A Broad Selection of American Vintage Ornaments
Written by: Kevin Milaeger
Now that the weather has cooled I’m sorting through the vintage Christmas ornaments that we’ve acquired since last year. We have a tree full of vintage ornaments at each store already, but we have lot more ornaments to work through and put out. This is an ongoing project and we’ll be adding to the store trees regularly.
Smaller American Indents
Larger American Indents
Assorted American A
Assorted American B
We’re especially pleased to offer a broad selection of American ornaments, mostly from the 40’s through 60’s. A number of these are indents, which are a favorite of collectors because of their increased surface area, and greater reflection, hence more dazzle. Some are quite small, smaller than a golf ball. Some collectors shun the small ornaments, but I like them. You can always find a spot for them, unlike some of the really big ornaments. I think of them as tiny treasures, like a little surprise that you overlooked the first time. A few of these are “sugared,” giving them added texture. Some of the unsilvered small ornaments are nearly gem-like in their coloring.
American Indents A
American Indents B
An interesting category that we see far too little of is one I call “Chinese lanterns.” These come in a variety of shapes, and to me, they suggest those wonderful colorful paper lanterns. The color on some of these is very strong, with little or no fading. Because of their interesting shapes, they add a lot to a tree display.
Chinese Lanterns
"Tree" and "Mushroom"
Some of the names I use to reference different shapes are just names that I came up with. They aren’t real categories, so if you try to search online for them you may not find much. Two such categories are the tree and mushroom ornaments. These are very pleasing shapes, with broad, bold stripes of various colors. I don’t know why, but they are made with much thicker glass than most ornaments, much thicker than those from Europe.
World War II
If you’ve been reading my ornament blogs over the years you probably remember my fondness for “unsilvered” ornaments. These lack the inner silver coating that was not available during the big wars, because the mercury was needed for the war effort. Along with mercury, aluminum was also in short supply during the war, so the caps on some of these are made of paper. I like the idea of seeing though the transparent ornaments and seeing other ornaments. And I like it that they let light through, so the tree is overall brighter. They are particularly effective with white lights. These are almost always colored glass, and we see pretty much all colors. Striping or other decoration often adds to their charm. Some have tinsel inside for additional pizazz.
Hand Painted Unsilvered
Smaller Unsilvered
We’ll have much more to show you in the coming weeks. Please keep in mind that we’re always looking to purchase old glass ornaments. We often get them from estate sales, flea markets, rummage sales and auctions. Perhaps you have a box or two of unwanted ornaments that you’d like to turn into cash. Send us a few pictures if you are interested.
Unsilvered with Tinsel
Unsilvered with Decoration
Please email me if you have any questions or comments. If you are interested in purchasing ornaments pictured in this blog, please contact Nick at 262.693.2040 x101 or info@milaegers.com.
Archives
2024
Oct 23, 2024 - A Broad Selection of American Vintage Ornaments
2023
Dec 13, 2023 - More Great Vintage Ornaments - Just in Time for Christmas
Nov 21, 2023 - An Extraordinary Collection of Vintage Ornaments
Nov 17, 2023 - All-American Vintage Ornaments
Nov 1, 2023 - Lots of Wonderful Vintage Ornaments
Oct 25, 2023 - Vintage Indent Ornaments from the USA and Europe, and an Outlier from Columbia!
2022
Dec. 13, 2022 - Figurals
Dec. 13, 2022 - Indent (Reflector) Ornaments from Europe
Dec. 5, 2022 - Naturalistic Ornaments, Icicles and Houses
Nov. 16, 2022 - European Figural Ornaments
Nov. 8, 2022 - Mostly American Ornaments
2021
Dec. 20, 2021 - Special Vintage Ornaments - Just in Time!
Dec. 2, 2021 - St. Nicholas Eve and WWII Era Vintage Ornaments
Nov. 23, 2021 - Vintage Glass Nipple Ornaments and Teapots
Nov. 10, 2021 - European Indents and Other Treasures!
Oct. 26, 2021 - Vintage Christmas Ornaments — No, its not too early!
2020
Dec. 4, 2020 - Ornaments with History
Nov. 19, 2020 - Sugared Ornaments and Other Delights
Nov. 12, 2020 - Various Indent Ornaments and Some Kitsch
Nov. 6 2020 - American Made Stencil Ornaments
2019
Dec. 19, 2019 - A Little of This, a Little of That---this season's last Blog
Dec. 5, 2019 - German and Polish Glass Ornaments---Teapots, Teardrops, and such
Nov. 26, 2019 - Fanciful Bird Ornaments
Nov. 19, 2019 - Glass Ornaments---"Nipples" and an Assortment of Fanciful Types
Nov. 12, 2019 - American Ornaments---Shiny Brite, Stencil, and Unsilvered
Nov. 4, 2019 - Indented Christmas Ornaments, mostly from Europe
2018
Dec. 20, 2018 - Pine Cones from Christmas Past
Dec. 4, 2018 - The Magic of St. Nicholas Eve
Nov. 29, 2018 - Very Delicate Christmas Ornaments
Nov. 21, 2018 - Something New (but old)! And More Nipple Ornaments
Nov. 9, 2018 - Indented Glass Ornaments-a favorite of mine
2017
Dec 14, 2017 - JUMBO Christmas Ornaments
Dec. 7, 2017 - Granny-esque Ornaments
Nov. 22, 2017 - Glass Bird Ornaments---always a favorite!
Nov. 16, 2017 - The Charm of Beaded Glass Ornaments from Czechoslovakia
2016
Dec. 9, 2016 - All-American Christmas Ornaments
Dec. 5, 2016 - St. Nicholas Eve and All is Well
Nov. 21, 2016 - 1950's Christmas Ornaments
2015
Dec. 18, 2015 - Christmas Ornaments - tea pots, pine cones and music
Dec. 9, 2015 - Architectural Christmas Ornaments
Dec. 2, 2015 - Reflecting on Christmas Ornaments
2014
Dec. 9, 2014 - Fine Old European Ornaments
Nov. 26, 2014 - Christmas Ornaments, all Shiny and Brite
Nov. 18, 2014 - Pine Cone Ornaments - A Symbol of Life
Nov. 11, 2014 - Got Icicles? Winter chill is here
Oct. 23, 2014 - Stripes are In This Year
2013
Dec. 17, 2013 - Clip On Ornaments and the Tree at My House
Dec. 5, 2013 - Musical Ornaments and War Ornaments
Nov. 26, 2013 - Fanciful "Indent" Ornaments from Germany and Poland
Nov. 21, 2013 - Icicles Add Much to the Christmas Tree
Nov. 7, 2013 - Vintage Ornament Miscellany
Oct. 23, 2013 - Year 'Round Christmas Ornaments
2012
Dec. 11, 2012 - The Value of Vertical
Dec. 5, 2012 - Squinting at the Christmas Tree
Nov. 24, 2012 - Affordable Vintage Christmas Ornaments
Nov. 20, 2012 - Marvelous Bibelots
Nov. 14, 2012 - What's New in Old Christmas
Nov. 7, 2012 - Allure of Christmas Past