A scarce late 1940s miniature light set made in Italy with 12 clay face pinecone gnomes, dwarfs or elves. Ten are holding a candle topped by a mini light bulb. The elves have white mica snow frosted pine cone bodies, real cotton batting beards, and molded clay-like composition hand painted faces full of character. Each one is different, and each has a different style or color of paper maché composition hat. The hats have wired loops so you can position them with hooks or wire on the tree branches - with wonderful faces like that, you don't want any of them facing the wall or the inside of the tree.

The lights work as shown in the second picture. At first I thought they were burned out, but after a little gentle manipulation of the candle bulbs, they turned on (though of course I cannot guarantee how much longer they'll continue to work, given their age). The cord has been repaired with electrical tape and the Bakelite plug is taped as well - it's probably just missing the center screw. I think those wire twist ties are holding the light cord in place - some of the gnomes have broken mica arm extensions, though they're present in the box. I would have used pieces of chenille pipe cleaners instead of twist ties. Two gnomes are not attached to the light cord because there are only 10 bulbs, likely removed when the cord was repaired. Some of the fragile pine cones have splits or damage, and one gnome has a replacement cardboard base.