This King Novelty Nutcracker
stands 15 inches tall and he is standing on a 3.5x4 inch metallic maroon with gold trim base. The King is wearing a black stove pipe style hat with a red band wrapping around the base topped with a gold trim and a red jewel. The top of his hat is gold with a gold decoration that has a blue jewel in the middle of it. This Wooden Nutcrackers Soldiers jacket is royal blue with a red shirt with gold decorations that include gold horizontal lines and a design in between the lines. Draped over his shoulders is a red velveteen cape with a gold braided trim. Metallic maroon trousers with gold cuffs and white laced black boots finish off this Christmas Nutcracker Decorations uniform. In his right hand, this King Novelty Nutcracker is holding a silver sword that has a golden pommel. The King was the original nutcracker. Select to see a complete listing of our Christmas Decorations Ideas.

The Story of The Nutcracker.
The combination of a useful tool and a figural form with a human appearance was well accepted by the mid 18th century. In the toy making center of Sonneberg, in the Thuringian Forest, there was mention in 1735 of nut biters that operated according to the principles of leverage. These nut biters were described as sturdy, energetic forms with large heads. Two moving arms on the back of the head allowed the lower jaw to push the nut against the upper jaw. In a carnival parade in 1783, students from Freisingen, Germany presented large models of Berchtesgaden wares, including a nut biter in the form of a little man whose mouth and stomach were one and the same. Select this link to view our Wooden Nutcrackers Soldiers.
The literary career of the nutcracker began with the 1816 publication of E.T.A. Hoffmann's fairy tale Nussknacker und Mausekönig, a children's book that helped bring the nutcracker into broader popularity. In the spirit of a time when the importance of the family and children was beginning to be emphasized, Hoffmann vividly depicted a sympathetic soul, Under the Christmas tree a very excellent little man became visible that stood there still and modest. He waited as if they would all come to him. The job of the nutcracker was to work hard for the children of the family by biting open the nuts. Select this link to view our Christmas Nutcrackers Village People.
Thirty five years after the publication of E.T.A. Hoffmann's classic, the nutcracker reappeared as a central character in Heinrich Hoffmann's story King Nutcracker and the Poor Reinhold 1851. In this story the poor Reinhold becomes acquainted with the Nutcracker King in a dream.
The nutcracker did not always play the role of the good hearted fairy tale king. More often he wore a monk's robe or was made into the form of a mean looking policeman, a Turk, master of the watch, a cavalry man or some other grotesque helmeted figure with a long nose. He appeared, for example, as a caricature of Napoleon on an 1813 Parisian picture sheet. By the end of the 19th century he appeared almost consistently in the catalogs of the toy wholesalers as a representative of the contemporary authorities. What started out as a practical tool often ended up as an expression of light irony and a social critique by the common people.