Collecting Nutcrackers!

[Ellene Meece]

We'll start with this avid collector's story:

Another Maury Place Christmas Collection! The Nutcrackers!

 As everyone knows, I have LOTS of collections, and many of them are related to holiday decor!  Perhaps one of my most significant collections is my collection of German nutcrackers, which you can see in this selection of  photos.  My parents gave me my first one when I was thirteen, and I still have it!  It is the soldier in the center of the close up photo.  The nutcrackers are a mainstay in our holiday decor, and the soldiers look great on the mantel in our library.  My Mom gave me one almost every Christmas, and I have other characters such as The Phatom of the Opera, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Pinocchio, a lawyer, and a Union Soldier!  I tend to place them in other rooms at Maury Place.  The nutcrackers are all made in Germany by Steinbach--some are signed limited editions, such as the Mouse King (one of my favorites!).  Significantly, the first piece in my collection that my parents gave me years ago is marked as "Made in East Germany," which makes it even more unusual.

Mac Pence and Jeff Wells
your Richmond Virginia Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers at Maury Place at Monument

[Ellene Meece]

Oh. My. Goodness.

Inside Nanabread's Head

[Ellene Meece]

Traditions - A Year Round Holiday Store shows a selection here of Nutcrackers.

Just realized last night that "The Nutcracker were first performed as an orchestral suite in March 1892. The ballet proper debuted in December of that year. It was presented at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre on a double bill with Tchaikovsky's one-act opera, Iolanta." wiki