Vintage Christmas Treasure Hunt: The Best from the 50s-60s!

Yasmina Greco Vintage Christmas Collecting Series
Yasmina Greco Vintage Christmas Collecting Series
Welcome to a festive vintage Christmas treasure hunt through time as we dive into the magical world of mid-century Christmas collectibles from the fabulous 50s and swinging 60s. In this exciting six-part series, we’ll uncover my top vintage finds, discuss manufacturers like Holt Howard, I will reveal insider tips on pricing and sourcing, and help you track down those elusive, rare gems. Here’s a sneak peek of the treasures we’ll be unearthing:

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 2021-2022)

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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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
Support the Blog
Support the Blog

About the Vintage Christmas Collecting Series: This six-part series of blog posts and pictures focuses on vintage and Mid-Century Modern Christmas collectibles from the late 1940s-1960s, giving you the insights on starting a collection.

You’ll learn expert 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

2021-2022 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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Under the Sea: Collecting Vintage 1950s Mermaids and Fish

Yasmina Greco Vintage Mermaid Collection Crazy4Me
Yasmina Greco Vintage Mermaid Collection Crazy4Me

I have always loved mermaids, and the 1950s were a time of great fascination with the mythical creatures. This blog post will discuss how to collect vintage mermaids from this era to decorate your home.  My favorite mermaids are from the early 50s made by Norcrest, Napco, and Lefton. I love how whimsical they look on my bathroom walls. I’ll also share more of my favorite finds with you all in this post.

Yasmina Greco Vintage Mermaid Collection Crazy4Me
Yasmina Greco Vintage Mermaid Collection Lefton Norcrest

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Midway Antique Mall – Atomic, Eames Era, Mid-Century Modern Galore

Over the holiday weekend we decided to take a drive out to Sacramento, CA. When I researched Sacramento I found ‘Midway Antique Mall’ which is a multi-dealer mall and specializes in Eames Era and 1950s merchandise and collectibles. Also, there is ‘57th Street Antiques Row’ which is multiple shops and malls on 57th Street in Sacramento. So, there was sure to be plenty of looking and shopping to keep us busy.

The drive was over 2 hours and traffic was heavy. When we approached Sacramento the sky had a brown tint and the smell of smoke was thick, there was a fire burning somewhere and by the looks of the sky and the smell, it was a big fire. It was a hot day too, by the time we arrived it was over 95 degrees!

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We pulled up into the parking of Midway Antique Mall and there were lots of cars. We walked through the front door and were transported directly to 1960! OUTSTANDING! The first 4,000 sqft or so of this mall is all 1950s and 1960s rooms ranging from multiple setup rooms of living and dining rooms, a dentist office, bedroom and kitchens. Check out these amazing pictures that my husband took.

This mall is clean and well lit. Lots and lots of glass cases and booths that have vintage cameras, kitchen items, paintings, clocks, books, stamps, Holt Howard items and pixieware, vintage clothing and dressing rooms to try on the items, and lots of 1950s and 1960s poodles along with lovely linens.

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The staff at this mall are so friendly and knowledgeable and a dealer named Kevin helped us the entire 3 hours we were there. As we were up at the register, Mark, the owner was ringing us up and packing our items with great care and he was so nice and friendly and told us stories about his 2 Yorkie dogs and how photo shoots take place in his mall and lots of magazine and TV shows have photographed and filmed at the mall because of all the neat and fabulous rooms and items. It has been a very, very, long time since I was in an antique mall and had such a blast! Even if we hadn’t bought a few boxes of items to take back to town with us, the shear experience of walking around the mall and seeing all the 1950s and 1960s rooms that were setup was such a thrill!!  We will certainly be back!!

Yasmina Greco Tiki Pinup

I wore my fun 1950s turquoise blue tiki Pinup dress and thought I fit right into this dynamite destination with all the chrome dinette sets and fabulous mid-century dinnerware.

My sweet husband Gary took these outstanding pictures and captured such a fun day for us.

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1950s Boarder Print Kitty Cat Skirt

Yasmina Greco in Dangerfield Clothing

Yasmina Greco in Dangerfield Clothing

I know so many of my blog followers can’t resist a cute novelty print and you all know by now I can’t either so I wanted to share the most adorable kitty cat boarder print I was lucky to get my hands on from Dangerfield Clothing. You might remember Dangerfield Clothing from an early post I did that featured the cutest Poodle boarder print skirt.

Dangerfield Clothing is an Australian clothing company and has a fabulous retro/vintage line ‘Revival’. They have brilliant vintage style 1950s novelty prints so if you love novelty prints you’ll want to keep an eye on this brand. Shipping from Australia to USA has been around 1 week so fast shipping they do; for reference I am in California and within a week have my items.

Yasmina Greco in Dangerfield Clothing

Yasmina Greco in Dangerfield Clothing 1950s Skirt

The skirt I am featuring today is Dangerfield’s ‘Pawsitive’ dress. Yes, it started out as a dress!! It was a sleeveless, fit and flare dress with a pleated skirt made of cotton- pictured here. I ordered my standard Australian size of 18 to fit my voluptuous upper half but when it arrived it was a no-go. I wasn’t surprised…. a bit saddened but not surprised. I find their tops, cardigans and dresses run incredibly small and most do not have any stretch so it was no surprise the top half of the dress would not fit over my curvaceous upper half.

 Dangerfield Dress Pawsitive Dress

Dangerfield Dress Pawsitive Dress

This was my first dress I had converted into a skirt. Since the main reason I purchased the dress was because of the kitty cat boarder print, a skirt would be perfect. I took it to a seamstress and what an easy fix, problem solved, I now had the most fabulous skirt!! Turquoise is my favorite color and the skirt features balls of yarn and the bows on the kitties in the color turquoise so I paired the skirt with my Heart of Haute top and a turquoise blue Petticoat by Malco Modes. We shot these pics against a mid-century modern cabinet filled with cats…. if you look closely there are Holt Howard kitty cats and the blue Norcrest cat too, even a El Gato Gomez cat painting and sculpture in the pics. Keep an eye on Dangerfield Clothing for some more fabulous novelty prints.

All photos by my hubby Gary Greco

1950s Kitty Cat Boarder Print from Dangerfield Clothing

1950s Kitty Cat Boarder Print from Dangerfield Clothing

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Very Rare Vintage Christmas Noel Sets have Arrived

Vintage Lefton Christmas Noel Set

I have been hearing from you my dear blog followers and you have been asking when am I going to get in some vintage Christmas Noel sets; well, I have good news, I just got in some really amazing Noel sets for you all!! Vintage Christmas is not easy to come by this year and I have had to search, I mean really search but these Noel sets are amazing and they are all in excellent condition and many have their original boxes too!! Looking at these Noel sets, I just want to go back to yester-year when there was such as thing as the ‘good-old-days’ and people really cared about each other and it was a safer place. These Noel sets have are associated with so much nostalgia and really have vintage charm and character.

I found this incredibly rare, very hard to come by late 1940s Grimco Japan NOEL Bells set of the most adorable little girls and boys with big eyes, long eyelashes, and red hats. I adore this set very much, it will be hard to part with it. Also, this cute set of vintage Lefton Christmas angel girl Noel bells with their rosy cheeks and cute blonde ponytails. Holt Howard is always fun not just at Christmas time but, this winter green Holt Howard Noel Santa figurine is so mid-century charming!! For those that like to ‘clown around’ during the holidays, this vintage 1950s Noel clown set is a must!! The Noel clown set another one of those really hard-to-find sets and they are charming with their expressions and handstands. Finally, this exquisite Noel holly candleholder set of vintage Christmas angel girls are so cute, they will surely add so much vintage charm to your holiday decorating.

Vintage Christmas Noel Set

I will add a few more Noel sets to my eBay and Etsy store as well as some charming vintage Christmas figurines and decorations in the coming days. But as you know, these sell out fast so don’t wait too long or they will be gone.

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Collecting Mid-Century Modern Spaghetti Poodle Dogs

Vintage 1950s Blue Mid-Century Spaghetti Poodle Dog w/ Glasses and Rhinestones Figurine

I have always been drawn to the vintage 1950 – 1960 poodle dog figurines and collectibles. The spaghetti poodles ALWAYS catch my eye when I am at flea markets, antique malls, and junk shops. I am amazed at the wide variety of poodle collectibles on the market today and we of course have the fabulous 1950s to thank for all the poodles on the market today. I am a Bichon Frise dog lover and proud owner of Luna – our 3-year-old Bichon but those cute poodles, I can’t stay away from them!

Poodle dogs have been portrayed and modeled into figurines and paintings since the early 1920s and in the 1950s poodles were at their peek of popularity. Nearly all poodles figurines and collectibles were made in Japan (as was nearly everything else) and manufacturers such as Lefton, Napco, Napcoware, Replo, Kreiss, Thames Company, Reubens, Shafford, Holt Howard, Vcagco, Ucagco, Arnart, Bradley, Artmark, Ries, Lipper and Mann, Commodor, Relco, Inarco, and Tilso to name a few, were all producing some type of Poodle collectible and Poodle ware from vanity items, to chained figures featuring mamma dog and puppies to parasol ladies with their poodle pooches. Poodles were depicted to look like mans best friend, silly poses, goofy faces, wearing sunglasses, and in playful poses and even with bees and flies on their noses. CUTE!

Spaghetti Poodles:

Spaghetti Poodles were made from clay, porcelain, and ceramic and their “hair” was applied in various ways to form various textures to mimic an actual poodle’s hair do. To accomplish the spaghetti look decorators and designers would have different techniques like using tea strainers and pushing the material through it to form strands that were then affixed to the poodle giving it a pom-pom look or swirled onto to the poodle for a curly look. Spaghetti is very fragile and tends to break or chip during the years and I am AMAZED at the many spaghetti poodles I come across that after 50 or 60 years old and still retain nearly all their spaghetti! These poodles were certainly loved and preserved to keep them in this type of fabulous condition. Many poodles also have applied on them sparkly rhinestones for the poodle’s eyes and rhinestones were also applied to the poodle’s dog collar. Pearls and ceramic/porcelain florals were also added to many poodles for decorations on their heads, hats and various parts of body to mimic pom-poms.

Vintage Napco Pink Spaghetti Poodles

Vintage Napco Pink Spaghetti Poodles

Today’s Poodle Market
Poodles are highly sought after and collectible today. Seems everywhere one looks we are returning to the nostalgia of yester year in some ways. Prices for  poodles will vary depending on the region you are located but average pricing for figurines and such are around $29.00 – $75.00 and go up from their depending on the rarity and maker of the item along with size and condition.

I think that currently eBay is the best place to buy your poodle collectibles right now as you will find a vast selection and prices are unbeatable when you can pick up rare poodles for $8.99 and at prices this low it makes starting or adding to a collection possible even in this tough economy. 

Vintage Lefton Tall Neck Pink Poodle Dogs Salt and Pepper Shakers

When you are out searching for your poodle collectibles be sure to give the item(s) a thorough once-over by making sure rhinestones are all intact, spaghetti is intact, paint is not too worn, chained groups are still chained together with their original chains and items that have parasols still retain their parasols.

Oodles of Poodles to Collect:
Poodle dog figurines, poodle dog salt and pepper shakers, poodle dog themed dinnerware and coffee mugs, poodle dog planters, poodle dog candle holders, poodle dog coin banks, poodle dog brooches and pins and jewelry, poodle dog ashtrays, poodle dog scarf, poodle dog embroidered linens like tablecloths and tea towels, poodle dog bells, poodle dog lamps, poodle skirts, poodle dog pincushions, poodle dog greeting cards, poodle dog vanity trash cans, poodle dog lipstick holders, poodle dog wrapping paper, poodle dog aprons, poodle dog plush toys and more as there are also a slew of Christmas Holiday themed Poodle Dog Figurines and Collectibles too!

Vintage Lefton Pink Poodle Chef Jam Jelly Jar 1950s
 

Vintage 1950s DeForest of California Poodle Dog Wall Plaques

 

Vintage 1950s Pink Spaghetti Poodle Dog w/ Glasses and Rhinestones Figurine

The perfect tees for the Poodle collector and lover byCrazy4MeStyle.com

Vintage Kitschy Spaghetti Poodle T-Shirt
Vintage Kitschy Spaghetti Poodle T-Shirt
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