Local Family Discovers Hoard of Rare Dresden Ornaments
Overland Park, Kansas -- A woman from the metro has uncovered a stash of the rarest, most desirable and expensive of all Antique Christmas Ornaments.
Known as Dresdens after their place of origin in Germany, these pressed and gilded three-dimensional, hand-finished paper ornaments rarely survived and are thus highly prized by collectors today.
And speaking of collectors, few can boast as many in their collection as this unsuspecting homemaker - more than 100! "They've been part of my life forever, but I had no idea they were so rare and so sought after," she says. So, in a flurry of downsizing, she's offering them at auction, with special thanks to her great grandfather, musician J. Louis Mundwyler and his family from San Francisco. They bought the precious baubles for their tree back around 1870 and the unpretentious little gems have been in the family ever since. They range in shape and theme from birds and animals to genre themes of the day. Very few have an actual Christmas theme but instead they resemble Turtles, Horses, Polo Players, a Steeplechase Rider, Steam Engines, Paddle Boats, an Elk, Butterflies, Owls, Elephants, a Rooster, Colorful 3-D Parrots, Sea Shells, Ships, Lions, Turkey, Dogs of many breeds horse Drawn Wagons filled Brush and much more. One of the rarest is the Winged Griffin Christmas Cracker. Christmas Crackers were small, sometimes figural, candy containers that were pulled open with a CRACK! Very few children left those on the tree and thus very few of them still exist.
The collection will be up for bid until December 15th through an online auction executed by Dirk Soulis Auctions.
