Old Christmas tree decorations with pvk. Christmas decorations from the times of the USSR: back to the Soviet past

hunter201 01/12/2014 - 19:32

I often came across advertisements for the sale of old Christmas tree decorations, including on Avito. Well, simply stunning prices.

Below I will try to post a photo of the old Christmas tree decorations I have, I ask knowledgeable people to tell me - are they worth anything? (After New Year’s Eve I want a freebie! 😊)

mazzer 12.01.2014 - 19:48

Of these, I only have a traffic light left (made in the style of the penultimate one), I personally value them and will not sell them for any price 😊

hunter201 01/12/2014 - 19:55

Interesting - I insert new photos, but the old ones disappear somewhere.... 😞

In the second photo from the bottom, the inscription on the edges is “Beijing”. If I remember correctly, my father-in-law served in China in 1949-1952. It is quite possible that this toy was from those years, although I can’t say for sure - no one is alive anymore...

Alexander - 01/12/2014 - 20:15

Russian With Chinese - brothers on the CENTURY. They used to sing.
AP.

pakon 01/12/2014 - 20:19

They were the same. Every year the collection melted and melted like snow in spring. They are fragile and the inner layer has crumbled.
Now the balls are from IKEA

Griggen 01/12/2014 - 20:49

The prices at which old toys are on Avito do not mean that they are bought at these prices)

As far as I know, collectors value antique Christmas tree decorations with Soviet symbols, as well as technical ones - the shape of airplanes, locomotives, astronauts, etc.

hunter201 01/13/2014 - 11:12

Let's wait for more opinions! 😊

pakon 01/13/2014 - 11:43

Griggen
Collectors value antique Christmas tree decorations with Soviet symbols, as well as technical ones

RTDS 01/13/2014 - 11:46

hunter201
So I decided to ask the forum members - is this a myth or reality?

Who knows... I wouldn’t give a penny for them - I’m not a collector, I don’t feel nostalgia, and most of the old Soviet toys look like garbage... (I’m not specifically talking about yours - in general, because they are shabby due to age , the paint darkens and rubs off, etc.)

mageric 01/13/2014 - 13:11

I don’t know the topic, but if there are collectors for this product, then the prices can be mind-blowing. Well, for example, for the flight of the first cosmonaut they released a toy in the shape of an astronaut. And let’s say they released 1000 pieces. Or even 100 thousand. You can imagine how much a connoisseur will pay for such a treasure.

RTDS 01/13/2014 - 14:26

mageric
Well, for example, for the flight of the first cosmonaut they released a toy in the shape of an astronaut. And let’s say they released 1000 pieces. Or even 100 thousand. You can imagine how much a connoisseur will pay for such a treasure.

In Soviet times, events such as the flight of the first cosmonaut were accompanied by various souvenir products produced in huge quantities... So that any collective farmer could buy it in his general store. There could be no talk of any “1000 pieces”...

mageric 01/13/2014 - 14:34

You know better, I’m telling you, I’m a zero in this topic.

hunter201 01/13/2014 - 15:51

pakon
Their poor children, there are a lot of toys, but most likely they don’t decorate the Christmas tree))))

“Poor children” don’t experience any shortage; on the contrary, they don’t know which toy to hang up and which one. leave, there are so many of them. But these toys are not used.
The topic is not aimed at the detriment of children, there is no need to make monsters out of grandfathers and parents, there is purely commercial interest here

BLIND MOLE 01/13/2014 - 15:59

"Wait forty years - it will be a rarity." Children grew up who played with these toys; when you are over 40, you increasingly want to remember your “golden childhood.” Therefore, they are already appreciated by those who collect and who are nostalgic. Example - at a flea market you can buy for 10, 15, 20 rubles. in thrift stores it will also be 50, 100, 150. So are they valued?)))

mageric 01/13/2014 - 20:22

tixaja 01/14/2014 - 01:46

So I’m wondering... how much for 😊 toys are never superfluous. I’m not going to sell them, I’m doing it for myself.

hunter201 01/14/2014 - 02:00

mageric
How many toys do you have in total ((pieces))? How much do you want to get for them wholesale?

This situation with prices is already familiar to me - about 2 years ago I posted a photo of an old shortwave (seemingly 😊) radio station, and asked a question - how much could it cost? And I started receiving emails asking me to sell it and for me to name the price! Well, I laughed, and I still have the radio station 😊 And now it’s waiting for its turn, I’ll post it again soon 😊

here are all the toys from this box

pakon 01/14/2014 - 07:53

hunter201
"Poor children" do not experience any shortage

People post photos of antique Christmas tree decorations and tell stories of how they appeared in their homes. Some of these toys are most likely found in your homes.
Our family has a small collection of old Christmas tree decorations. They came to us in different ways: some were inherited, some were gifts from friends, some were found at flea markets. But this Father Frost and Snow Maiden probably have the most interesting story of how they ended up under our Christmas tree. One day, my daughter and grandmother went to visit an old neighbor. She started sorting out all sorts of unnecessary things, took out this Santa Claus from the mezzanine and threw him into a pile of garbage to be thrown away. My daughter took it out and said that she would take it home because she really, really needed it. Our delight knew no bounds - we had never had a grandfather like him! We decided that he would be sad alone and we urgently needed to look for his granddaughter. For several weeks we rushed around various flea markets in search of the right Snow Maiden, and now, when we were almost in despair, she was finally found - lying so unfortunate in a box with assorted dishes and broken records. We immediately realized that it was She, the only granddaughter! Of course it was bought and solemnly brought to my grandfather. Now they will not melt away from each other and their life slowly flows among the Christmas tree decorations - their peers. And we are very grateful to them for choosing our house to live in, we hope, for many, many years! What a story! Happy New Year, everyone! These New Year's toys were given to me by my beloved grandmother. Now she is a twice-great-grandmother and turns 80 in January! All my Christmas trees from childhood were decorated with these toys... The oldest is a bird made of cotton wool, the most patriotic is a ball with a red star, the most fabulous are toys on clothespins (a cheerful clown, the Snow Maiden in a sparkling outfit and not at all scary Baba Yaga) . And of course, New Year's watches, which, it turns out, many people still have... Our family values ​​these toys very much, despite the fact that over time they lose their shine. They are from the past and preserve the spirit of those distant times. These toys have soul! I still believe in New Year's miracles!
Perhaps no one knows the full history of these toys. I remember how my mother was decorating the Christmas tree, and I watched, climbing with my feet on the sofa and holding my breath, I was terribly worried. After all, if a thin thread breaks, the toy will turn into a myriad of multi-colored fragments. But the thread, in my memory, never broke. A lot of time has passed since then. The cool pine needles with the smell of resin were forced out of the house by a synthetic rival. And the colorful plastic balls are no longer afraid of any fall. But in the closet, under the heap of all this holiday tinsel, there is still a treasured box of old toys. “Throw away this old stuff,” my mother advises every year, coming across a box. – We accumulated it in our first marriage. Anyway, you don’t hang it on the Christmas tree anymore.” She’s right, of course, I haven’t hung it for a long time. But a thin thread of childhood memories still keeps these toys in the house. My husband has an old grandmother. One day we went to visit her, and she asked for help in dismantling old things. On the mezzanine, my husband and I found an old plywood suitcase. With great difficulty we opened it (the locks were faulty) and... lo and behold! There, covered with tissue paper, lay several Christmas tree decorations! It turned out that she bought these toys in Moscow when she went to some courses to study. Glass toys were a luxury at that time, especially here in the far north. The housemates came to admire them! When grandma's children were little, Christmas tree decorations took their place on the tree. But for the last fifty years they have been quietly lying in a suitcase on the highest shelf. And now we hung them on our Christmas tree!
In our apartment there are 2 things that were passed down to us from our grandmother: a toy and a mirror. For me, both of these things are extremely beautiful and valuable. Next door to my grandmother's house was the house of her older friend, whom she helped with housework. And being already in a weakened state, for kindness and support, a friend, during her lifetime, gave my grandmother several things dear to her heart. The New Year's toy looks bulky, but inside it is hollow, fragile and consists of 2 glued parts. Before me, it was preserved in a disintegrated form with a frayed ribbon. I once replaced the string and connected both parts together. On the front of the toy there is a place for some kind of image, the presence of which the parents no longer remember. For me and my family, beads have become the main decoration of the New Year tree for many years. I inherited these beads from my grandparents, who died when I was about 7 years old. They were bought by my grandmother when my father was not yet 10 years old, and he is now 53 years old, so it is also the oldest thing in our house. I am sure that my children will treasure these beads as carefully as I do.
My grandparents live in Ukraine. I visit them rarely... maybe once every 3 years and usually in the summer. But one day I decided to make a New Year’s gift and come to them for the holiday. When I saw this toy on the Christmas tree, I simply could not contain my emotions. I didn’t even think that our leaders were once captured on toys! On one ball there were 3 personalities at once: Vladimir Ilyich, Joseph Vissarionovich and Leonid Ilyich. Because I teach history at school, so I immediately began begging for this toy from old people, emphasizing that the Christmas tree in a history class must be filled with history. But I was told that this was a long-standing gift from friends and gifts are not re-gifted. I exchanged this toy for a promise to come in the summer. The exchange took place and I kept my word. New Year's bunny. Cheerful clown. Real retro 50s.
When I was in the 2nd grade (now I’m 49 years old), our school held a competition at the New Year’s tree for the best New Year’s costume, I was in a snowflake costume, sewn by my mother from gauze and New Year’s beads. I thought that my costume was the most beautiful, but after summing up the results of the competition, my outfit went unnoticed. I was very upset. My teacher noticed this. She took two New Year's toys from the school tree: a small yellow teapot and a girl in a flower costume and gave them to me, saying that my costume was very beautiful. I was delighted and very happy and satisfied, my mood immediately lifted. This was in 1967, I still remember my kind teacher, whose name was Zoya Stepanovna, and throughout all these years I have taken great care of these New Year’s toys, they are the most precious to me!
The story of our toys is funny and a little touching. They were purchased by my grandfather, or rather exchanged for a couple of packs of cigarettes and a “bubble” :) These are the first toys of our family. This story is also funny because for the birth of my mother, my grandfather gave my grandmother not flowers and jewelry, but a Christmas tree and New Year’s toys! Because mom was born on New Year's Eve. So these “family jewels” have been “protected” for three generations.
I had a lot of Christmas tree decorations! Boxes with glass snow maidens, sets of cones, balls, garlands... And every New Year they bought me more and more. But I wanted exactly the ones in the photo! But we didn’t have them in our stores! But my girlfriend had exactly these! Her mother raised her alone and did not particularly spoil her, and therefore she had few toys. Of course, I shared my toys with her, gave them away for good, changed them. But these: 2 flashlights, a nesting doll and a chicken on clothespins, she didn’t give it to me and didn’t even want to change! How I wanted them! Every New Year, Sveta hung them on her tree, and I came and looked at them with admiration. They were shiny, over time the toys darkened and faded, but then, in childhood, they were very beautiful! A few years later, when we were already in high school, a friend brought them to me for New Year and gave them to me. It was the best gift! Now I always hang them on my Christmas tree, and my girlfriend comes to celebrate the New Year with me.
I got these toys from my grandmother. Unfortunately, half were broken. But there are still 20 pieces left. I decorate my favorite little Christmas tree with them. When my parents’ friends come to visit, they always say that my Christmas tree emanates some special “energy” :)
We got this old Christmas tree toy from our grandmother; she was dismantling the mezzanine about 20 years ago and decided to give us this ball. We try to celebrate the New Year as often as possible with our grandmother in the village. The paint on many toys has already worn off and they have a special “vintage” smell from the past. Surprisingly, none of the many relatives buy modern toys for grandma’s Christmas tree; everyone wants to see these: unusual, worn-out ones that have gone through various events together with grandma’s large family. This Snow Maiden was left without Santa Claus, but surrounded by toys similar to her.
These three balls seem to me to be the oldest of those Christmas tree decorations that have been preserved in our family. Although, to be honest, I don't know how old they are. The balls are made of papier-mâché and consist of two halves. The halves can be separated and a small object can be placed inside. I remember these balls all my life, they always hung on my grandmother’s tree, and my brother and I raced to look for them on the tree in order to quickly open them and find something interesting inside (usually it was candy). Alas, my grandmother is no longer in the world and I did not think in time to ask where these balls came from. I only remember that they are German. Now the balls are a little cracked, they had to be glued several times, but they still decorate the tree, and now my daughter is looking for something interesting inside. Once upon a time it was a set of gingerbread cookies with reindeer. Deer glow in the dark, 35 years have passed, only one remains, the last one. Let's take care of him!
I am very proud that I have such toys in my collection, I take great care of them, but nevertheless I use them - I hang them on my Christmas tree every year, because it would be a sin to hide such beauty in a velvet box! And what makes me especially happy is that the wonderful cardboard decorations, embossed on mother-of-pearl paper, have been very well preserved. I liked them the most because I could look at them for a long time, trace them on paper with a pencil, and also (most importantly) - they could not be broken! I have a special funny story associated with these cardboard toys - once, when I was little, my parents decided to give me a surprise - they set up and decorated the Christmas tree to their taste with elegant inflated balls and glass fairy-tale characters while I was sleeping. But in the morning I burst into tears when I didn’t see my favorite cardboard fish, chickens, and especially my favorite sailboat on the tree! The parents were confused and could not understand what they had done and how they had brought their child to tears! Then, of course, together we hung my favorite figures on the tree - and after that everything immediately fell into place! Childhood memories are what these cardboard, simple, but very dear to my heart decorations store. This is always my favorite toy on the Christmas tree since childhood, when I really wanted to have a dog. She is probably even older than my grandmother. Unfortunately, I don’t know how she came to us, and my grandmother no longer remembers. It is stored very carefully and is always hung in the most visible place.
This toy hangs on our Christmas tree every year, since my early childhood! And every year, with pleasant nostalgia and even that same childish feeling of a fairy tale, I hang it on the Christmas tree, sit next to it and looking at it, I remember the amazing fairy tales that my parents told me on behalf of this funny old forest man! This toy is incredibly dear to me and my whole family! The fact is that my grandfather gave this toy to my mother. Then my mom and dad were just dating and they decided to celebrate the New Year together! While decorating the Christmas tree, dad dropped this luxurious toy and it broke into pieces... Dad spent the next day looking for the same decoration and found it! Mom was very happy, but they didn’t say anything to grandfather. Since then, this toy has been hanging on every one of our Christmas trees. Mom says that this crystal flower blossomed with her and dad’s love.
These skates have been passed down from generation to generation to every woman in my family. My great-great and many times “great” grandfather brought them from Finland, tied a wedding ring to them and proposed to my great-great and several times “great” grandmother! I got this toy from my great-grandmother. She made it from scrap materials. Because there was nothing before. This was after the war. Of course we restored it a little. Because this is a great memory. And even though there are thousands of modern toys in stores now, for me there is nothing more valuable than this! The toy is almost a century old!
Some time ago, balls with bows came into fashion and my mother decided to throw out all the old toys. I barely saved it, but there are only a few of these left at home, I’m posting them for your consideration. As a child, my sister and I had a favorite pastime for the New Year: one would make a wish for some kind of toy, and the other would ask leading questions about it and try to guess what kind of toy she had in mind... Now, of course, it seems like a funny game, but then it was very interesting, because Christmas trees They always put large ones under the ceiling and you really had to look for toys on it.
“Call me lady, kiss my fingers” - the words of Veronica Dolina come to mind when I listen to my grandmother’s story about her short and tender romance with a Polish man with the funny name Leszek. It was somewhere in a small town, I think it was Biala Podlaska. Granny, with a hazy smile on her face, recalls how before the celebration of Catholic Christmas, he, blushing with embarrassment, told her for the first time in private “Dobzhe day, lady,” kissed her hand and handed her a small bouquet made in the form of a Christmas tree decoration. “What a wonderful Polish tradition it is to kiss women’s hands! What a pity that our men have forgotten how to do this!” - she sighs. I know that my grandmother keeps the memories of this novel in the most secret corners of her heart and does not tell anyone about them except me. But every time, on New Year’s Day, she takes this bouquet out of a large box and hangs it on the tree. She looks at me and we smile at each other.
My godmother gave me this sweet New Year's toy 11 years ago! It was terribly cold outside and my godmother and I were returning from the park, where we rode on ice slides and made snowmen! It’s very strange, but in 20-degree frost I desperately wanted ice cream! I begged my godmother for a long time to buy me “Ice”, but she won’t do anything! I started crying! And then my godmother gave me this toy, which she bought in a subway passage! I was very happy! Grandmother's inheritance.

With age, sometimes an irresistible desire arises to remember your childhood, to feel some nostalgia for the times of the USSR. For some reason, the New Year in the Soviet style most reminds those over thirty of times that, despite the shortage, you remember with rapture of the heart, considering them the best.

Nowadays there is a growing tendency to celebrate the New Year in the style of the USSR. It’s no longer surprising to see a Christmas tree decorated according to the American model in three colors. More and more I want to decorate the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys. And be sure to put cotton wool simulating snow and tangerines under it.

Variety of Christmas tree decorations

Often the Christmas tree in Soviet families was decorated with an abundance of toys and decorations. Particularly noteworthy are the clothespin toys, which are very convenient to attach to the middle of a Christmas tree branch. They were presented in all sorts of forms: Santa Claus, Snowman, Snow Maiden, candle, matryoshka.

The balls, as now, were of different sizes, but the unique highlight was in the balls with round hollows, into which the light of the garlands fell, creating a fabulous illumination throughout the Christmas tree. There were also phosphor patterned balls that glowed in the dark.

Since the New Year begins at midnight, toys in the form of watches were produced. They were given a central place on the tree. Often, such Soviet Christmas tree decorations were hung at the very top, just below the top of the head, which was certainly decorated with a red star - the main Soviet symbol.

Christmas decorations of those times were also represented by decorations made from large glass beads and beads. They were usually hung on the lower or middle branches. Old Soviet toys, especially pre-war ones, are carefully stored and passed on from grandmothers to grandchildren.

From icicles, houses, clocks, animals, balls, stars, a unique design was made.

Was it raining?

There was no such fluffy and voluminous rain as there is now during Soviet socialism. The Christmas tree was decorated with vertical rain and beads. A little later, horizontal rain appeared, but it was not thick and voluminous. Some voids on the tree were filled with garlands and candies.

For a few days, you can feel the atmosphere of the Soviet Union with the help of a Christmas tree decorated in retro style. Unique Soviet-era Christmas tree decorations, decorations and tinsel should be looked for in the bins of our grandmothers or purchased at city flea markets. By the way, auctions and online stores are being created online for the purchase, sale and exchange of Christmas tree decorations from the USSR era. Some even collect such toys, many of which are already considered antiques.

All that remains is to decorate the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys, turn on the Irony of Fate and for a second remember your childhood.

“Crible, crable, boom! - said the Storyteller from “The Snow Queen”, remember - the magic begins!”

And we are approaching the only holiday on the entire planet - the Old New Year. Only we have the Old New Year, from January 13 to 14 - this is necessary, what a miracle! And January 14, New Style, is the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord, as one of the authors correctly reminded me.

My great-aunt Elizaveta, Aunt Lilya, despite Soviet power, always celebrated the Old New Year. She invited all her relatives. I baked an unforgettable Napoleon cake, cabbage pie, gingerbread - that’s what I could remember. Aunt Lilya lived on Kuznetsky Most opposite the Pet Shop. The house is still standing. The last old house adjacent to the new KGB building.

And since we are celebrating the Old New Year, let me tell you what I know about old New Year’s toys. It so happened that my family never threw away anything rare, and I unwittingly found myself the owner of a small toy collection. Christmas tree decorations are glass and break, and every year there are fewer and fewer old toys, and they cost more and more.

With great pleasure we visited the city of Klin, at the Klin Compound museum at the pre-revolutionary Yolochka factory. We were told the history of the creation of toys, shown the manufacturing technology, we visited the museum and the New Year's performance of Santa Claus. I was delighted to recognize my toys in the museum. Unfortunately, I was filming on my mobile phone through the window glass, something may be a little out of focus, sorry.

The history of the origin of glass toys was told to us as follows:. A long time ago, in Holland, Christmas was celebrated. It was the main Christian winter holiday. In Europe, it was customary to bring a live Christmas tree into the house and decorate it with apples, nuts, gilded pine cones, white and pink roses made from shortcrust pastry, and candles. Gifts for children were brought by the infant Christ or St. Nicholas, Santa Claus.

This is what a decorated Christmas tree looked like in those days:

But one day there was a very cold summer, and the apples did not ripen. There was nothing to decorate the Christmas trees with! And one master glassblower blew glass balls, which craftsmen painted to look like apples. They say that this is how the first Christmas tree decorations made of glass appeared.

Interestingly, the first Russian Christmas tree decorations looked different. In the South of the Russian Empire they were fashionable bright glass beads.

If the balls are blown out, like this:

And painted:

And painted by hand:

The technology for making beads (and any Christmas tree figurine of complex shape) is different.

The beads were made from a hot glass tube placed in special molds - tongs (photo on the right, in the foreground):

Then they were covered with amalgam, became “silver”, and then painted. It turned out something like this:

The peddler hung beads around his neck and walked around the villages with them, selling them to women and girls. It is clear that in winter no one really needs beads - they are not visible under a zipun, and then peddlers came up with the idea of ​​​​selling them as New Year's decorations.

This is how Christmas tree beads and figurines made from them appeared:

Here is one of my acquisitions this year (they gave me a gift, thank you very much) - a traffic light made of beads!!!

Pre-revolutionary jewelry was also made from cotton wool. To strengthen and shine the outer layer, the toys were covered with glue and glitter and painted.

These dolls have porcelain heads - German toys that now cost incredible amounts of money.

Every year we have this cute stork hanging on our Christmas tree. The children were very upset that the stork was hung by the neck, but for what else? And every time the ancient old man hangs below, so that it is not visible... But - tradition. A child decorating a Christmas tree knows that mommy will still force you to take out the box again for the sake of the stork, and there are still a lot of things there that are valuable to a collector... they hang it up in silence.

Many decorations were made from cardboard. For example, here is such a wonderful angel - a cardboard head and glass beads - to decorate the top:

All kinds were popular garlands of flags:

Bonbonnieres(boxes with a surprise, or “surprise boxes”), firecrackers and "Dresden cartonage"- figures extruded from cardboard, glued in halves - the result was a three-dimensional cardboard figure:

"Dresden cartonage"

This is what the Christmas tree might have looked like in the fairy tale “The Nutcracker”:

After the 1917 revolution, the Christmas tree was declared a relic of the past..

But in 1937, J.V. Stalin decided to revive the traditions, and New Year’s lights shone again, and New Year’s trees appeared in clubs and apartments again. St. Nicholas and the Infant Christ were replaced by the fabulous Father Frost and his granddaughter Snegurochka, and - there was a need for Christmas tree decorations!

I found a picture of the first invitation card in Column Hall of the House of Unions in Moscow and a photograph from this Christmas tree.

Some families still had toys, and everyone remembered how to make them at home. That's how I told it A. Gaidar in the story “Chuk and Gek” about preparations for the New Year:

“The next day it was decided to prepare a Christmas tree for the New Year.

They couldn’t imagine making toys out of anything!

They tore off all the color pictures from old magazines. They made animals and dolls from scraps and cotton wool. They pulled out all the tissue paper from my father’s drawer and piled up lush flowers.

Why was the watchman gloomy and unsociable, and even when he brought firewood, he stopped for a long time at the door and marveled at their more and more new undertakings. Finally he couldn't bear it anymore. He brought them silver paper from wrapping tea and a large piece of wax that he had left over from shoemaking.

It was wonderful! And the toy factory immediately turned into a candle factory. The candles were clumsy and uneven. But they burned as brightly as the most elegant store-bought ones.

Now it was time for the Christmas tree. The mother asked the watchman for an ax, but he didn’t even answer her, but got on his skis and went into the forest.

Half an hour later he returned.

OK. Even if the toys were not so elegant, even if the hares made from rags looked like cats, even if all the dolls looked alike - straight-nosed and pop-eyed, and even if, finally, the fir cones wrapped in silver paper did not sparkle as much as fragile and thin glass toys, but, of course, no one had such a Christmas tree in Moscow. It was a real taiga beauty - tall, thick, straight and with branches that diverged at the ends like stars.”

Magnificent molded toys show that in 20 years “without a Christmas tree” the craftsmen have not lost their skills:

And if someone still has toys like these, which look unattractive, don’t throw them away - you are a happy owner expensive rarity!

The peaceful life of our country was interrupted by a terrible destructive war. It was not time for the New Year holidays, but after the war the production of Christmas tree decorations resumed.

The 50s-80s were boom years for the toy industry. What our factories haven’t produced! And balls, and “flashlights”, and a wide variety of molded toys. They made decorations from foil and cardboard. And what original garlands replaced the candles!

I will talk about this heyday in the next article.

Thank you for reading and wish you a Happy Old New Year!

Exhibition of ancient Santa Clauses from the collection of Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky
This unique exhibition "Frosty Childhood" was held at the end of 2007 in Moscow in the children's art gallery "Child's View". The exhibition was dedicated to the memory of the remarkable animator director, founder and permanent director of the Moscow animation studio "Pilot", Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky, who recently passed away.

The author of the cartoons “Plasticine Crow”, “Last Year’s Snow Was Falling”, “The Koloboks Are Investigating”, and the plasticine screensaver of the program “Good Night, Kids”, has been collecting a collection of old Santa Clauses for almost ten years. Part of this collection, as well as old New Year toys and photographs from personal archives, were presented at the exhibition.

The history of the collection, written by A.M. himself. Tatarsky, this is it.

Back in the mid-80s, Alexander Mikhailovich wrote the script for the multi-part animated film “Grandfathers of Different Nations.” This was supposed to be an exciting journey-adventure of Santa Claus, who travels around the world, meeting with "his relatives abroad" - Santa Claus from the USA, Yultumte from Sweden, Uvlin Ung from Mongolia, Père Noel from France, St. Basil from Cyprus, Babbo Natale from Italy and many, many others. Unfortunately, it was not possible to make this film, but interest in the characters responsible for celebrating Christmas and New Year remained.

These characters have seen a lot in their lifetime. A.M. Tatarsky treated them as living beings, knew each one by sight, and communicated with them.

I was at this exhibition - it leaves a very warm feeling.

Unfortunately, it is not known whether the collection of A.M. Tatarsky is exhibited anywhere now.

Fragment of an article with the founder of the art project "Flea Market" Marina Smirnova:

Tell us, what antique New Year's toys and decorations are of interest to collectors? How much do certain things cost?

Before the revolution, Russian partnerships and artels made copies of German Christmas tree decorations. After 1917, Christmas trees were no longer decorated with religious and Christmas-themed toys; they were replaced by figurines of fairy-tale characters, household items, and symbols of the Soviet era.

But the most beautiful toys appeared in the late 50s and early 60s - cardboard, cotton ones. However, they quickly stopped being produced, new technologies appeared - the shelves were filled with Christmas tree balls.

Therefore, the highest prices are for cardboard and cotton toys. It all depends on the rarity and safety of a particular item. For example, at one Russian online auction, a cardboard toy went under the hammer for 7-8 thousand rubles, the cost of cotton toys reached 15 thousand rubles per copy.

However, at flea markets and specialized fairs, where many sellers gather at the same time, prices for old Christmas tree decorations are much lower. Toys from the 50s can be bought for 50-100 rubles, the most expensive - cotton ones - in good condition - for 700 rubles.

Most of all, of course, the collections are valued. For example, Soviet factories produced a series of Christmas tree decorations based on the fairy tales “Chippolino” and “The Golden Key”. The price of a complete collection can exceed 10 thousand rubles.

Many people collect cardboard flags that have now disappeared from sale. They lack the shine, gloss, and commercial overtones that are inherent in modern toys. The price of such flags, although they are not considered very rare, depending on their state of preservation, can range from 200 to 1000 rubles.