Nutcrackers

Standing wooden nutcrackers in the form of soldiers and kings were shown in the Sonneberg and Erzgebirge regions of Germany by 1800 and in 1830, the term “Nussknacker” appeared in the dictionary of the Brothers Grim.

Produced for generations by skilled German woodcrafters, the first authoritarian nutcracker figures were created by commoners as a joke against their oppressors. It was always considered fun to make a king or soldier assist them in the menial task of cracking a tough nut!

In 1872 Wilhelm Füchtner, known as the “father of the nutcracker,” made the first commercial production of nutcrackers using the lathe to create many of the same design.

Enjoy a video visit to Seiffen, the home of most of our wooden items!