January 20-21, 2012 Don't Miss Out!

Mark the date on your calendar now: 

 January 20-21, 2012

Naples Doll Club Show

January 14-15 Doll Show for Naples

It is time once again for the Naples Doll Club annual fundraiser. This year's show will be held at a new and lovely location, offering easy access and free parking. The Show Chairman, Myrna Eby, has been vigilant in her selection of dealers. The aim is to offer something for every collection and a treat for every budget. With dealers coming from all over Florida and around the country, we think she has succeeded! The biggest change in the plans this year is that the show will open on Friday afternoon and run through Saturday.  From antique dolls and teddy bears to modern and collectible dolls, there promises to be something for everyone.  

                    See you at the show!

St Nicholas Arrives in Naples

 Members of the Naples Dolls Club gathered at the Wyndemere Country Club for the start of the Christmas season. Their guest speaker, from Algonquin Highlands, Ontario was Lynn Murray, from Two Sisters Studios. Murray and her sister are artisans who create authentic reproduction German Santa figures in papier maché.

In Europe the Christmas season begins with St. Nicholas Day on December 6^th, when St. Nicholas brings gifts for good boys and girls. The story of Nicholas begins in the 3rd Century A.D. in Turkey. When his parents died during an epidemic, the young Nicholas dedicated his life and his inheritance to serving the church and the poor. His dedication and his good works raised him to the office of Bishop of Myra while he was still a young man. After his death, Nicholas was canonized and became St. Nicholas.

Legends tell of St. Nicholas throwing a bag of gold coins through the window of a poor family whose daughters had now dowry and were about to be sold into slavery. The coins landed in shoes and stocking that had been placed on the hearth to dry. This legend led to the tradition of hanging stockings on the mantel or leaving shoes on the hearth in the hopes of a gift from St. Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. Other legends tell of St Nicholas saving sailors from shipwreck or saving whole villages from starvation. He is credited with saving innocent people from cruel death. He became the patron saint of children, young women, sailors and many others.

As Europeans migrated to the new world, they brought St. Nicholas with them. The Vikings were the first, naming their church in Greenland after the patron saint of seamen. Four hundred years later, Columbus named his first port of call in Haiti St. Nicholas. In Florida, the Spaniards named their settlement St. Nicholas Ferry, now called Jacksonville.  In Europe, St. Nicholas survived the Protestant Reformation because he was so loved by the common man. However, the first Colonists, who were mostly Puritan and Protestant Reformers, did not bring St. Nicholas traditions to America. In Pennsylvania, German Colonists continued to celebrate St. Nicolas Day and it is generally accepted that the Dutch brought St. Nicholas to New Amsterdam (New York).

After the American Revolution, the New York Historical Society focused on their proud Dutch heritage. In 1809 Washington Irving published his Knickerbocker’s History of New York, a satirical work of fiction that contained many references to a rotund and jolly pipe smoking St. Nick who came down the chimney to deliver gifts to good boys and girls.

In 1823 the publication of the poem A Visit From St Nicholas, known today as The Night Before Christmas further reinforced the Americanization of St. Nicholas. During the Civil War, political cartoonist Thomas Nast created a series of illustrations inspired by the poem and the earlier work of Washington Irving. It was Nast who gave Santa Claus his first red suit in 1869. 

Over the next fifty years, Santa Claus was portrayed by many American artists, among them Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth and Haddon Sundblom, who was responsible for the Coca Cola Santas. Each artist contributed to what would emerge as the standard fur-trimmed red-suited American Santa Claus.

Santa Claus endorsed countless commercial products, his image turning up in thousands of print advertisements and television commercials. He was exported around the world via media and commerce, where he threatened to replace the original St. Nicholas. No longer the sainted and serious Bishop, Santa Claus has become largely a source of luxurious gifts in a time of conspicuous consumption.

The work done by the two Canadian sisters has been recognized by Early American Life Magazine and by Musée de la Poupée in Paris France, where their work is on exhibit this Christmas season. With each classic Santa figure made at Two Sisters Studios, the artists hope to keep alive the image and spirit of the traditional European St. Nicholas throughout the year. The sisters will return to Naples January 14 and 15th at Moorings Presbyterian Church -Moss Hall, 791 Harbour Drive – 1 block west of US41, Naples. Hundreds of collectors and spectators attend the annual doll show and sale that is the doll club’s annual fundraiser for local children’s charities. 

  

***New Dates and Location for Naples Doll Show****

It’s all good! We have a new location and new days for the show. This year we will be at the Moorings Presbyterian Church - Moss Hall. Ample free parking and easy to find, just 1 block west of US41. Once again this year we will have more dealers from the US, Canada and abroad than any show in the southeast. While hows around the country have suffered through these tying economic times, our show continues to thrive. Perhaps it is the geographic location? Perhaps it is the demographics? Who knows? It’s all good!
The Naples Doll Show offers something for every collector from age 1 to 100. The show offers antique, vintage, modern and artist dolls, accessories, miniatures, reference books, material,trim, doll clothing and supplies.
Admission: Friday $8     Saturday $5    Children under 12 - $3.
Proceeds go to local children’s charities.

Our Club President, Janet Gula

We are so proud of our Club President!
Janet Gula is the current Secretary-Treasurer of United Federadtion of Doll Clubs, Inc., the largest doll collector organization in the world. She is the Director of New Membership and the person to contact if you want to join the wonderful world of doll collecting. Simply email Janet at Bruhaha@rogers.com.
Janet is an enthusiastic collector of antique French dolls, a doll researcher and an accredited UFDC judge. Janet and husband, Bill, spend summer in Toronto, Canada and winter in Naples, Florida.

January in Naples...Dealers From Around the Country

You never know what might happen at the Naples Doll Show! There is always....

lots of juicy gossip,

lots of great dolls,

the occasional proposal?!!...

arrival of unexpected babies...

and time for just fiddlin' around with friends....

 

At Florida's most anticipated annual doll show, you will find the finest antique and collectible doll dealers from around North America. Everyone loves Naples in January! After the snow and cold of the northern shows, January in Naples is a treat. The first show of the new year and the dealers bring out their best merchandise for the collectors in South Florida. Whether you collect modern dolls, artist originals, antique dolls or play  dolls they will be represented at the 2011 show. Val Starr, of the Naples Doll Club, will once again do doll appraisals for a nominal fee of $5 per doll, proceeds to go to local children's charities.