Cracking history: Ancient nutcracker migrates to Leavenworth
museum
By
Jefferson Robbins, World staff writer
Thursday - May 4, 2006
It
once pried open treasures for the great and mighty of Roman
civilization. Then it lay entombed for at least 18 centuries.
Finally it was unearthed and made its way west, to become
part of an antiquarian trove such as the world has seldom
seen.
That’s
an awful lot of history for something as simple as a
nutcracker.
The
latest addition to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum is a
tool forged near the time of Christ, found in the ruins of a
mountain villa between Rome and Naples. Dating back to at
least 200 A.D., according to European antiquities dealer Rik
Gijsen, it’s easily the oldest crafted nutcracker in the
museum collection.
“I was
thrilled to find this thing,” says Gijsen, who purchased the
item in Holland from an Italian seller for an undisclosed
amount. “I was on the trail for eight months.”
Gijsen, 40, made the buy on behalf of Leavenworth museum
founders Arlene and George Wagner, who opened their
nutcracker exhibit space in 1995. He delivered the
cast-bronze implement to the Wagners on April 24. Until then,
the couple hadn’t laid eyes on it.
“I had
seen a picture of it,” says Arlene Wagner, 81. “I don’t think
I slept for three nights before.”
The
nearly 6,000 nutcrackers in the Wagners’ museum date as far
back as
the 14th century — not counting the rough “nutting
bowls” used by prehistoric peoples. The crafted tools range
from the “lever” style of the Roman item to the more commonly
known carved figurines, called nussknacker in German, which
crack nutshells in their mouths.
But
Gijsen, who’s negotiated nutcracker purchases for the Wagners
for the past 12 years, bought the Roman tool to be the new
crown jewel for the Leavenworth collection. There are only
three nutcrackers of similar make and history in the world,
he says.
Neither Gijsen nor the Wagners will give the purchase price
of the Roman tool, nor the overall value of the Leavenworth
collection. However, Gijsen says, “This is the biggest
collection in terms of quality and quantity in the world.”
The
Roman nutcracker, perhaps used to open hazelnuts and almonds,
is decorated with lion designs from its handlegrip to the
pivot. One tine of the grip is slightly bent, probably from
lying beneath heavy earth and debris for centuries, and its
bronze surface has been greened by corrosion. Its ornate
design means it was probably owned and used by the master of
the house and his family, not their domestic servants or
slaves, Gijsen says. Its manufacture might have been as early
as 200 B.C. and as late as 200 A.D.
Arlene
Wagner taught dance for years in the Wenatchee Valley,
including Piotr Tchaikovsky’s famous “Nutcracker” ballet. She
began a hobby of acquiring classic wooden nutcrackers, and
her interest soon expanded into all styles of the tool.
“From
there on, you can call it an addiction,” says George Wagner,
81.
Gijsen,
the son of a Dutch antiques dealer, had accumulated a
collection of antique nutcrackers that he eventually sold to
the Wagners. Later, pangs of regret led him to buy back from
them the first nutcracker he ever acquired. In the world of
antique collectors, the realm of nutcracker specialists is
remarkably small.
“I was
the only one in my country,” says Gijsen, who owns antique
shops in Amsterdam and Brussels, Belgium. “I was a — how do
you call him? — a Don Quixote. I was the weird guy with the
nutcrackers.”
Since
then, Gijsen has helped build the Wagner collection from his
home base near Rotterdam, while the Wagners travel abroad
each year on searches of their own. “That’s all we do,”
Arlene says. “We’ve never been on a cruise. All we do is hunt
nutcrackers.”
In
2001 the Wagners deeded their collection to the National
Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit tax-exempt umbrella group,
to maintain the museum’s operation beyond their own deaths.
Last year Arlene Wagner’s book “The Art and Character of
Nutcrackers” was published by Collectors Press of Portland; a
followup book, written for children, is expected to follow
this autumn.
The
museum plans an official showing and reception for the Roman
nutcracker in July, with Gijsen present to discuss its
history and workmanship. Until then, it will go on display
without ceremony.
Gijsen
says he’s unlikely ever to find a crafted nutcracker older
than the Roman discovery. “Of course, there are older
civilizations like Egyptian,” he says. “But I have no idea if
they had nutcrackers.”
__________
If you
go:
What:
Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum
Where:
735 Front St., Leavenworth
When:
2 to 5 p.m. daily through Oct. 31; 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday and
Sunday Nov. 1 through April 30
Cost:
$2.50 adults, $1 students
Information: 548-4708
The Nutcracker Museum is
handicap accessible.