Vintage Christmas Decorations

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Vintage Ornaments -- some background information:

Christmas ornaments are decorations that are used to decorate a Christmas tree. Ornaments take many different forms, from a simple round glass ball to highly artistic figurines. Most ornaments are saved and reused year after year, rather than purchased annually. Collections often contain a mixture of commercially produced ornaments and hand-made decorations created by friends and family. Such collections are often handed down in the same family from generation to generation.

Santa Claus is a commonly used figure for Christmas ornaments. Candy canes, fruit, animals, snowmen, angels and snowflake imagery are also popular choices. Below, give a brief description of the most popular types of vintage Christmas ornaments.

Kugel Christmas Ornaments
A "Kugel" is a particular type of 19th century glass ornament. The first Kugels were brought to America from Germany in the 1860's. These were thick, often large, glass ornaments with a dull sheen and large, flat and decorative caps. They are clear or colored glass which is silvered on the inside. Round ones are the most common, but there are also elongated kugels and kugels in the shape of a bunch of grapes. Production of the old style Kugels ended by the beginning of the 20th century.

Victorian Cotton Christmas Ornaments
Cotton batting and wool folded over frames of wire or cardboard formed the basis for many Victorian ornaments. Santas with paper faces and angels with paper faces and wings were popular. They were often adorned with buttons, powdered glass, and other details. Beautiful ornaments of spun cotton can also be found in the shape of fruits and flowers, and decorated with powdered, crushed glass. Spun cotton was also used for the faces and bodies of angels and other figural ornaments from Victorian times through the 20th century.

Victorian Tinsel Ornaments
Blown glass ornaments wrapped in crinkled tinsel and wire were popular Christmas decorations in the early 1900's. Fanciful figures such as airships and balloons were popular, as were plain glass balls in all colors. Silk fringes and ribbons also adorned many of these ornaments.

Victorian Paper Ornaments
Paper was a common material for Victorian ornaments. Nestled among the branches of many a Victorian tree were die-cut paper ornaments, sometimes wrapped in cotton batting. Although some of these ornaments still exist, there are also many reproductions and new items crafted from old materials. Some of the most beautiful of the Victorian paper ornaments were the embossed, Dresden Christmas ornaments.

Vintage Figural Christmas Tree Ornaments
In the mid 19th century, a glassmaker from the German village of Lauscha developed a method for producing molded glass ornaments. As this new technology was adopted, the glassblowing industry in Lauscha flourished and a myriad of figural Christmas ornaments made their way to other countries. By 1890 they were widely available in the United States thanks to the merchant Frank Woolworth, who imported large quantities of these ornaments to America. Figural ornaments take the forms of fruits, vegetables, animals, birds, fish, santas, musical instruments, and just about any other object you can imagine!

Victorian Dresden Ornaments
Dresden ornaments were figural ornaments made from embossed, pressed cardboard manufactured by the craftsmen of Dresden, Germany. There are three types of Dresden Christmas ornaments - one dimensional, two dimensional, and three dimensional Dresden Christmas ornaments. The most beautiful of the Victorian paper ornaments were these embossed three-dimensional figural ornaments. Usually finished in silver or gilt, these intricate pressed cardboard decorations were formed in the shapes of a variety of animals, vehicles and objects. Highly detailed, many even have moving parts such as wheels that really turn.

Antique Wax Christmas Ornaments
Wax was used to make figural ornaments and figural ornament heads from Victorian times through the mid 20th century. Twentieth century wax ornaments can still be found, the older wax ornaments less frequently. It is uncommon to find Victorian wax Christmas ornaments in excellent condition and these command high prices.

Shiny Brite Ornaments
The Shiny Brite company was a very popular producer of mercury glass Christmas ornaments during the mid 20th century. The first Shiny Brite ornaments were lacquered by machine and hand-decorated. Later ornaments were silvered on the inside, except during WWII when a shortage or materials forced production to be limited to clear glass balls with pastel stripes of color.These clear ornaments usually had a sprig of tinsel inside to add sparkle. Some of the fancier Shiny Brite ornaments are currently being reproduced. Shiny Brite ornaments were sold as boxed sets of coordinating ornaments. They are easy to find, affordable and fun to collect.

Indents
Indents are a special kind of glass Christmas ornament - a normal round or oblong ornament which has one or two sides pushed in or "indented" (known as "double indents"). The indentations usually form decorative patterns on their own, they may also house miniature figures or Christmas scenes. Indents were manufactured throughout the 20th century.

Vintage Christmas Garlands
Garlands for the earlier Victorian trees were mostly made of of paper or edibles, such as popcorn and cranberries. They were strung together and draped around the tree. Later, garlands of beads, clear glass and mercury glass became popular. Beads of early Christmas garlands were larger, smaller beads were used to decorate trees in later years.

Tinsel
Tinsel first appeared in Germany in the early 20th century where it was called "angel's hair". The earliest tinsel was made of lead or foil. Later strands were made of mylar and similar materials. Tinsel roping became popular in the later 20th century, replacing the individual icicles. Roping was much easier to arrange and far less prone to ending up all over your house!

Vintage Tree Toppers
The showpiece of the Christmas tree, tree toppers are those big, beautiful ornaments intended to sit atop the tree. Shapes include ornate glass spires, stars, angels and lighted tree toppers.

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