Smokers and Nutcrackers by Muller
Men started smoking pipes in the Ergebirge Mountains when the fashion came over from England at the beginning of the 19th century.
This way of smoking was soon seen in the manufacture of wooden figurines, too. The first smoking men were made in the village of Heidelberg near Seiffen around 1850. A toy-maker by the name of Ferdinand Frohs launched a large variety of them together with his nephew Gotthelf Friedrich Haustein.
Up to about 1920, the smoking figurines had arms, legs, and part of their faces of a kind of dough which featured a blend of whitewash, bone glue, saw dust or rye flour, and sugar loaf paper made into little pieces and cooked in soda water. The figurine components were molded and took up to four days to dry. Only then they could be further used. Haustein’s son, his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter continuing on their ancestor’s way, the tradition died after nearly 100 years in 1948.
The Village of Seiffen has became known as a toy-making village and won its fame as a place where articles for Christmas are made. Companies such as Muller make wonderful pyramids, candlesticks, angels, miners or nutcrackers, all of wood. In some of the workshops visitors can even watch the turners or painters at work.
On their long way to the final product, each special piece takes well-experienced and loving hands to be completed. One should not forget they are all hand-made so each of them is unique.
