- 2008 -
January:
"BIG BOXED HOUSE
Robby Lucke scored this one on ebay last December, and it's a big one in the original box again showing that these big ones came individually packaged and not in sets. It's 9" wide.
The frontal close-up.
Backing off a little to show the box.
Here's a close-up on the front bay and the flag. Robby says not to take that 13-states flag seriously. The original flagpole is broken and it's doubtful the Japanese would ever have used the "Betsy Ross" Original Colonies version of Old Glory.
Out of the box, here. The hand holding it gives some idea of the size.
The ends and other aspects.
Flag or no flag,a remarkably fine-condition piece with the mullioned windows totally intact. Congratulations, Robby in Montana!
February:
"Huge Medieval Cathedral"
This thing is enormous!
In the somber rough-textured gray associated with the medieval castles, and appropriate to the mood of February, this one stands fully 18" high. Not sure of other dimesions, because these are pictures from eBay and are all I have on it at the moment.
The base is missing, and until a complete one shows up we'll just be speculating as to what it was. Note how many pieces it breaks down into to be fit into a reasonably sized box. For a dimestore notion, there's a lot engineering here.
Rear view shows some minor damage, but it also shows that this was a house to be illuminated and not a candy box.
All in all, an amazing large and detailed piece.
March:
"The Bald Padre"
Here's a new figure...the Bald Padre. He's quite detailed - Hand painted with sliver cross and beard. Much more so than the standard "Padre" with black hood, which was fairtly common in the 1930s and appeared again briefly around 1955. This one seems to occur only on one type of church, and one other building which is the same "church" without the steeple, both from same mid-'50s ressurgence I have called "The Last Hurrah." (See the POSTWAR scetion.)
This is the church, one of that group I call the "COTTON-TOPPERS." As with many of this group, it's quite large, standing 18" with the steeple.
Two copies of this building that never had a steeple, but is basically "churchy" looking.
A grouping of "COTTON-TOPPERS" ca. 1955 showing this church complete and one missing the steeple. You can see that the two above were made as they are, because there is no base and cornice for the steeple. Note, also, that the buildings that are different have Santas. The "Bald Padre" seems to have occured on one basic building structure only.
All-in-all a very fitting Lenten offering, I would think.
Thanks to Tom Hull for this most unique contribution.
April:
"Black Coconut"
As far as is yet known, there is only style of house that is black, and this is it - a medium base raked style with oversized porch that came in one of the commoner assortments of 8 sold widely around 1934-35. It is found in both rough black or dark charcoal stucco or actual BLACK COCONUT. Yes, Virgina - there is a black coconut. Not often seen, there are examples of black coconut chinmeys and other features, but this is the only one in which it covers the main body of the house itself. Tom Hull shows two variations, here, and I'll let him take over the telling from here on ...
"I just got in the house on the left today and bought it largely because I noticed it had a foil roof which I haven't noticed before on this not uncommon house. This house almost doesn't vary at all so I decided to get it, and right away I believe you can see some differences. I suspect this is the earliest of this design.
The house on the left is basically all coconut with the exception of the chimney and porch which is the whitish gravel with some black specks in it, and of course the pink foil. It also has BLACK or at least dark gray coconut. Ted was right on this. All the rest of us had, had experience with is the one on the left with the black gravel and apparently more common.
Notice the difference in the expressions of the mouths of the snowmen. Also the location of the tree is behind the porch with a wire trunk unlike the one on the left which is a fairly large wood trunk (original with replacement loofha.)
A close up of the little frowning snowman. I have a theory about this - entirely fanciful and not based on much of anything. But the snowman is sad because he can't go into the house! Were you aware that the Japanese man did not drink in the home? He traditionally (even to this day) did all his drinking outside the house and have often wondered if the so-called "dog houses" weren't in fact little drinking places. I have seen the dog houses with a frowning snowman nearby and wondered if the ol' man were kicked out of the house for being a bit tipsy - all very symbolically of course.
In this example we see pink coconut around the edge of the base which is a departure from the more common type. No doubt carrying the pink foil of the roof into the base. And indeed, it is PINK but the photo is a bit off in color on the left. I believe all this makes a more interesting house.
Notice the drool of gray paint on the foil. The background of the house on both types is this color of gray and is used on the back. This indicates to us that the roof was done before the sides of the house. Notice the warping on the entry way. It appears to have been wet when this was done during construction and I will NOT attempt to straighten it. Nor remove the paint drool. THIS IS THE WAY THIS ONE WAS FINISHED and we need to keep as many original references as possible on a house, even if unique, and this one is in generally great condition.
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This to show the different size window which is the only one that Ted and Kathi didn't reproduce. Since it is all there the ONLY restoration I will do on this house is to carefully back it with new cellophane. Notice the intensity of the red color after all these years!
This photo to show the original "French" door. Also with this photo toned down you can see how splotchy the snowman is. I have NO idea why unless it has a bit of gray paint on it - perhaps the old boy HAD been on a "tear." Ha!" - Tom
May:
"Hybrid"
This thing appeared last December on eBay and was bought by one of our crowd. It's really a tough one to pin down and quite interesting because it's a combination of absolutely EVERYTHING!
Here we have a LOGGIE with a HACIENDA front portico wall and roof-peak cornice on a Mickey Mouse-style TRAY BASE with a COTTON-TOPPER ROOF and a seeming pre-war hunch-back SANTA out in front with a post-war LUFFA TREE.
Whew!
My initial guess was a mid-Fifties Cotton-Topper, but now I think it's from the same year as the Mickey Mouse series. - the tray-base, the cotton roof very rare for the '30s - the HACIENDA features.... and just the general "feel" of it. Mid 1930s. Diane says the windows are all 100% original. I can't believe the condition. Amazing!
June:
"Exquisite Candy Box"
We're going to be seeing more of the "candy boxes" from now on. They are the immediate ancestors of the houses, afterall. Kathi sent in these photos from her collection. It looks big because of all the details, but it's really a tiny little thing - just packed with charming features ...
Hi Ted,
Here is a candidate for June HOM
This is a small candy box house with a tiny box container in the bottom. The container bottom is where the "Made in Japan" is stamped.Overall size of the house is 4 11/16" wide x 3 5/16" deep x3 3/4" high. The tiny cotton Santa is only 1 3/4" high and is loose, not glued to the side of the house like we see in slightly later candy box houses.
The UNUSUAL aspects include the half-round pediment roof on the porch instead of the gable shape; non-aligned porch posts, which means each porch was made separately; unusually deep porch, which aligns with the perimeter fence; double layer of single-ply porch steps; EIGHT stick-on window /door elements; TINY punched openings in the balcony
This house has the elements of the very early candy box houses -- stick-on windows and door; tall fence when compared to overall height; deeply pointed fence tops; cotton-top snowed roof; twisted-wire-non-tapered bottle-brush tree; single ply base.
Plus it has early versions of elements we see in later candy box houses and the later putz houses -- porch and posts; half-circle steps at the door (in this case the half-circle is actually elongated slightly.)
And I add this for Tom -- the "MADE IN" is in smaller letters than the "JAPAN" and the "MADE IN" is stacked above the "JAPAN."
I love the diminutive size but interesting "complexity" in this house's detailing compared to the simplified later houses. Also, no "brick litho" paper on this one which is so often seen on the candy box houses.
The sunny yellow color is also rare, and perfect, I think, for June HOM.
--Kathi
July:
"Firecracker" Candy Box
Kathi sent this in for the "Fourth" because the cylindrical shape sort of reminded her of a firework, and it does have a definite "sky-rockety" look with that pointed peak.
"Hi Ted, I don't know if you have a July HOM picked out yet or not, but I would submit this "2-stage bottle rocket firecracker" of a candy box house for your consideration. This is a tower style candy box house, and one of the tallest I own. It is 11 1/4" high and 3 5/8" wide at its widest point. It has the typical snow covered roof with the fine coat of mica finish. It has two colors of the "brick litho paper", the bottom section being almost black-brown, and the top section being red. The top section is round. The base section is a hexagon.
The base wainscot detail is corrugated cardboard 1" high, which is unusually tall and probably early. Although the base looks like it might have a "coconut" finish on it, it is instead kind of two-toned "spatter" painted with a sand texture and mica finish.
The balcony is sand finish with larger 5/16"+ holes in the railing. The white sand finish also has the fine coat of mica on it. The cotton Santa is glued in place. The doors are the tall ones, stick-on, that you usually see on the larger early houses. The doors are 1 3/4"+ high I would guess the year to be 1927 or 1928, but I would defer to a period catalog to be sure.
There is NO stamp on the bottom or anywhere else, yet I am sure it is all original. Maybe the original box carried the "Made in Japan" stamp. This is without a doubt made in Japan. The tree has suffered through the years and was originally the twisted wire "paper chenille" bottle brush type tree, but almost all the paper has broken off. I hope this darling and treasured "Firecracker house" sparks some interest from your fans out there. I too love the "cocos" but these whimsical candy box houses have a quality all to themselves. --Kathi"