THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: Papa Ted and the Dimestore Christmas Village

Ted Althof, also known as Papa Ted, is an expert on the subject of the wonderful little enhanced cardboard houses, churches and other buildings made primarily between the two World Wars in Japan. Although the manufacture of these little village buildings carried forward at least until the late 1950s, the 'golden age', was during the 1930s.  Ted has written a nice article in Collector's Weekly about his knowledge and collections of these little houses. He also has a delightful website called Papa Ted's Place, with lots of photos and interesting tidbits of info about different styles, types of embellishments (glitter, "cocanut", etc) and background information about other manufacturers and sources.

Our family never purchased these little houses, to my knowledge, but I vividly remember them from my friends' homes. They are so cute, and highly collectible today. Here are a few photos, and I hope you stop by his website and check out all of the fascinating collections, photos and information.