Celluloid Christmas Items
Celluloid holiday items are widely collected
today as they reflect a charming appeal of days gone by. First
invented in 1869 by Albany, NY printer John Wesley Hyatt, celluloid
found a myriad of applications in consumer products ranging from
dentures, eyeglasses and waterproof collars to vanity items,
ornamental combs and jewelry. By the late 1880s, the first toys -
simple ball shaped baby rattles with a teething ring or handle
attached - were being marketed. Around the turn of the 20th century
German manufacturers began blow molding sheet celluloid into small,
lightweight dolls. This was the beginning of a booming industry that
spread throughout Europe, Japan and the United States.
The Viscoloid Company, founded in 1901 in Leominster, MA, was
America's most prolific manufacturer of celluloid blow molded
holiday toys. At the onset of WWI, trade with European toy
manufacturers ceased. Since German design was highly regarded in the
toy industry, Viscoloid hired German artist/sculptor Paul Kramme to
design toys. His Santa figures were embraced by the public as they
were inexpensive and exhibited old world charm. Eventually Kramme
and his staff designed toys that represented not only Christmas, but
Easter, Halloween and Independence Day. During the 1920s, Japanese
manufacturers copied many designs of German and American origin. The
heyday of Celluloid toy production in America dated until the
mid-1920s when the Viscoloid Company employed 300 full time workers
in the toy making department alone. Celluloid lost favor with
consumers because of its dangerous flammability and toy production
dwindled by the 1930s. In Europe and Japan, manufacturers continued
production until the late 1950s.
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