
Nutcracker Collectibles a Passion for Sedalia Woman
Marianne Davis is very proud of her collection of Nutcrackers.
Davis said she has been a fervent collector of Nutcrackers since 1993.
“I was working at Griff’s Hamburgers. My brother Don was the assistant manager, and we had a Christmas party at his house, and he got me my very first Nutcracker. It’s a green one and I don’t know exactly where it’s at,” Davis recalled.
And over the ensuing years, she has amassed close to a thousand wooden Nutcrackers, most of which are on display at her Sedalia home.
They are normally stored in several totes in her basement once the Christmas season has passed.
“I do have a spare room, and I’m trying to get my husband (Jimmy) to make shelving on the walls so I can display them all year round,” Davis noted. “That would be nice.”
Davis is currently painting a new one on her dining room table.
“And probably the coolest one I have is probably a Kurt Adler. He’s my Elvis one, he came from Kentucky,” Davis said. Other themes include Snoopy, Maxine, Queen of Hearts, NFL and the military.
A quick Google Search revels that Kurt S. Adler, Inc. is the leading designer, importer and distributor of holiday decorations. The Nutcrackers are just one aspect of what the company sells.
Online you can but a Kurt Adler Nutcracker for anywhere from $30 to around $150 and beyond, depending on the size and where you purchase it. Locally you can buy your own Nutcrackers at Hobby Lobby and Walmart, she said, as well as certain thrift shops and online auctions.
“I have one Kurt Adler signed box, it’s very, very expensive,” Davis said.
Davis has Kurt Adler Wizard of Oz Nutcrackers in her collection as well.
Friends and family are always helping Davis add to her collection. “There are several I’ve gotten from people who are now deceased. And I can almost tell you where I got each one of them,” she told KSIS.
“A couple of them I got from friends on Facebook that just dropped them off on my porch,” Davis stated.
“My husband’s friend Terry met me at Walmart and just gave me a whole big box of them,” she said. “It filled up my entire trunk.”
But Davis admits, as much as she enjoys collecting Nutcrackers, “I’ve got too many.”
Davis said she likes her vintage Nutcrackers the best. “I mean, they are kind of rickety and falling apart, but I will get out my glue gun and put them all back together.”

Some well-intentioned people bring her toy soldiers as gifts. But as Davis says “That’s not a Nutcracker!”
So if someone wants to bring Davis a new Nutcracker to add to her collection, she will accept it. “And they can stay for dinner,” she added.
So when the Christmas season is over, when will Marianne put her Nutcrackers back in the basement?
“Probably the day after Christmas,” she responded.
In the top photo: Sedalia resident Marianne Davis poses with a portion of her huge collection of Nutcrackers on Dec. 12, while wearing, (what else?) a Nutcracker sweatshirt.
Nutcracker Collection
Gallery Credit: Randy Kirby
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