The most famous reindeer of all has made a home in midtown Atlanta.
Two original puppets from the classic Rankin/Bass “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” stop-motion TV show are now on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts.
Rudolph and Santa from the 1964 holiday classic are being featured in a special display at the center that coincides with a puppet show version of the TV show.
An anonymous donor bought the duo for $368,000 at an auction in 2020 and gave them to the center on semi-permanent loan.
The 6-inch-tall reindeer and the 11-inch-tall jolly elf were sold as one lot.
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The figures, which were made by Japanese puppet maker Ichiro Komuro, were constructed from wood, wire, cloth and leather. Santa’s beard is made from yak hair.
And despite being nearly 60 years old, Rudolph’s nose still shines so bright thanks to maintenance over five decades.
The owner who put them up for auction, Peter Lutrario, bought them after seeing them on the PBS television show “Antiques Roadshow.”
A nephew of a Rankin/Bass employee had the puppets and brought them onto the show to see how much they would be worth.
In a statement, the donor said, “These were beloved characters of my childhood, and I can think of no better place for them to ‘retire’ than in the trusted care of the Center for Puppetry Arts, the first and largest nonprofit organization in the U.S. solely dedicated to the art of puppetry.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
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