Glass Christmas Ornaments.
Ornaments as we know it have come a long way throughout time. Long before the glass ornament, trees were decorated with fruit, nuts, candles, paper ornaments and other candies. In Germany in the 1500s though, the trade of glass blowing soon became popular. An unknown artisan developed a new blowpipe that helped bring glass blowing into the mainstream. Later in the 19th century, a man by the name of Hans Gruiner, started to make ornaments of fruit and nuts. He would put lead or mercury inside the ornament to give it a silver appearance.

America and German Glass Ornaments.
By the end of the 19th century, German ornaments were widely exported. Britain was a major importer after a newspaper printed a photo of Queen Victorias tree. In America, F. W. Woolworth began importing German glass to sell in his Five and Dime stores. Woolworth sold about 25 million dollars worth of ornaments that were priced at 10 cents or below. With the onset of World War I, imports from Germany slowed. At this time other countries got in on the glass ornament trade. Japan began exporting ornaments in 1925. Czechoslovakia began exporting beautifully ornate ornaments. In 1935, nearly 250 million ornaments had been imported to the United States.

Other Glass Blown Ornaments.
Because of the war, in 1939, the Corning Glass Company teamed with Eckardt to start producing ornaments commercially. Until this time, Corning only produced glass light bulbs. They discovered they could produce ornaments fairly cheaply on their machines. The silver lining and even the metal hangers were soon left off because of the lack of material from the war.

Today the United States makes up about 80 percent of the German glass reproduction business. The glass Christmas ornaments we know today have come a long way. Select this page to view our Christmas Decorations Ideas . For more information please go to History of Glass Ornaments.