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The tradition of building miniature Christmas village landscapes (‘putz’), including houses, animals and other hand-crafted wooden figures, began with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the late 1800s. Mass-produced cardboard Putz houses, sold in dime stores, became popular in the mid-20th century, and have also become highly collectible.
These creative and colorful cardboard houses were initially imported from Japan in the late 1920s, a logical outgrowth of the candy/surprise-box houses the Japanese had been making for some time. As whimsical, delightful "eye-candy" on open dimestore counters, they were an immediate sensation. The finest houses were produced for less than ten years, because the onset of WW2 brought a trend toward more "realistic" toys and trains. However, Christmas village houses have continued to be produced in some form up to the present.
Christmas 2010 photo
1920's-1930's German Putz S…» See all Putz villages Show & Tells

About 42 years ago, my wife, Darla, went to a very large white elephant sale and found a box of antique Christmas ornaments. She t… [more]

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The following is a history of these wondrous little artifacts called cardboard Christmas village houses - a history devoted to est… [more]

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This simple site showcases over 500 artistic Gablonz glass bead antique and vintage Christmas tree ornaments, made … [read review or visit site]

This site showcases over 1000 old Soviet Christmas and New Years cards from 1950 to 1990. Browse through page after… [read review or visit site]