The Tradition of Vaillancourt Santas

July 27, 2023

Video Translation: Hi, This is Jennifer with City Farmhouse Antiques and I am here to show you these adorable folk art santas. These are American made and highly sought after as collectibles. Judy Vaillancourt first started making these in 1984. They have just become extremely collectible and are considered to be heirlooms that can be passed down from generation to generation. Vaillancourt Santa's are produced in Sutton, Massachusetts and are made with extreme fine detail. That is why they are so collectible. When Judy started making these back in 1984 it all started with some antique chocolate molds that her husband gave her. Judy became inspired, and started creating these chalkware santas. She first created them with chocolate and later with beeswax. Because she was such a good painter she began hand painting them. People loved them and so the business grew. She entered pieces in fairs and people started making orders and the business continued to grow. Her husband eventually left his job to help her and that was how this American tradition began. Their store, I have never been and would love to go, in Sutton Massachusetts, has over 3,000 molds on display of different santas and figurines that are all hand done and painted. Each piece is then antiqued, signed and numbered. Because of all the attention to detail on each piece they have become something to cherish year after year. There is also a museum to go through that displays all types of Christmas traditions from around the world. I will have to visit. This little guy you can see all the detail in this piece. I will show you these back here. This is a Santa that is on his rocking horse. Look at all the detail with the hand painting. You can see here he is marked on the bottom. Here is another one, Santa with his teddy bear. These will be up on the website. If there is something that you don't see up on the website and you see one you want to grab just message me and I will help you and get him sent your way. Because these look like folk art and they are antiqued to make them look old, any wear to each piece makes them look even older. This one is marked on the bottom 2011. Then I have two more little ones here. This one has a jingle bell and glitter. He is about 4 inches tall. Look at the hand painted bag. It is just incredible to look at all the detail on each piece. They say on average it takes 16 people to make each piece and 3 weeks to finish each one. This Santa is marked on the bottom too and is 29 of 100. There was only 100 made of this one in 2017 so this is a limited edition piece. Here is one more little one. This one looks like he is missing something that would have been held in his hand, but beautifully hand painted. He has blue eyes and hand painted trees along his coat. These pieces will be up on our website at www.cityfarmhouseantiques.com. Message us if you have any questions and be sure and sign up to see our newest and greatest finds and we will see you for our next video.