After the retirement of their second 1950s nativity set, the Cybis studio did not offer anything in that genre until the 1982 introduction of a new series called The First Christmas. These are entirely different sculptures than the two sets produced during the 1950s and are original designs (not cast from commercial molds.) Three or four new sculptures were released each year. There is also a related Hall of Fame piece shown at the end of this post. (Note: this first paragraph and the post title were revised in May 2025 to reflect the fact that an additional 1950s nativity series was discovered.)
When this series was first introduced in 1982, each piece was offered in a choice of two colorways: Either plain white bisque with no color at all, or a “color” version. The studio’s original plan was to issue a total of twelve pieces, available in white bisque and in color, similar to the format of the 1950s items. In 1989, to coincide with their 50th/Golden Anniversary promotion, the studio added a colorway in which gold accents were added, but with all clothing (or animal fur) being plain white. The studio described this as the “white/gold version” and also as the “Golden Anniversary” color option.
1982 Introductions
Mary is 7.25” high and was one of the first three introductions in 1982, originally priced at $245 for white bisque (upper photo; this is the only photo I currently have of any of the white bisque examples) and $295 for color (pale tints and lacking any gold accents, as shown in the lower photo) version. The later ‘white/gold’ colorway was $325.
Joseph is 9.5” high and has the same price history as Mary. The lower photo shows them both in their Anniversary (white/gold) color option. However, neither one of these bear the special 50th Anniversary backstamp. I have no idea, at this point, whether that means the studio did not put the stamp on any of this colorway, or that they only put it on the two designs that were added to this set in 1989.
The Christ Child with Lamb rounded out the set’s introductory year, and is 2.5” high. The first pricings were $215 for white and $275 for color (upper photo). The lower photo shows the gold-accented version which was $250. Like the original 1950s Holy Family, the baby is removable to accommodate the tradition in some Catholic families of not placing the child into the manger until Christmas Eve.
This gold-skin example was included in one of the 2019-2020 liquidation-auction lots. Because it is unfinished (the lamb is unpainted, and there are no gold accents on the manger), I assumed that it was an experimental piece. However, thanks to a helpful Archive reader, I now know that at least some finished ones were sent to retailers as promotional pieces – probably in 1989. An updated photo, showing a completed piece, will follow later.
1983 Introductions
All of the three wise men/kings/Magi were introduced in 1983, and all had the same introductory prices for white ($315) and color ($445). Their 1989 price was $425 for the Anniversary colorway.
This is Melchior who is 7” high. According to legend he was the King of Arabia and his gift is gold. The lower photo shows the Anniversary colorway, and illustrates how all color except for the skin, eyes and lips was eliminated. That certainly cut down on the production time/effort somewhat.
Caspar is 9.5” high. He was the King of Sheba and his gift is frankincense.
Unlike the other two Kings, there was some significant variation in the skin color of Caspar, as this trio of examples shows!
And finally Balthasar who is also 9.5” high. As the King of Tarsus and Egypt, he brought myrrh.
Thanks to a helpful Archive reader, I now know that the individual gifts were removable…and the crowns may have been, as well! It would make sense for the crowns to be removable because these three are variously referred to in popular culture as three kings, three wise men, or three Magi (noble pilgrims from the East). With removable crowns, the purchaser of these pieces could choose to have their pieces represent whichever of those descriptions they wished. This is no doubt why the studio only identified them by a single name.
1984 Introductions
Three pieces were introduced in 1984. This is the Shepherd; he is 9” high. His early prices were $275 for plain white and $395 for color. In 1989 he was $425 for white/gold.
This is the first and was intended to be the only camel in the series. Originally titled Camel which was later changed to Camel I when others began appearing, it is 10” high. First issued at $425 white/$625 color. By 1989 this had increased to $675 white, $775 white/gold, and $825 color. On the non-human Anniversary-colorway items, all previous color was eliminated except for some slight pink shading inside ears and nostrils, and around the eyes.
This is the first of four eventual angels associated with this second Nativity set and was originally called simply Angel. She is 6.5” high and originally cost $275 in white bisque; $395 for color. Shortly thereafter, she was re-titled Nativity Angel (kneeling). In 1989 her name was changed to Nativity Angel I because a second nativity angel had now been added. At that time her prices were $525 for white/gold and $575 for color. The third photo shows this angel in profile. (All of the Cybis angels can be seen here.)
1985 Introductions
1985 was originally intended to be the completion year for this series. A 1985 Cybis brochure made that clear:
Three new sculptures complete the Cybis Nativity: cow, donkey and lamb. The Cybis Nativity, released in 1982, has become a part of many families’ holiday celebrations. Available in both hand-painted and white bisque versions.
There was one additional new nativity item which we’ll see after looking at the “final three.”
The Lamb is 4.75” high and was $115 in white, $150 in color. The post-1989 Anniversary colorway was $195. The only difference between the ‘color’ and the Anniversary versions is that the hooves of the latter are painted gold rather than grey.
The nativity Donkey is 6.5” high. Issued at $130/ for white bisque and $195 for color; in the early 1990s his prices were $175 for the white/gold and $225 for color.
The Cow is 4.25″ high and sold for $125 in white and $175 in color in 1985, with the Anniversary color (lower photo) later at $195.
The Stable
Also offered as a “finale” addition to the nativity set in 1985 was The Stable. The descriptive Cybis brochure paragraph quoted above ends with “Also being offered, a wooden stable especially created for Cybis by a Bucks County craftsman.”
The dimensions of the Stable are given as 30″ long, 14″ wide (deep) and 19″ high. It was priced at $250. This photo shows the complete set plus the Stable, as advertised in the 1985 brochure and indicating that it is a normal retail item available for purchase through Cybis retailers.
However, by 1989 things had changed; I suspect the original craftsman was no longer making there, because the studio’s 1989 brochure states “Wooden stable available only if special ordered” with no price indicated. On a November 1993 price list it is called The Creche in Rustic Wood with “$395 cost price” in the price column (I have no idea what “cost price” was supposed to mean.) It appears again on a Fall 1995 price list for $495. The 1999 price list shows it as “price upon request.”
This item was shipped as multiple components to be assembled according to instructions. The photos above show the front, side, and rear views of a correctly-assembled Stable. Many thanks to the helpful Archive reader who alerted me to the fact that the only photo that I previously included here (other than the Cybis literature itself) was of a Stable that was not assembled properly!
1989 Introductions
The ‘completed’ First Christmas nativity set remained that way for the next four years, until 1989 when the studio began adding more pieces to the collection. They would ultimately add eight more items but only two of them were original designs. The others were all pieces that were (or were created from parts of) formerly-retired pieces, or were current production pieces that received an additional Nativity-based name plus a gold-accented Anniversary color option.
The first addition to the set appeared in 1989 as Nativity Angel II priced at $475 in white, $525 in Anniversary (lowest photo), and $575 in color. However, this piece is simply a mold modification of the Angel ‘Annunciation’ that had been introduced in Fall 1982 and retired sometime between 1984 and 1988. The white bisque example in the first photo has the 50th Anniversary mark on the underside.
The modifications are evident in this comparison. The position change of her right arm in the Nativity version is clearly not an improvement. Let’s be honest: It makes her look as if the poor girl just broke her arm! A ‘tweak’ situation like this is what I call a “re-tread.” It is also poorly done, not only because of the awkward arm but also the fact that only her left sleeve edge is decorated! They could at least have put the same decorative edge onto the right sleeve, or simply left both plain. And to add insult to injury, her collar decoration is slanted even though her shoulders are level. An embarrassing result all around.
Another resurrected retired piece appeared in 1989. This 3.25” sculpture was originally introduced in 1981 as Muffy Fluffy white sheep – or Fluffy Muffy white sheep, depending on which Cybis brochure you read – and presented as a separate companion piece to the Baa Baa Black Sheep child sculpture also introduced that year, as shown in the Nursery Rhymes post. After both of those pieces had been retired, Cybis resurrected Muffy/Fluffy, angled the head slightly upward from its original position, and brought it into the nativity series as the Small Lamb at $100 for the plain white bisque, $125 for the white/gold version above, and $150 for the naturalistic “color” which is exactly the same except for having grey hooves instead of gold.
1990 Introductions
This 5.25” high sculpture was originally released by Cybis in 1983 as Burro ‘Benjamin’ who appears in the Into the Woods with Cybis post. He was designed by Susan Eaton. He was retired before 1988 but brought back to populate the Nativity series.
In 1990, Benjamin was shifted into the nativity group as Burro, Reclining. (However, an article in the Nov/Dec issue of Collector Editions titles him as Reclining Donkey.) He appears on a November 1993 Cybis price list as Burro, Reclining at $195 for white/gold and $250 for color (the plain white bisque option having now disappeared permanently.) In case you were wondering about the difference between a burro and a donkey, the answer is: Just semantics. Technically, ‘donkey’ refers to the domesticated animal while ‘burro’ means one of (or descended from) a wild population in Mexico, the United States, Spain, or Africa. The species, Equus asinus, is the same regardless.
Camel II is the second camel in the series and is 8.75” high. This is one of only two completely-new-design additions to the nativity set. It appeared in Spring 1991 in three color options: white bisque for $575, white/gold for $675, and color for $725. By 1999 Cybis simplified their bookkeeping by setting both the color and white/gold options at the same $725 price point, and had discontinued the plain white bisque option entirely.
The final camel in the series, Camel III appeared in either Fall 1996 or Spring 1997, priced at $1075 which was frankly ridiculous: This sculpture is simply the body from the original Camel I with the standing legs removed and replaced by new kneeling ones that are not very well done and look rather jelly-like. There are some small decorative changes: the hanging fringe has, out of postural necessity, been removed’ there are one or two tiny tweaks to the saddle/trappings; there are no tassels on the bridle, and some colors are different but otherwise this is essentially Camel I kneeling instead of standing. It is probably between 4” and 5” high overall; the Fall 1997 price list supplied no dimensions.
2000s Introductions
The Nativity Angel III is yet another “composite” piece and was added to the nativity set in 2000 or later. The top half of this angel was taken from the first Nativity Angel (kneeling) and combined with the lower half of the mold from the unfortunate Annunciation/Nativity II angel . She does not appear on the 1999 price list but she was on the 2008 Cybis website for $1195 for either colorway. As these photos show, the only difference between the “color” and “Anniversary” versions is the gold paint that has been slapped onto her sash and gold accents on the bottom of her wings.
This is the final angel in the set, named Guardian Angel which is strange because Cybis previously produced a Guardian Angel sculpture during the 1950s-60s. However, they bear no resemblance to each other. This one is 12.75” high and sold for $895 on the late 2008/early 2009 website, where she was described as “the latest addition to our Nativity collection.” I’m very surprised that Cybis ever brought this into the nativity set because design-wise she does not relate in any way whatsoever to the other Nativity pieces. Additional views of this angel in both colorways are in the Angels post.
This particular piece has ‘dueling years’ mold impressions: the one on the base of her gown (underside) shows a copyright year of 2001 while the one on the back of her cape says 2002. Apparently this is a case of “pick your poison!”
Little Angel, who was originally issued in Spring 1987 at $125 as part of the “Children to Cherish Collection” and was retired within two years, eventually showed up in the Nativity Collection during the early 2000s under the exact same name, so this again is a resurrection of a retired piece with an extra color option. She appeared on Cybis’ circa-2000s website as a Nativity piece at $395 for color (the original issue’s blue dress) or white/gold and is 7” high. Just like Benjamin and Muffy/Fluffy, the original Little Angel was never intended as a nativity piece but was arbitrarily added to the series in a desperate attempt to entice existing Nativity Series collectors to purchase yet another piece. The gold accents on the upper inside part of her wings is the same style as the early-2000s Guardian Angel and was probably done by the same person at the same time.
The Holy Family (redux)
Cybis complicated things a bit further by issuing – as they had done in the 1950s – a “holy family” grouping at the same time as their nativity set. This piece is called Nativity, Holy Family and was introduced as part of their Hall of Fame series in 1992 at $395. This group takes the first three individual pieces from the First Christmas series (Mary, Joseph, and Child with Lamb) and attaches them to a porcelain base that is textured to suggest straw on the stable floor; however, these three pieces are downsized versions of the molds that were used in the standard nativity series. The overall height of this grouping is 6.5” including its base, which means that Joseph (the tallest of the three) is probably 6” high; the normal nativity-set Joseph is 9.5” tall without being on any base. Thus, what Cybis did was the Upsize, Downsize trick, just as they did for all the Hall of Fame series pieces… downsizing by approximately 3” per cycle. This is a single-cycle downsize from the nativity set individual pieces, and so all that was then needed was to create the base for the group.
On the Fall 1995 price list the white/gold version is $495 and the color one is $575.
It is interesting that although all the other Hall of Fame pieces are downsized exact replicas of closed limited editions and retired open editions, this one is not taken from either the original 1950s Holy Family Porcelain Mural in the first nativity set, nor from the Pillar of Families sculpture of the same era. The reason is probably because neither of those originated with Cybis, but instead were cast from molds bought from and copyrighted by the Atlantic Mold Company. This is why Cybis departed from their HOF habit of adding the Roman numeral II to the name of the replica; they could not call it “Holy Family II” because it is not derived from the 1950s Holy Family mold. So, they named this 1992 piece the Nativity, Holy Family instead. Ah, semantics!
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