I just love a good old fashioned vintage / retro Christmas display. I am not talking about grand mas delicate laces or a hand stitched Christmas quilt, although those are wonderful, too. I am talking about the kitschy brightly colored glass ornaments, plastic light up statues, or the popcorn plastic wall hangings.
One of the most iconic vintage Christmas ornament is the Shiny Bright Glass ball ornaments. When I used to spend countless hours, before I became a parent to a little blonde tornado, browsing estate sales and antique shops, I would see these for sale. They are a bit harder to find, these days, but it is still possible to own a set….for a price. Since they are glass, and delicate, not many of the 235,000 ornaments, ordered by Woolworth in 1939, are still around.
The Shiny Brite company was founded by Max Eckardt. He was a German toymaker born in 1890.
“Though Eckardt was from Oberlind, Germany—just 20 miles away from Lauscha, a hub for glass ornament makers—he first trained in the toy industry. In 1926, though, he officially entered the ornament business with his brother, Ersnt, opening a factory in Oberlind, where his relatives and employees hand-decorated the glass balls. His company also had an office in New York City at 1107 Broadway, which later became part of the International Toy Center. Max emigrated to NYC in the late 1920s.
With another war on the horizon, Eckardt feared the United States’ supply of German glass ornaments would be compromised, compelling him to found, in 1937, the Shiny Brite Company. The inspiration for the name is obvious: The insides of the ornaments were coated with silver nitrate so they would stay shiny, season after season.
To keep his company afloat, Eckardt sought the help of New York’s Corning Glass Company in 1937—with the promise that Woolworth’s would place a large order if Corning could modify its glass ribbon machine, which made light bulbs, to produce ornaments. The machine switchover was a success—molten glass was shaped into balls with the help of compressed air—and Woolworth’s ordered more than 235,000 ornaments; in December 1939, the first machine-made batch was shipped to Woolworth’s Five-and-Ten-Cent Stores, where they sold for two to ten cents apiece” ( from CrackerJack23)
What a history! Corning, Woolworth….such iconic companies were involved in getting Shiny Bright a great start! If you would like to read more, and there is a lot more interesting information, please check out the CrackerJack23 blog.
Do you decorate with vintage holiday decorations? What are your favorites? I just love all of them.
Ramblings from a Housewife 