In addition to my hobbies of quilting and crochet (and tending
several Pekingese and cats), I am also a "collector".

I have now been collecting the Dept 56 villages for about
six years. Space is a problem but, at this point, mine
are displayed year round on various shelves. I
like the Dickens Village and Snow Village.



In addition to Dept 56, I collect many other things but the
most unusual is probably the old magazine ads featuring the
Flying Red Horse. They are hard to find but I love the art-
work.




Department 56, often referred to as simply D56, is a company
that produces many lines of gift ware and collectibles, and is
located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. It originally started out
as the wholesale gift importing department (yes, #56) of the
Bachman's Floral company in Minnesota. They became an
independent company in 1982, but still maintain a close
relationship with Bachman's. In 1992, Dept. 56 was purchased
by Forstman, Little Co.

Dursley Manor
If you have walked into gift shop or department store,
especially around the Christmas holidays, there have probably
seen displays of those beautiful lighted porcelain houses.
You see a village full of houses, figures, trees, lots of snow
and usually Santa. Most likely, the houses you have seen in
the past have been produced by Dept. 56.


The Original Snow Village, first introduced in 1977 to the
public, started this line of collectibles. There were 6 houses
in the original group of Snow Village houses. The Snow village
houses were originally made of ceramic, not porcelain, and
continue to be made of ceramic today. By the way, if you look
at the bottom of any house created by Dept. 56, you will see
the name of the piece and the year it was copyrighted.
In 1984, Dept. 56 decided to introduce a
new village. This was Dickens' Village, an
English village based on the works of Charles
Dickens. For the first time, the houses and
accessories are made of porcelain, allowing for
finer details to show. The first limited edition,
the Village Mill, for Dickens' Village, sold
initially for $35.00 in 1985. Now, it commands
a price as high as $5000.00.
Village-Page Two
Village-Page Three
Village-Page Four
Webrings
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Sandi.

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