46 November-December 2007 Bottles and Extras Ornaments

By Gene Bradberry

pyramids were made and covered with evergreen boughs and decorated with candles, apples and pretty verses. Prior to the 1850s, the most famous Christmas poem or story ever written, “T’was the night before Christmas” (originally entitled “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas, or ”) by Clement C. Moore, written for his children and of , . These date from published in the Troy, N.Y. Sentinel the later part of the 1700s and were very December, 1823, gave the first account of popular in America from 1870 to 1900. By eight reindeer (by name) and mentioned this time, glass ornaments had began to take In keeping with the Christmas spirit, I “the stockings were hung by the chimney would like to share with you some with care,” but no where did it mention or interesting information about “glass reference a . ornaments” and decorations which adorned The oldest record of Christmas trees in our earliest Christmas trees. I found it to a major city in America was in 1825 when be fascinating reading as I gathered Philadelphia’s Saturday Evening Post information for this article. I will cover only described “trees visible through the the highlights of their development. windows…decorated.” The earliest known decorated Christmas On to the glass ornaments! trees in America dates to 1747, where, at a The first commercially produced tree German Moravian Church’s settlement in ornaments were cast of a soft tin and lead , Pennsylvania, wooden alloy by German tinsmiths and toymakers Bottles and Extras November-December 2007 47

their place. By 1880, no one would have dreamed that the glassblowers’ creations would be such a success. They were first imported from Germany by a wholesale house in Philadelphia that had been selling from variety store in Lancaster, Pa., by the name of F.M. Woolworth its goods. Woolworth had to be coerced into trying the new glass ornaments with a money back guarantee, but he did try them and, much to his surprise, they were sold out in two Continued on page 66. 66 November-December 2007 Bottles and Extras

Christmas Tree Ornaments A brief attempt was made to revive the By Gene Bradberry industry in West Germany after the war, Continued from page 46. but it never really quite made it. Between 1950 and the early 1960s, about 20 percent days. Of course, it was too late to get any of American ornaments were again more that year. imported from West Germany, but this was Woolworth also never realized that short lived due to the economics of the these ornaments would account for such a glassblowing by hand and the lack of large amount of the vast fortune that he artisans available. would acquire over the next few years. There was, however, a ten year period By 1890, Woolworth had grown to of black market ornaments from Lauscha, thirteen stores, was having tremendous but again this was short lived for numerous success with these little glass ornaments reasons. and decided to go to Germany himself. He In 1938, Corning Glass began arrived in the little German village of experimenting with molds, and Lauscha in February, and in the next few by 1939, could machine produce in a single days, bought 200,000 ornaments. This was minute more than a glassblower could make a far cry from the original batch bought for in a day. Eckhardt, who was instrumental $25 just one year before. in initiating this venture, formed his own During the 1840s, Lauscha was the company called “” and bought birthplace of virtually all blown glass ornaments from Corning and silvered and Christmas ornaments. The ornament decorated them himself. However, by 1944, maker’s home was his factory and he no silver could be had, and hence, “Clear worked in an attached workshop, where he Painted” ornaments came into being. sat all day over a flame, melting glass and Following the war, Shiny Brite became the blowing ornaments of all shapes. largest ornament company in the world. After the ornaments were blown, they In the late 1960s, Corning returned to were slivered on the inside by a solution not only making glass ornaments, but also that usually was a combination of silver decorating them while continuing to supply nitrate, quicklime and milk sugar. This “blanks” to Shiny Brite and other finishers. tedious task was usually performed by the In one way or another, Corning still wife and consisted of filling each ornament produces most of the glass ornaments made one fourth full of the solution, then shaking in America today. it. To get it to spread evenly inside, it would There is so much detail about the be dipped in hot water several times, then development of glass ornaments that is just she would hold five or six in one hand at a fascinating. It almost seems an injustice to time by their long six-inch stems, or not devote more space to this article. I hope “pikes,” to speed up production. that I have whetted your appetite and After the inside coating was completed, enabled them to produce many varied aroused your curiosity to further read up she would pour the excess solution into a shapes of ornaments. Among these shapes on this aspect of our glassmaking ancestry. basin where the silver would be chemically were apples, pears, oranges, corn, beets, separated and used again. The piles were potatoes, pickles, dogs, cats, monkeys, Some sources for further reading are: then slipped over nails protruding from bears, clowns, storybook characters, The Christmas Tree, Daniel Foley, long boards and allowed to dry while Christian symbols, including the Christ Chilton, Ohio, 1960. hanging from rafters above the store. child, houses, churches, and of course, The Glass Christmas Ornament: Old & When they were dry, they were dipped Santa. A conservative estimate of 5,000 New, Maggie Rogers & Judith Hawkins, into various colored lacquers. After has been made to the number of different Timber Press, 1971. dipping, the ornaments were returned to types of ornaments made there. The Christmas Tree Book, Phillip their nails so hat the excess lacquer would After a brief lapse of importation during Snyder, The Viking Press, 1976. run down the pile without spoiling the even World War I, by 1930, Woolworth, Kresge, finish on the ornament. Kress and America’s largest importer, Max Often, working 8 to 15 hours a day, a Eckhardt, had warehouses in Sonnenberg family could produce as many as 300 to 500 that was a much larger town near Lauscha. ornaments a day. Imports to America were in the millions. The first written record of Christmas The glassblowers of Lauscha had their tree ornaments being produced does not lives completely changed by the war in appear until 1848, when “six dozen 1939. After the end of World War II, Christmas ornaments in three sizes” were Lauscha found itself ten miles inside the recorded in a Lauscha glassblowers book. border of East Germany and thus the Molds were developed there in 1890 that valuable American market was lost.