DECORATIVE CANDLES

Our household is like many households, we have decorative candles that will never see a match. Last night I was in Cornell's of Downtown Newark, Robin Pierce found at his mother's home three choir boy candles. The three candles brought back some memories while growing up, my mother had the same candles. Just like Mrs. Pierce, never burned, but looked "cute" sitting out during the Holidays. Below you will find a short story about Gurley Candles:

Franklin Gurley was a candle maker of specifically designed novelty candles which were first sold in the 1930s. Originally, the candles were commissioned by the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company (now ExxonMobile) simply so that they could make use of the excess paraffin that was produced during the oil refinery process. Made by confectioner Franklin Gurley at his company W&F Manufacturing, they were originally marketed under the name Tavern Novelty Candles. Over time, Gurley's business went from paraffin confections such as wax lips and teeth to almost exclusively candle production. Tavern was bought out and the name was changed to Gurley Novelty in 1949.

The Tavern and Gurley wax figures and candles were most commonly sold at discount stores such as Woolworths, but they could also be found at department stores like Macy's. Gurley made candles for all of the major holidays, but the ones most sought after today by collectors are generally the Christmas and Halloween candles. Individual candles sold for between 10 and 99 cents and sets sold for a bit more. Almost all vintage Gurley candles that you find on the market today have unlit wicks. While they were marketed as candles, the little figural candles were never really meant to be burned. People collected them for display. There are actually some wax figures under the Tavern brand that don't even have a wick, such as a Nativity set that was designed by Gurley. If you are a collector only interested in the original Gurley and Tavern candles, then one thing it will be important for you to keep in mind is that the Vermont Country Store has purchased many of the Gurley candle molds and is manufacturing candles today that look exactly like the original candles. If you want to ensure that you are buying the vintage collectibles and not reproductions, it will be important to search for candles that still have the original Gurley label so you know that you are getting a vintage item and not a brand new one. If you find some candles that have lost their labels, one way to tell the difference is that the newer candles will be very brightly color compared to their vintage counterparts.