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Artist to make reproductions of figurines from 19th century Akron
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Aug 08, 2008
Blue Santa is getting some new friends.
Last Christmas, an unassuming, blue ceramic Santa became a hot gift item locally — and beyond.
Two area men couldn't make the Santas fast enough. To meet a crush of orders, they plucked the 21/2-inch figurines — replicas of 100-plus-year-old toys — hot from the kiln for shipping.
Soon, they will begin making reproductions of other century-old ''penny toys'' found around the same time as the Santa several years ago in downtown Akron.
They will make press-molded replicas of a wee cat, a dog, a lady's shoe and a man's boot — all produced by the defunct American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Co. of Akron.
''These are original toys for kids,'' said Stephen Bures, a potter and one of the two men who transformed Blue Santa from a relic into a must-have item. ''People don't realize how instrumental Akron was in mass-produced toys.''
The original Blue Santa and the other figurines were found at the toy factory site on South Main Street. The factory burned down in 1904.
The American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Co. was billed as the first mass producer of children's clay marbles in the United States; it churned out 1 million marbles a day.
After the site was cleared for the Lock 3 Park about seven years ago, scavengers plucked thousands of the other figures from the ground.
A Blue Santa was found by an archaeologist who works with the American Toy Marble Museum. The museum shares space with local history artifacts in a city-owned building at the site.
Michael Cohill, director of the museum and a toy history buff, thinks there are just a handful of original Santas around.
Bures and Michael Cohill figure they've made more than 7,000 Santa reproductions since early December.
''We thought we might sell a couple hundred of them,'' said Bures, who, with his wife, Deb, owns Peninsula's Elements Gallery.
Collectors of Santas and folks with an Eastern European background were charmed by the blue-robed Santa, evocative of the German image of St. Nicholas brought to Ohio by German immigrants, Cohill said.
Like the Santas, the other figurines will be made at the Bures' gallery. Stephen Bures is working on the glazes and plans
to have them and the molds ready this month.
The figurines will be the same colors as the originals. The cats and dogs will be several different colors; the boots dark, brown; and the woman's shoes, cream-colored. All will be about 2 inches tall.
A Green Santa — requested by collectors — also will be available this year. Green Santas were not found at the site and a different mold will be used.
Blue Santa ''is a very specific little guy. He's an exact replica,'' Cohill said.
All the new replicas will sell for about $18 apiece, including tax. ''We're using 1880s technology and it's labor intensive,'' Cohill said.
''These would not have the same appeal if we'd sent [the design] to China and had a cheap knockoff made,'' Bures said.
Will the other figurines be as popular as Blue Santa?
''Nothing outsells Santa,'' said Tammy Caldwell, who bought two Blue Santas at Elements one day last week. Caldwell, from Nashville, was in the area visiting relatives.
Elements Gallery is at 1619 W. Mill St. in Peninsula. The Santas — as well as the new figurines — will be available at the American Toy Marble Museum, 200 S. Main St., at Lock 3 Park in Akron.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
Blue Santa is getting some new friends.
Get the full article here.
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