The Ultimate Guide to Collecting Vintage Christmas NOEL

Thrifting Vintage Christmas Noel Sets
Thrifting Vintage Christmas Noel Sets

Forget about the new and what everyone else is doing. If you’re a true vintage lover then these old time Christmas decorations are just what you need to create that classic feel in your home this holiday season. Stock up now because most of these items will be gone by the end of November!

Hurry, don’t miss out on all the nostalgia!

Today’s post in our 2021 Vintage Christmas Collecting Series features some of my favorite vintage Noel sets that date to the 1950s-1960s and feature candle holders, bells, and figurines. Some of these sets were featured in last year’s Vintage Christmas Collecting Series of 2020 but have been updated with current pricing and colorways. When it comes to vintage Noel collectibles there are so many varieties and themes from Santa Claus, Elves, Poodles, Snowmen, Angels, Candy Canes, and even Pixies that there really is something for everyone and you can easily have a theme each year for your holiday decorating too!!

Note: Blog post has a lot of photos and pricing source is recent Ebay, Etsy, Worthpoint, and my own personal sales data.

One sure way to any collector’s heart is items that come with their original boxes. For me, the box can also be used as part of your vintage holiday decor as they usually have timeless graphics that add so much charm to your displays. Since these vintage items are usually 70 yrs old, if you do find an original box it will probably have some wear and tear or even water damage from being stored in basements and attics and that is completely okay and in my opinion, adds that much more to the story and history of the item. 

Here are some of my very favorite Noel sets from my personal collection and I think they are just dynamite. Each set is so unique and has loads and loads of vintage Christmas charm. I actually have them up year-round in my cabinet and they always make me smile when I stop and admire them. 

Stacked Santa’s NOEL Totem Pole Candle Holders

Vintage Christmas NOEL Santa Candleholders Napco Brinns
Vintage Christmas NOEL Santa Candleholders Napco Brinns

Near-and-dear to my heart are these vintage Santa Claus stacked NOEL totem pole candle holders.  These have such fun, witty, retro charm. Pictured are two matching pair made by Tilso in Japan in the 1950s. The Santa’s have  gold little curly-q’s in their beards, have expressive eyes, and each hold a letter to spell NOEL. Tilso sets (sometimes referred to as Brinns) tend to fetch $225-$300 each, having the original box really can impact the price.

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Collecting Vintage Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer – The Best Tips

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Today’s post is about the most famous reindeer of all –  Rudolph. The reindeer with the shiny red nose that leads Santa Claus on his sleigh ride around the world in just one night. Rudolph has been sharing his charm with us all since 1939. It wasn’t too long after, that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer would become a part of Christmas for families all over the world.

Welcome to the 2021 vintage Christmas collecting series. This is our second post in our series for 2021. Our first post is all about Holt Howard Starry Eyed Santa and you can find it here. If you’d like to review our 2020 six-part guide you can find that here and learn about vintage Christmas collectibles from the 1950s-1960s.

Rudolph was created by Robert L. May, who worked as a copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department store chain and published the story in a brochure for promotional purposes in 1939. The store began preparing for Christmas almost one year earlier when they hired May to write a Christmas story that could be purchased by customers.

Christmas giftware, decorations, and ceramics were at their peak of cuteness (my opinion) in the 1950s-1960s. And it was George Zolton Lefton who founded the Lefton China Company in 1939 in Chicago, Illinois and produced many items from dinnerware sets to Christmas decorations and everything in between and, that includes the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer set.

Lefton’s Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer set includes:

  • Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer bowl
  • Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer mug
  • Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer salt and pepper shakers
  • Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer planter (Rudolph’s nose lights up)
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Collecting Vintage Christmas Year Round

Yasmina Greco Crazy4Me Vintage Christmas
Yasmina Greco Crazy4Me Vintage Christmas

Hello again my friends, I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas and that Santa was good to you all!! As I put the finishing touches on post number six, the final post of our Vintage Christmas Collecting series, it’s New Year’s Eve as I sit at my desk surrounded by my vintage treasures (vintage Santa’s, snowmen, shopper girls, bottle brush trees and my vintage candy cane holders) and want to thank you all for your lovely comments and questions along the way of the collecting series. I have truly enjoyed putting the series together and hope you’ve benefited from some of my tips and enjoyed seeing pictures of my collections. I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that 2021 is good to us all!!

Collecting Vintage Christmas Ornaments
Collecting Vintage Christmas Ornaments

I collect vintage Christmas all year round. As you know from my previous posts, I am obsessed with vintage Christmas items and the hunt is really part of the fun. As our digital worlds keep moving forward, it actually makes searching for vintage Christmas items a little easier and simpler as we have access to wonderful resources that are available 24/7 and 365 days a year and spans the entire globe!! 

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Collecting Vintage Christmas Angels

Vintage Norcrest Christmas Angels
Vintage Norcrest Christmas Angels

Christmas is just one week away!! I don’t know where the month has gone but in one week it will be Christmas. I hope you have been following my Vintage Christmas Collecting Series where I have been sharing my collections and providing tips on collecting vintage Christmas items and I would love to hear from you so please send me an email or reach out to me on social media @crazy4me or @spicyatomicprincess and let me know. 

Holt-Howard Ermine Angela Salt and Pepper Shakers
Holt-Howard Ermine Angels Salt and Pepper Shakers

Today’s blog post is for week four in our Vintage Christmas Collecting Series and today it is all about collecting vintage Christmas angels as Christmas and angels really go hand-in-hand. The majority of vintage angels in my collection date to the 1950s and were made in Japan by Napco, Norcrest, Ucago, Holt-Howard and Lefton when mid-century modern and kitsch were all the rage. Some angels have no markings and some are marked Japan or have a paper label that says Japan. Vintage Christmas angels have a lot of the similar spaghetti trim detailing with sponged gold accents like the Christmas decorations made during the era. Some angels are in the form of bells, Noel sets, salt and pepper shakers, and others are figurines. So far, in all my years of collecting, I have only ever come across only a couple of brunette angels and all the others have been blondes so, the brunette haired ones are the rarer ones. 

Lefton Angel Babies
Lefton Angel Babies

Here is a super darling trio of baby angel boys made by Lefton and they each hold a holiday element like a present, candy cane and stocking and a wreath. 

Vintage Napco Brunette Angel Figurine
Vintage Napco Brunette Angel Figurine

This brunette beauty is made by Napco and she has her eyes lowered, holds a lovely Christmas greetings wreath and presents. This angel is quite fancy with so much spaghetti trim on her robe that has the lovely gold sponged details and her wings are one of the most ornate pair I have seen on an angel as they are highly detailed and so very intricate.

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Collecting Kitschy Christmas: Noel Sets

Yasmina Greco with her Vintage Christmas NOEL Collection

You may have noticed that Christmas is in the air. That feeling of festivity and joy that comes with this time of year can be attributed to many things, but one of them surely has to be all the vintage kitschy decorations. For me, one of my favorite things to do is pull out the vintage NOEL sets that I have been collecting for years and display these treasures as I get my home ready for Christmas. If you love a touch of nostalgia with some Mid-Century flair then you’ll want to curl up with your cocoa and read our new blog post on Collecting Vintage Christmas: Noel Sets for tips on buying, selling, and searching for these treasures.

Yasmina Greco’s Vintage Christmas NOEL Collection Kitschy Mid-Mod Decorations

Today’s blog post features some of my vintage Noel collection that dates from the 1950s-1960s and features Noel candle holders, Noel bells, and Noel figurines. When it comes to vintage Noel collectibles there are so many varieties and themes from Santa Claus, Elves, Poodles, Snowmen, Angels, Candy Canes, and even Clowns, that there really is something for everyone and you can easily have a theme each year for your holiday decorating too!!

WARNING!! Blog has a lot of photos.

One sure way to any collector’s heart is items that come with their original boxes. For me, the box can also be used as part of your vintage holiday decor as they usually have timeless graphics that add so much charm to your displays. Since these vintage items are usually 70 yrs old, if you do find an original box it will probably have some wear and tear or even water damage from being stored in basements and attics and that is completely okay and in my opinion, adds that much more to the story and history of the item. 

Here are five of my very favorite Noel sets from my personal collection and I think they are just dynamite. Each set is so unique and has loads and loads of vintage Christmas charm. I actually have them up year-round in my cabinet and they always make me smile when I stop and admire them. 

1950s Grimco Japan NOEL Bells Vintage Christmas
1950s Grimco Japan NOEL Bells Vintage Christmas
  1. This 4 Piece Noel bells set of boys and girls made by World Creations by Grimco Japan 1950s. This set is hard to find and very delicate, made from very fine ceramic so there may be light hairline cracks if you do come across a set. The facial expressions on these kids are so darling. In today’s market expect to pay $275-$325.

2. Christmas Cowboy Santa Noel Candle Holders set by Menschik Goldman in the 1950s. Santa is wearing his western hat with green and red holiday flair, his red suit complete with holster and pistol and his body spells out NOEL. This set is very rare, I have only come across it one time and in today’s market expect to pay $299-$350.

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Vintage Christmas Collecting Series

Yasmina Greco Vintage Christmas Collecting Series
Yasmina Greco Vintage Christmas Collecting Series
It is the most wonderful time of the year, and I want to share my love for vintage mid-mod Christmas collectibles from the 50s-60s. Join me and explore the six-part series as I share some of my favorite finds and I’ll offer tips on prices for buying and selling and where to find these treasures as well as tips for scoring the rare and hard-to-find pieces. Here are just a few items that we have found recently:
 
Collecting Vintage NOEL Christmas Candle Holders, Figurines, and Bells
Vintage Holt-Howard Christmas Collectibles
Pretty Ladies – Vintage Christmas Head Vases and Planters
Collecting Vintage Christmas Angels
Yasmina Greco Vintage Christmas Collecting Series
Yasmina Greco Vintage Christmas Collecting Series

Posts in the Vintage Christmas Collecting Series:

• Collecting vintage NOEL Christmas candle holders, figurines, and bells
Vintage Holt-Howard Christmas collectibles
Pretty Ladies – Vintage Christmas Head Vases and Planters
Collecting vintage Christmas angels
Have yourself a Mid-Mod Christmas
Collecting vintage Christmas year-round

(New for 2021)

Holt-Howard Christmas Collectibles and Price Guide: Starry Eyed Santa

Vintage Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Thrifting Vintage Christmas Decorations: NOEL Sets from the 1950s-1960s

Some photo highlights from the vintage Christmas series below

Collecting Vintage Christmas Noel Sets
Collecting Vintage Christmas Noel Sets
Holt-Howard Girl Candleholders
Holt-Howard Girl Candleholders
Vintage Christmas Head Vases and Planters
Vintage Christmas Head Vases and Planters
Holt-Howard Starry-Eyed Santa Tray
Holt-Howard Starry-Eyed Santa Tray

About the Vintage Christmas Collecting Series: This six-part series of blog posts and pictures focuses on vintage and mid-mod Christmas collectibles from the late 1940s-1960s, giving you the insights on starting a collection with tips on prices and where to find these treasures as well as tips for adding to your collection and scoring the rare and hard-to-find pieces. Both new and seasoned collectors will learn new things so they can enjoy collecting vintage Christmas items year-round.

2020 Series:

Collecting vintage NOEL Christmas candle holders, figurines, and bells
Vintage Holt-Howard Christmas collectibles
Pretty Ladies – Vintage Christmas Head Vases and Planters
Collecting vintage Christmas angels
Have yourself a Mid-Mod Christmas
Collecting vintage Christmas year-round

2021 Series:

Holt-Howard Christmas Collectibles and Price Guide: Starry Eyed Santa

Vintage Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Thrifting Vintage Christmas Decorations: NOEL Sets from the 1950s-1960s

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