker. |
The story card that came with the young lady kneading bread is not the Ruth from the Book of Ruth in the Bible, but just the story of a young lady that may or may not had lived and perhaps was one of the many "extras" in the populace of that time.
"Light crept over the horizon as Ruth, her mother and father arose, dressed and sat down to breakfast. When they had eaten their fill, Ruth jumped up to clear the dishes. "I have a busy day ahead tending the sheep," Ruth's father remarked.
"And I should visit your sister Rebekah," added her mother. "She may need help with the baby." Ruth nodded and waved goodbye to her mother and father as they walked out into the sunshine.
The young woman turned her attention to the daily task of baking bread. A special treat would grace their Sabbath that night. Kenan, her sister's husband, brought a basket of wheat from his fields the day before and a fresh-made wheat loaf would take the place of their everyday barley bread.
Grain for the day's bread was ground first. As Ruth turned the millstone, she fondly recalled childhood memories of working the mill with Rebekah. One child poured the grain into the center hole as the other turned the heavy millstone. Even now the sisters sometimes shared this task, chatting while grinding enough grain for both families.
Ruth mixed water with a small lump of yesterday's dough for leavening, then added the freshly ground flour and a dash of salt. Kneading dough was hard work: press the dough, push it forward, fold it in half, turn and start over. The rhythm lent itself to a recitation of Ruth's favorite Psalm:
Psalm 104:1–9
When the dough was kneaded to the proper consistency, Ruth leaned back to stretch her tired neck and shoulders. The dough was set aside to rise for a few hours. That afternoon Ruth divided and shaped the risen dough enough for three loaves.
Soon, Ruth's bread turned golden in the oven.
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| The Bakery |
And then there's Dionysius:
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| Dionysius, wine maker |
Dionysius's family owned a large vineyard outside of Bethlehem. There they made wine using a traditional wine press hewn from solid rock. The harvest would go into a large stone basin. There, men, women, and children would crush the grapes with their feet. The juice would flow into a second lower basin connected to the first. There it would be left to ferment for a few days. When it stopped bubbling, the juice had become wine. Year after year, Dionysius watched this process unfold, certain he could improve upon the family's traditions. But every time he approached his father, Dionysius's ideas were dismissed. His father would always say that the vineyard was built upon the old ways and those traditions would continue. Dionysius was undeterred. He was certain he could make better wine. During the growing season, he built his own wine press not from stone but from wood. He began with a sturdy barrel inside, his design would effectively separate the crushed fruit and its juice. He crafted a handle-press that would allow him to crush the grapes without relying on the footwork of his friends and neighbors. Then Dionysius waited. As summer began to turn into fall, he sampled the grapes. He knew that those at the northern edge of the vineyard had a brightness unlike the others. At the southern edge, Dionysius found the sweetest grapes, and just beside the watch tower were the grapes with a heartiness that was unmatched. As soon as the grapes were ready, Dionysius picked the fruit from his carefully selected vines and brought it to his wine press. Pressing was much harder than walking on the grapes but somehow Dionysius knew it would yield something extraordinary. As the wine fermented in its barrel, Dionysius joined his friends and neighbors in the old traditions. But when it was time for his father to taste the newly vinted wine, Dionysius switched his father's cup with one filled with wine from his press. Bringing the cup to his lips, Dionysius's father was surprised and declared the harvest the very best the family had ever produced. Dionysius's father knew this was not the wine that had just been drawn from the stone wine press. He looked to his son and together the pair walked to the watch tower where Dionysius had hidden his wine press. His father was amazed. He never imagined a wine with such subtly and dimension could come from something so simple. Father and son agreed that this extraordinary wine had been given to them by God for a very special purpose, and they very carefully stored it in wine jars.
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| Wine Maker's Shop |
There is also Antonia, though there is little history for her:
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| Antonia, village vegetable seller. |
The story about this figurine is how Antonia visited the Christ Child in the manger, and of how she had nothing to give but the food she had grown. Not that it's a bad story or anything, but I was hoping for more about her own story of what it was like to grow, harvest, then sell the vegetables and the kinds/varieties she sold.
Ah, well, perhaps I may find out more information in my research of the time in which she lived and can include that instead.
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| Produce Shop |
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| Fruit & Vegetable Stand |
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Another Fontanini miniature...this time a donkey working at the grain mill, grinding cereal grain into flour, while we have Judah, on the left, holding a sickle, and Lamech, on the right, with his scythe. A great depiction of harvest time of 2000 years ago. |
I've often wondered why Greenfield Village had no ceramic houses available. Then, on a very lucky note in the fall of 2023, I received a surprise gift from an on-line friend and Greenfield Village fan.
As my story goes, I was having a fairly rough day one Monday in late October - it happens, right? I prayed for some "sunshine" to enter. Oh I know...I always seem like everything is fine and dandy, but that's because I don't air the rough details of my life on the internet. Ain't nobody's business but my own, doncha know...
It was later that day that the sun (Son?) broke through my thick clouds and put a smile on my face, for I received a package in the mail...and look what was inside:
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| No...not the pumpkin! On the left we have a ceramic Eagle Tavern. I absolutely love the Eagle Tavern - its history, its food...taverns played a vital role in our nation's history - - my state's history. And on the right, my very favorite building "in history" - the Daggett Farmhouse! I have done extensive historical research on both structures (click HERE and HERE) and have visited both countless times over the past 40 years or so---you can imagine my thrill and excitement upon seeing the ceramic replications when I opened up the box. I knew I was receiving something, for the person who sent them asked for my address because he said he had something I would like. But I had no idea. And I don't believe he had any idea what these mean to me. |
Mudlen End Studio was first registered in June 1977 and was dissolved in November of 1993. The registered address for the company was in Felsham, Suffolk, England. The pottery was owned and run by James Hart. Mudlen Originals was established in the US as a result of a collaboration between an American businessman and James Hart, initially marketing models produced by Mudlen End Studios but later making models themselves. The models made for the Henry Ford Museum celebrates a number of the key buildings in the Greenfield Village and were made for sale in the museum shop.
The only Greenfield Village buildings done by Mudlen Originals that I have seen in on-line searches are
Daggett House
Eagle Tavern
Elias Brown General Store
Firestone Farm
Heinz House
Mack Avenue Ford Plant
Martha-Mary Chapel
Scotts Settlement School
Webster House
I have no idea if there were any others made. According to a collector on line, these Greenfield Village houses that I listed are in the "Hard to Find to Scarce" category.
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| Here is the actual Daggett House, originally built in Connecticut about 1750. |
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| And the Mudlen Originals from roughly the same angle. |
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| Here is the Mudlen Originals version of the Eagle Tavern. So well done! |
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| And here is the original Eagle Tavern, a bit tree covered but still can be seen. Built here in Michigan around 1831. |
I guess it's just what I needed (as The Cars once sang)~
Just a bit of Greenfield Village in my own home.
Thank you so much to the person who sent these to me - you know who you are.
These will be treasured.
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I am being told through magazine articles and other means that I should be getting rid of things like my collectibles - things that mean something to me...things I enjoy - because my kids won't want them after I die, and they'll be the ones to have to get rid of everything and they shouldn't have to go through all of that 'work.'
I like what I have...and I'm not dead yet. I like my stuff. My kids can do whatever they'd like with it after I'm gone. But I'm still here now and if I like what I have, and if my stuff makes me feel good and happy, why should I get rid of it?
By the way, just the other day, while standing in line at the post office, I met a (young) woman who collects perfume - old perfume. Some of which goes all the way back into the 1920s! Perfume is not my thing but I think it is so very cool for her! And I encouraged her to keep it up.
Aren't hobbies awesome? Keep what you like - - - -
Until next time, see you in time.
For more on my studies of the B.C. & early A.D. period and the books I have of this time, click HERE
For information on ancient farming, please click HERE
For more about the Daggett House, please click HERE To learn more about "The Chosen," please click HERE
To learn more about The Eagle Tavern, please click HERE
To learn more about The Eagle Tavern, please click HERE
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Love your mini Greenfield Village including the new additions. That makes it even more meaningful.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you for the recent book recom. Reading the diary ~ enjoying and learning which I love.