Golfing Nutcracker

This Nutcracker is 14 inches tall including his 4 inch green square base. He is wearing a red and black checked Tam o�shanter style cap. His golf shirt is a long sleeved white ribbed Jersey knit with three black buttons and a red �v� neck. His pants are large red and black checks with gray socks with black cuffs and black golf shoes with a white stripe through the middle. He is about to putt his golf ball into the hole. Select this link to view our Christmas nutcrackers village people.

Nutcracker History
Nutcrackers originated in the 19th century in the eastern region of Germany. Life was hard and the people worked long hours as miners and endured hardships and poverty. Often the miners watched as the fruits of their labor were confiscated by their superiors. Nutcrackers were cleverly designed to resemble the authoritarian figures of kings, policemen, and soldiers. The townspeople enjoyed these caricatures of their rulers, since the nutcrackers were placed at their service to perform the lowly task of cracking nuts. No holiday table can be without a bowl of nuts and a handsome Nutcracker!
Nutcrackers were especially popular with Germans who coined the phrase, �Gott gibt die N�sse aber knaker m�ss man sie selbst or God gives the nuts but we have to crack them ourselves�, which was intended to teach children that life was hard but rewarding. This phrase made the nutcracker a favorite toy, possibly because it enabled children to reach one of life�s rewards more easily. Select this link to view our Unique Christmas Ornaments.

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.
The literary career of the nutcracker began with the 1816 publication of E.T.A. Hoffmann's fairy tale Nussknacker und Mausek�nig, 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.
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. Select this link to view our Wooden Nutcracker Soldiers.