LBJ is for Little Black Dress? No . . . Little Baby Book [wi' ma' poems in!]? No . . . Little Baby Jesus!

Ah?! Was that the sound of a penny dropping in Pennsylvania? No matter, it takes them a while! Onwards and upwards here at SSW, and I must clear the rest of the Christmas stuff before twelfth-night, or it'll be some kind of bad luck, for whoever believes in that superstitions nonsense, but . . . then . . . you can never be too careful!

The family shot! Manurba's nativity set is a sharply-sculpted, traditional group of eight figures, the animals being drafted-in or provided from the based, brown or gray sets of farm (sheep, goats cow, donkey) and zoo (camel) sets available previously/separately from Jean Höefler (who also carried these figures with their stable/Krippen) and as other toy lines; so are not illustrated in this post.

The LBJ appears to have been pinned-out for the ants or something and both parents are looking slightly vexed by the situation. They'd be better occupied swaddling the little chap, before he gets a chill (or eaten by ants) and we all need another pan-dimensional mega-being to believe in!

The 'three kings'; I know I go on about it, but they are Magi or "Wise Men" and while three were named in one gospel, they are an unspecified number of science-philosophers, astronomers and diviners-of-signs, not kings! Also, two of them look to be - respectively - Orthodox and Catholic, or at least central/Eastern European 'high-church' types, despite the fact that neither church existed in the year 0!

The third chap looks to be a Barberry/Corsair type, which at least places him in North Africa or the Levant and - therefore - slightly more realistic in a set which always makes the same white-Euro-Christian-centric, historical-mistakes! Strangely - in reference to today's other post - this chap has some similarities with and was clearly lifted from the Nardi 70 and 100mm plug-together versions.

Not having to worry about the animals, Manurba made up the mould's eight-sculpt, cavity-count for what was likely to be a single-shot tool with the ubiquitous shepherd and a serving wench, she being also more in the Italian presepe tradition.

Both are standing over small saplings' cut-trunks, presumably over in the Holy Land they took trees indoors at census time and hung stuff in them? Even before the land was Holy, although it is full of caves, so maybe . . . !

Marked W.Germany and with a variety of hollows or mould-tool release-pin cavities clearly visible, that's them, there; Manurba's nativity set.