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- This is a charmed, handcrusted, handpainted nutcracker.
- theme: August I. (the Strong)
- Friedrich August I. (the Strong) (1670-1733)
- Saxonion elector and King of Poland
- heigth: 11.81"
According to German folklore, nutcrackers were given as keepsakes to bring good luck to your family and protect your home. Nutcrackers have been produced for nearly 300 years. Their popularity soared after Tchaikovsky composed "The Nutcracker" ballet a century ago. The ballet was first shown in 1892 in St. Petersburg and is one of the most wellknown ballets in the world. It tells the story of the Christmas evening Clara is given a nutcracker, who became alive in the night.
The Erzgebirge (Ore Mountain) region is located in the eastern part of Germany not far from Dresden at the Czech border. About 400 years ago when silver mining subsided in that region, and the silver miners turned to toy making in order to make a living. Over the centuries they developed extraordinary wood carving skills that were inherited from generation to generation. Such items as the nutcracker were created in the Erzgebirge in the last century and became famous all over Europe. The German Poet E.T.A. Hoffman wrote a fairy tale about the nutcracker, and the Russian composer Tschaikowsky built a musical monument for the nutcracker by composing the Nutcracker Suite.
The nutcracker in its present appearance has been created by the House of Fuechtner in Seiffen in 1870. Significantly, the original nutcrackers have distinguished features the way the eyes and nose have been carved, and the artisans painted phantasyfully their wonderful uniforms. Original Seiffen nutcrackers never were dressed up. Collectors recognize the value of the art of painting the nutcracker or it's pure wood work in its original variety
Since the sixteen-hundreds the products of the Erzgebirge found their way throughout Europe from the cities of Leipzig and Prague. The village of Seiffen was located close to the so-called "salt street", a trade route that brought salt from the Halle/Leipzig region to Prague. Using this rout the toy-makers from the Erzgebirge mostly sent their products to Leipzig, a trading place for European goods for more than a thousand years
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