Nutcrackers for Collectors
Other Websites
www.nutcrackermuseum.com
This is the home site of The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, founded
by Arlene and George Wagner, in
Leavenworth, Washington, USA (see below).
www.nussknackermuseum-neuhausen.de
Further Reading
There is little published material dedicated
purely to nutcrackers,
these books are all currently out of print :
De Sanctis, Paolo & Fantoni, Maurizio ,
Nutcrackers /
Schiaccianoci , 1990, BE-MA Editrice, Milan, ISBN
88-7143-097-2
Rittenhouse, Judith A , Ornamental & Figural Nutcrackers
, 1993, Collector Books, Kentucky, ISBN 0-89145-518-3 . An excellent
book if you can find a copy.
Rollband, James , American Nutcrackers, A Patent History and
Value Guide , 1996, Off Beat Books, California, ISBN
0-9641243-2-7
I sometimes have spare copies of these books if
you're unable to locate a copy.
Apart from mine, the only books that are currently in print are :
Wagner Arlene, The Art and Character of Nutcrackers, 2005, Collectors Press, ISBN 1-933112-08-5. A great book, with many excellent photographs of both very rare and some more common nutcrackers.
Heidenreich A, Nutcrackers Shape and History, 2003, Kathe Wolfahrt GmbH, ISBN 3-9809251-0-2. A large-scale hardback book with rather opaque text but many pictures of great nutcrackers.
Some books on more general subjects contain good information and images of nutcrackers :
Evan-Thomas O, Domestic Utensils of Wood, 1973 (reprinted), Stobart Davies, ISBN 0-85442-052-5
Levi J, Treen for the Table, 1998, Antique Collectors Club, ISBN 1-85149-284-4
Organisations
The only active organisation I'm aware of is the Nutcracker
Collectors Club, run by Susan Otto out of Chesterland,
Ohio, USA. It is an excellent club with regular newsletters
and an annual convention.
Public Collections
The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum
in Leavenworth, Washington, USA is the best
collection of nutcrackers available to the general public. Visit if
you can.
There is an excellent collection of treen nutcrackers held as part
of the Pinto Collection in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Most of the collection is held in reserve but there are usually some
interesting pieces on display.
The Secq des Tournelles Museum in Rouen, France has a good
collection of ancient iron nutcrackers.
Part
of the Secq des Tournelles display
The Blaise Castle Museum in Bristol has a small but good collection
of English and European metal and treen nutcrackers. The last time I
visited, the collection was not on display so please contact the museum before
visiting.
Many other museums have one or two interesting nutcrackers in their
reserve collections (for example the British Museum
and the Museum of London) but I'm not aware of any
other sizeable collections.
My book, Nutcrackers, is available from Shire Books
(www.shirebooks.co.uk
)
- look under Antiques and Collecting. Also from most UK museums and
antique centres and you can often find a copy on Ebay.