Christmas arrived early in the Chronica Domus household this year thanks to the
ornament score of the century
Photo: Chronica Domus
Old-fashioned, blown glass Christmas tree ornaments have held a special place in my heart since childhood. My mother had a selection of them to decorate the family's Christmas tree along with tinsel and, on occasion, something that to the eyes of a child resembled cotton cobwebs, a rather poor imitation of snow I believe. When I first started my own collection of vintage blown glass Christmas tree ornaments, way back when I landed on this side of the pond in the early 1990's, I was agog to discover the vast quantities available for the picking. Collective antiques shops and thrift stores proved to be fertile stomping grounds for the unusual geometric shapes which comprised my collection. Back then, over-stuffed plastic bags of ornaments could be purchased for a pittance.
Over the years, as more people have discovered the joys of decorating their trees with these beguiling baubles, hunting them down become a challenging sport for me. Nowadays, it is a happy and increasingly rare day when I score a handful of fragile 1920's German indents or a World War II era pine cone.
With this in mind, you can only imagine how ecstatic I was when my friend Jeannette, a fellow ornament devotee, and I recently attended a sale so extraordinary it was hard to believe we had not conjured it up from our wildest fantasies. Yes, we really were awake, and this really was the Sale of The Century as far as these things go. In fact, there were so many items up for grabs that the sale took place over multiple days. Jeannette and I found it difficult to keep away, and thus we attended not once, but twice. What lucky girls we were!
Alas, in my dizzy excitement, I failed to take along my camera but if you'd care to see a fraction of the thousands of exceptional and rare items that were on offer, do please visit the blog of Addison Studio Sale where the many photographs included in the links found here, here, and here, will give you a delicious taste of what we saw.
The collection was amassed over the span of fifty years by Ron Morgan, a well-known local floral designer who recently moved to Mexico. Mr. Morgan had an unerring eye when it came to the quality and rarity of items included in his collection. The blown glass German ornaments, Dresden cardboard figures, Putz animals and houses, strings of glass beads, goose feather trees, lametta tinsel, Belsnickel Father Christmas figures, candy containers, German glass kugels in all shapes, colors, and sizes, together with an assortment of other Christmas ephemera and novelties really should have landed in a museum, en masse. I doubt there's another collection quite like it anywhere else in the world. As it is, Mr. Morgan made many hundreds of keen enthusiasts of Christmas past extremely happy with their recent purchases of items rarely seen on the market. Below is the selection of the glass ornaments I was fortunate enough to have hauled away from the sale.
I also had the chance of snapping up two early-nineteenth century blown glass vessels known as fairy lights or lanterns. I believe these might actually be leech bowls or jars that someone converted into fairy lights with the clever use of a bit of old tinsel. These cradled small wax candles and helped to cast light on the Christmas tree. Not particularly safe, I know, but lovely nonetheless.
Jeannette and I are so chuffed with our latest Christmas treasures that our thirst for such things has been quenched, at least we think, for now. On the drive home from the second of the two sales, we revisited the issue of how dire our storage issues have become. In one fell swoop, things just got a lot worse. We agreed, however, that at least they had worsened for the very best of reasons, an abundance of beautiful Christmas tree ornaments. Our latest haul is truly an embarrassment of riches.
What is it that you enjoy decorating your tree with, and do you have a favorite ornament you would like to tell me about?
Alas, in my dizzy excitement, I failed to take along my camera but if you'd care to see a fraction of the thousands of exceptional and rare items that were on offer, do please visit the blog of Addison Studio Sale where the many photographs included in the links found here, here, and here, will give you a delicious taste of what we saw.
Ron Morgan's fifty year-in-the-making Christmas collection was up for sale and proved to be an ornament collector's wildest fantasy come true
The collection was amassed over the span of fifty years by Ron Morgan, a well-known local floral designer who recently moved to Mexico. Mr. Morgan had an unerring eye when it came to the quality and rarity of items included in his collection. The blown glass German ornaments, Dresden cardboard figures, Putz animals and houses, strings of glass beads, goose feather trees, lametta tinsel, Belsnickel Father Christmas figures, candy containers, German glass kugels in all shapes, colors, and sizes, together with an assortment of other Christmas ephemera and novelties really should have landed in a museum, en masse. I doubt there's another collection quite like it anywhere else in the world. As it is, Mr. Morgan made many hundreds of keen enthusiasts of Christmas past extremely happy with their recent purchases of items rarely seen on the market. Below is the selection of the glass ornaments I was fortunate enough to have hauled away from the sale.
Most of these fragile blown glass ornaments were made in Germany in the 1920's and 1930's
Photo: Chronica Domus
These are German kugels and were made in the mid to late-nineteenth century, constructed of heavier glass with stamped brass hangers they are extremely sought after and are a rarity
Photo: Chronica Domus
I look forward to hanging these whimsical beauties from the boughs of our Christmas tree ...
Photo: Chronica Domus
... alongside these icy beauties
Photo: Chronica Domus
I also had the chance of snapping up two early-nineteenth century blown glass vessels known as fairy lights or lanterns. I believe these might actually be leech bowls or jars that someone converted into fairy lights with the clever use of a bit of old tinsel. These cradled small wax candles and helped to cast light on the Christmas tree. Not particularly safe, I know, but lovely nonetheless.
Hmmm... are these fairy lights or leech bowls or jars I wonder?
Photo: Chronica Domus
Jeannette and I are so chuffed with our latest Christmas treasures that our thirst for such things has been quenched, at least we think, for now. On the drive home from the second of the two sales, we revisited the issue of how dire our storage issues have become. In one fell swoop, things just got a lot worse. We agreed, however, that at least they had worsened for the very best of reasons, an abundance of beautiful Christmas tree ornaments. Our latest haul is truly an embarrassment of riches.
What is it that you enjoy decorating your tree with, and do you have a favorite ornament you would like to tell me about?
Hello CD, Those do look like old cupping bowls repurposed. Such bowls are still commonly used in Chinese medicine. They are made of heavy glass to withstand the suction vacuum.
ReplyDeleteThat certainly was an impressive collection of ornaments, and you made off with many prizes. House sales are also great places to look for older ornaments--even in a room full of new ones, there are often some from the parents or grandparents. They can usually be picked up for very little.
You can probably guess that if I collected ornaments, I would be attracted to the old fruit-shaped ones. I can imagine a tree decorated just with such fruit--it wouldn't be any stranger than your multi-grafted apple tree!
--Jim
Hello Jim,
DeleteThank you for confirming my suspicions about the little glass bowls. I thought they might be old leech jars as they look similar to a few I have at home already (but those are footed). These look to be blown glass and have a rough pontil and a few bubbles in the glass.
Your idea of a fruit ornament tree is one of my future tree goals. I don't have enough just yet but I've managed to collect several varieties of glass grape shapes, glass pears decorated with crushed glass, cotton pears, a few glass peaches, a handful of glass raspberries, and few cotton blueberries. I'm on my way!
I am ashamed to admit that I am obsessed with Christmas ornaments, I have all of my inventoried on my computer and the last time I asked I had over 17,000, old and new, I started with what remained of my family's old glass ornaments, gradually added a few inexpensive ones from thrift stores, made a few of my own, married a Hallmark salesman, have all the samples and more of the plastic ones that they made (not my favorites, but interesting for their time period.) I've been buying ever since anywhere I find them. Love the old german ornaments, but I don't turn my nose up at an old Shiny BrIte. This sale would have been heaven! How fortunate you were to attend, twice! I see a least a dozen I would have done battle for.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
Hello Elizabeth Speicher,
DeleteNothing to be ashamed of. Christmas is a jolly holiday and ornaments just add beautifully to it. I think your collecting might have rivaled that of Mr. Morgan by the sounds of it - simply staggering! And, I thought *I* had issues with storage. Please do tell me, how do you store 17,000 ornaments? I'd appreciate any tips or products you might have found to help, thank you.
PS: I too have lots of Shiny Brites but I've turned the majority of those over to my daughter for her feather tree. She's mad for them!
Merry Christmas to you too and I do hope you come back and visit CD again (I promise there will be more talk of ornaments on this blog before the big day).
Storage was not a problem until I moved 18 months ago from a 3000 sq ft house with a full finished basement, which was ornament central, to an 1800 sq ft house with no basement. I rented a climate controlled storage unit and hired a second moving company with a small truck just to move the ornaments.
DeleteInterior silvering and the exterior lacquer losses that one finds on ornaments are the direct result of improper storage. They should never be stored in unheated, uninsulated attics. Glass ornaments in particular suffer terribly when temperature and humidity fluctuate. Even modern plastic or resin ornaments, which are often made in several pieces then glued together, can suffer glue failure as a result of the same issue.
So, the remodel of my new home has included "finishing off" an over the garage attic space, accessible only by pull down stairs. It received good insulation and a dedicated heating and cooling system and a floor. The ornaments are coming from the storage facility 4 or 5 boxes at a time.
I prefer to store in shallow boxes, not unlike the ones in your first picture of the sale. I reinforce the corners with pieces of masonite, so the boxes can be stacked safely and will not crush. Each ornament is individually wrapped with acid free tissue, which I buy in bulk. Boxes of my most precious ornaments are stored under beds and in the tops of closets.
Most of my collection is photographed and the computer inventory with photos, description, location(room, shelf, box number, etc.) is a wonderful help when decorating.
Have no fear, I've been a regular reader of Chronica for years, having found your blog through Reggie Darling. Oh, how I miss his wit. I look forward to more talk of ornaments perhaps including a picture of your tree with all the new additions
Regards,
Elizabeth Speicher
Oh, my word, what a wonderful system you've devised to catalog, track, store, and access your impressive collection. I applaud you for your dedication in preserving such fragile and enjoyable items that you obviously have no trouble accessing whenever you search for a favorite ornament. Now, when can you come along to my place and sort out my ornament mess (I keep them in acid free paper in shallow plastic boxes - the only plastic to be found in my house!)?
DeleteOn another note, I am flattered that you've read CD for a number of years now and continue to enjoy it. And, yes, I agree RD is indeed missed terribly in the Blogosphere.
PS: Your wish is my command; a tree post is forthcoming but fist I have to get my skates on and decorate it.
These are so beautiful! They will so gorgeous on your tree. What a thrill it must have been for you and your friend to attend the sale!
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas ornaments but I don't have nearly enough. I don't have any antique ornaments even though I love them. I really need to up my ornament game!
I'll take a proper inventory when we put up our tree this Saturday.
Thank you for sharing I always love your Christmas posts xx
Hello Dani, and thank you.
DeleteYes, I think this was the thrill of the century in terms of ornaments for both my friend Jeannette and I, who scour thrift stores, antiques malls, and markets for such pretties.
As I wrote in my post, I was agog at the number of old-fashioned blown glass ornaments were available when I arrived this side of the pond. Back in the UK, these older types are rare and I've concluded that the reason for this is that they were lost during the two World Wars from all the bombing. I would be most interested to learn if you find any in your neck of the woods when you begin your hunt for them.
I am just green with envy! I would have gone to that sale twice or maybe three times! You are correct in stating that those bowls are not "fairy lights" as my ex-husband and I shared a large collection. But as I was perusing the photos, I clicked on the first highlighted link and in a photo almost to the bottom is a green fairy light - the sides have diamond shapes on them. I still have a sizable ornament collection and now maintain them in antique glass apothecary jars I have acquired over time. My very favorites: the very old blown hearts and the "raspberries" - just love them. And I do have one or two ornaments from WWII - they have paper caps. Another point of history: Germany made part of their WWI reparations to the U.S. via those gorgeous ornaments as the demand in the US was huge. I agree that awful bombing created the dearth of ornaments in the UK. We (the US) were so very fortunate.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your spectacular finds!
Hello Susan Ferguson,
DeleteThanks for confirming my theory that the bowls I purchased are not fairy lights. I have seen the ones in the photograph you reference made in various colors and I can only imagine how lovely your collection must be.
So interesting to learn about Germany's reparations and the ornament connection. I had no idea. No wonder there are so many on this side of the pond.
Oh, I pine for those! Our tree is a disaster after years of dogs destroying our beautiful collection from Europe and our current puppy is wreaking havoc! Thank you for the vicarious splendour. Xx
ReplyDeleteHello Jen Lawrence,
DeleteYour dog and tree disaster story has me worried that this year's tree will be of the utmost interest to Norton, our formerly feral feline friend. This will be his first full evergreen tree and I wouldn't want my ornaments meeting the same fate as your collection. Thanks for the warning!
Lucky you and lucky tree! Now your tree will have even more bling and vintage bling at that. One hopes Norton behaves himself and refrains from batting those fragile ornaments around. Will you share a photo of your adorned tree in a future post?
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays!
KL Gaylin
Hello KL Gaylin,
DeleteAh yes, I certainly felt lucky to have stumbled across this once-in-a-lifetime sale, almost hyperventilating with excitement at the vision of thousands of ornaments before me. Norton will, of course, just have to behave himself this year otherwise he'll be on Santa's naughty list. And, yes, I will post pictures of the tree when I get my act together and actually get around to decorating it so please do stay tuned.
Heavens! What a sale that was, and how I am filled with jealousy that it wasn't we who joined you at it. I know that we would have come home with many, many of them. Of course we wouldn't fight you for them, all would be divvied up in true Christmas spirit. Now, THAT was the sale of the century, for sure. As it is, we have more than a thousand ornaments in our collection (and in color-coded boxes as you saw when you visited us this summer), so "need" additional ornaments like a hole in the head... So glad that you were the lucky acquirer of such beautiful ornaments, and thank you for reporting on it to us, your loyal readers.
ReplyDeleteAh, dear Reggie, this was indeed a sale for the ages and one with more than enough goodies to be doled out amongst friends. How marvelous it would have been to have seen you and Boy in action, perusing the scores of ornaments and Christmas decorations and comparing our finds at the end of the sale. The only question I would have asked would have been "But where in the world are you going to store all of your loot?". From memory, your well-organized storage boxes were filled to bursting were they not? And, I beg to differ, Sir. One is always in need of an annual replenishment of fragile baubles, especially if you are anything like me and catch yourself muttering "Oh, butter fingers!", or worse, more than once when decorating the tree.
DeleteThis is above my pay grade. I am still wondering if I should get a tree. I can't be bothered to go into storage to find the tinsel or baubles bc i am trying to put stuff away and it will cause more piles in the house!!!! But I can't wait to see your tree :)
ReplyDeleteHello Naomi,
DeleteWell, you are right about the piles. You should see the explosion of tissue paper around here when the ornament boxes have beeen opened. It really is quite a production and one that makes a pretty mess if ever there was one.
Now, go on and dig out that tinsel and put it to good use!
What an opportunity. I am afraid that I would have bought far more than I should have! I love the old ornaments. On our tree we have the big multi colored lights (none of those little white fairy lights for us), old glass ornaments that we've collected (and some from parents/grandparents) and the rest are "memory" ornaments -- from trips, from friends and silver bells to commemorate important years in our lives. All then covered with real metal tinsel . . . it's an old fashioned tree. You can see a picture of it on my blog: lflinderhof.com
ReplyDeleteHello Linderhof,
DeleteBelieve me, I too would have snapped up more ornaments than I know what to do with but everything was priced accordingly, but fairly, of course. The lady running the sale told me she had sold $80,000 worth of ornaments and decorations the last time I spoke with her, and she still had lots to go.
Your ornaments must give you such joy each year you place them upon the tree, fondly remembering where you acquired them and old family members that once hung them upon their trees.
Thank you for stopping by today and leaving a comment.
Oh wow - what a bounty! I'm afraid I have no vintage ornaments, and that is probably a good thing, as my children still smash the occasional one - they can't keep their hands off them!! My youngest keeps moving the blown glass gingerbread man (his alter ego) around the tree and house. At the moment he is missing...
ReplyDeleteI think true vintage ornaments are such a rarity here - possibly in the US with the great love of decorating for the holidays and the waves of migration from Europe at the turn of last century you have a perfect recipe to find these ornaments. The most vintage you can find here is probably the 50s/60s if you're lucky! Well done, your tree will look amazing! x
Hello Heidi,
DeleteWell, it is not just children that break the odd ornament or two. This year's tally has been three thus far, a personal record, and I've not even decorated the tree yet! Would you believe I put my thumb straight through the center of an indent. It was paper-thin and it is now lost forever. My unhealthy obsession with hunting these delicate beauties down is partly due to the fact that I know a few will break each year as I unwrap them, no matter how careful I am.
I do hope you find your glass gingerbread man soon and replace it upon the tree at a height your little nipper is not able to remove it.
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much, roughterrain crane. I wish you the merrierst of Christmases too!
Delete