Christmas in July - Day 27: Did You Know???

These Fun Facts about Holiday Ornaments...

Photo from Victoriana.com

The earliest ornaments for sale in stores were flat lead stars, crosses, butterflies and diamonds. They were popular in the U. S. between 1870 and 1890. The first blown-glass ornaments were sold in America. They were not the thin bubbles we see today, but very thick.

Photo from davidpoolantiques.com

Other early ornaments included flying angels and animals made of wax. Angels had cardboard wings and their clothes were made from tinsel and ribbon.

Photo from davidpoolantiques.com

In 1875, Celluloid ornaments were popular, even though they were a fire hazard. These included soldier, doll and birdhouse ornaments.

Celluloid Santa Clause. 10” high. Stamped on carton base “Japan”.
Celluloid face, papier mache limbs. Stuffed torso, cotton clothing, wool beard. Credit: Garth’s Auctions.

In 1880, Frank Woolworth reluctantly decided to sell ornaments in his 14 Woolworth’s stores. Little did he know that before long he would be ordering 200,000 ornaments each year!

Photo from davidpoolantiques.com

Other ornaments to appear next included: gold and silver camels, pianos and sailboats; big, fluffy, cotton-stuffed Santas and angels; glass bead stars; Japanese lanterns and parasols; hand-blown glass fruit, vegetables, fish and storybook characters.

In 1892, Christmas-tree hooks were invented! WOW!

In 1910, Sears added ornaments to its mail-order catalog.

It was 1918 before American companies began to make ornaments. They did so because of World War l; the U.S. would not accept German goods.

Photo from davidpoolantiques.com

The first silver foil icicles were very popular in 1878. Americans would be the first to make some that would not tarnish. In 1960, they were no longer made from lead; manufacturers switched to mylar because of the danger of lead poisoning. The first “angel hair” appeared in 1880; tinsel garlands in the 1890s.

Facts are from book entitled "The Most Amazing Book of Florida Christmas Trivia" by Carole Marsh.

We're still celebrating Christmas until the end of the month. Hope you are hanging in there...the best is yet to come : ) Sb