History of the Garden Gnome
Small dwarf statues appeared in Europe as early as the early 1600s as lucky charms. The garden or lawn gnomes as we know them today emerged in Germany in the mid to late 19th century and were always made of clay. In England, gnomes first appeared in gardens in the 1840s and have enjoyed increasing popularity ever since. It was believed that mythical dwarves lived underground, as their name is derived from a Latin word for earth-dwellers. They were popular in German fairy tales and were often described as old men who guarded treasures.
The first mass-produced garden gnomes also came from Germany in the 1870s. The two biggest names in gnome manufacturing were Philipp Griebel and August Heissner. Heissner became known worldwide for his beautifully crafted gnomes. Unfortunately, the World Wars largely wiped out the production of garden gnomes in Germany, so that antique German gnomes are extremely rare today.
In the 1980s, companies in the Czech Republic and Poland began manufacturing garden gnomes and flooded the market with cheaper imitations of German products. Today, most gnomes are manufactured either in Poland or China. The American company Kimmel Gnomes is one of the last manufacturers of clay and resin gnomes that are handmade and not mass-produced. They are available in various sizes, poses, and colors.
There are 25 million garden gnomes in Germany today. Originally, the gnomes were intended primarily to protect buried treasures and minerals in the ground. Even today, they are used to guard crops and livestock, often hidden in the corners of a barn or in the garden.