Tiltener and ‘Christmas creator’ Daniel Deutschefer sells his entire collection of Christmas decorations: ‘worth around €50,000’

Christmas will never be the same again for Christmas teller creator Daniel Deutschefer (67). Having built a veritable Christmas village at Kringloopwinkel in Tielt in 2019, he has now made the drastic decision to sell all his Christmas items and decor pieces. Next Monday it will be at the flea market at Stationsstraat in Tielt. “It is so hard to find a site where I can build my village for Christmas that I no longer need it,” he said disappointedly.

Anyone who visited Tieltse Kringloopwinkel in the Christmas period of 2019 almost lost a few eyes. After all, Daniel recreated the Victorian Christmas village there. Includes a harbor, skating rink, waterfall, amusement park and mini train. The topic was the poor versus the bourgeoisie. This way I put a story into my creativity.”

It eventually took The Christmas Maker three weeks to build his miniature village, but the audience was impressed with the result. “Within a week, at least 800 visitors came. Some people even came back several times a day because they didn’t know where to look first. Everyone was so excited and took pictures to their hearts’ content,” Daniel looks back proudly.

useless call

However, there will be no new scene for Christmas this year. Although Daniel says he had a lot in store and only used a third of his collection in the previous release. So the native of Ghent is disappointed.

Daniel explains: “In 2020 and 2021, I wanted to build a Christmas village again, but because of Corona it was no longer possible in 2020, while I did not find a suitable site in 2021.” However, he launched another appeal in November of last year.

I still have a lot of ideas to build a completely new village, but that shouldn’t be the case.”

“But there was no response to that,” the man sighs. “This means that my collection – worth about 50 thousand euros – has been gathering dust for several years now. However, I don’t need that much: an area of ​​about a hundred square meters is enough.”

“Then I can expand my village and also have space to serve coffee or pie. After all, we depend on free donations from people, but that way we can still cover the costs. After all, these decorative figures or pieces are not cheap.”

In the flea market

However, his research yielded no results. Daniel made a very strict decision: “I will sell everything, because it cannot continue like this.” Next Monday it will be at the flea market at Stationsstraat in Tielt selling everything.

“It will be for fast to be. It’s with a heavy heart, but my decision was made. I still have a lot of ideas to build a completely new village, but it shouldn’t be. It was enough.” Daniel now has to say goodbye to his passion with some hesitation. “I spent three weeks building such a village and that was really something for me, but I don’t see any other solution.”

What if …

But what if someone gets to a site at the last minute? Then I will think about it. Although there must also be a way in which we can cover the costs. Not that I want to get rich from it, but it would be nice to cover the costs. It all costs a little money.”