Graphic by Chris Althof
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The Chicago Dates
This is a small selection of photos from the large Chicago collection sold on eBay December 2004, in which a collection of upwards of 100 houses from the same estate were sold. Of special interest , here, is that each and every house in that collection was marked on the bottom with the year, and sometimes even the day of aquistion. Space does not permit showing more than one example from each year, but it's enough to give a feeling for the styles of houses available on specific years. It's extremely rare to find such hard, factual information.
1934: The only "Coconut."
Only about 10-15% of this large collection were larger, more complex houses -but here is such a treasure-trove of hard dates from a family who LOVED them! It is also apparent that there was a great amount of variety prior to 1935, but after this year it all seems to go "Hacienda" and what was available remained much more in that same style from year to year.
To me, the whole wonder of this Chicago estate find was the dates, and the obvious way that family had loved and centered and bonded on these houses in a time when they were current. I didn't save them all ; there were just too many, but I managed to pair up one example with it's date from each year. To us house collectors/ Christmas archeologists - a find like that is equivalent to King Tut's Tomb. Now we are certain; now we KNOW!
I wish I knew who they were, that family. I wonder if "Junior" survived WW II. I hope he was too young ....
Here is a photo of the last lot from this same estate. The house on the lower right is an American made prewar piece by the Dolly Toy Company. It's date was 1939.
TEXT OF THE FINAL AUCTION:
"11 Vintage 1930's CARDBOARD Christmas Houses Set#7 I recently auctioned off about 8 sets of these Christmas houses and I thought that that was all that I had--but I found one more set when I was sorting the rest of the buy from a Chicago Estate. All the sets were purchased from a Chicago area estate. The lady who owned them told us that her husband had many sets of trains and he used all these houses to decorate the train sets. They all date from the 30's and 40's. Every house has the year written in pencil that it was added to his collection. All of the houses are on raised platforms and are decorated with various combinations of silver glitter, diamond dust, & white snow sand. They are all in very good to excellent condition. All of the windows and doors have original cellophane. They can all illuminated by placing a bulb in the small hole in back of each house. Most are stamped with a circle that reads: MADE IN JAPAN. They range in size from 4" to 5"(the size of the platform), and some have small bisque figurines. This is my last set and it includes 11 houses with the following descriptions--7 of the houses are dated XMAS 1936 and 4 of the houses are dated Xmas 1939 in pencil on the bottom. All of these houses have a very heavy mica covering that is typical of the older sets: Large Double Peaked house with two-tone hot pink and white roof. Circular and semi-circular window, 2 regular windows and door. Two sponge trees and charming blue fence. White mica path to door. Bottom says:Xmas 1936. Small blue foil house with Double peaked, pink and white roof. Four windows and front door. Bottom reads: Xmas 1936. Large purple house with orange and white roof. Three windows and side door.Sponge tree and white fence. Marked on the bottom--Xmas 1936. Small blue foil house with one window and a door.Two-tone pink and white roof. Sponge tree with snow. Marked on bottom Xmas 1936. Charming small gold foil house with teal and white roof. Four windows and door.Marked on bottom--Xmas 1936. Small house with paper covering to resemble brick. One large window and two small windows. (Round window is missing cellophane) Green and white, twin-peaked roof. Marked on bottom--Xmas 1939 Small hot pinkfoil house with one small and two large windows. Door on side. Two-tone blue and white roof. Marked on bottom--Xmas 1936. Small house with paper covering to resemble brick. Two large windows and one small window. Front door. Marked on bottom--Xmas 1939. Wonderful large Church with removeable steeple. Roof is hot pink and white. Three windows and bisque figure of priest standing out in front of the church. Fence on two sides and Sponge tree. Marked on bottom--Xmas 1936. Small house with paper covering to resemble brick. Peaked Blue and white roof over door. Cellophane missing from small round window at top. Marked on bottom Xmas 1939. Large white house with white roof. Sponge brush trees and mica path to front door. Two windows and a door. Marked on the bottom Xmas 1939. This particular set is very colorful with deep shades of green, purple, pink. If you read my current feedback, you will see how pleased everyone was with the last 8 sets that I sold."
