History of Glass Ornaments

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 in a town called Lauscha, Germany. An unknown artisan developed a new blowpipe that helped bring glass blowing into the mainstream. Select this phrase if you would like to see a large selection of Christmas Ornament Sets.

First Glass Blowers.

Christoph Muller and Hans Greiner established the first glassworks at the end of the 16^th century. Later in the 19^th century, Hans Gruiner, a descendant of Hans Greiner, started to make ornaments of fruit and nuts. He used a unique method using hand-blowing and molds to produce his ornaments. He would put lead or mercury inside the ornament to give it a silver appearance. Later he would come to use a mixture of silver nitrate and sugar water. Greiner’s sons and grandsons would carry on the business.

Inge-Glas.

Another well known glass blowing family is the Muller’s. Today the Muller’s are best known for giving us Inge-Glas, probably the best known German glass today. The family has been in the business for over 400 years. They stayed located in Lauscha, Germany until 1951, when the Russian invasion forced 13^th generation descendant Heinz Muller-Blech to flee to Neustadt. Named after Muller-Blechs late wife, Inge, the company still carries on the fine glass blowing tradition.

America and German Glass Ornaments.

By the end of the 19^th 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.

A man by the name of Max Eckardt had been importing German glass since 1907. He saw that a war was on the brim, so he created his own company, Shiny Brite. Because of the war, in 1939, the Corning Glass Company teamed with Eckardt to start producing ornaments commercially. Eckardt was aware they had a ribbon glass blowing machine that produced 2,000 bulbs a minute. Until this time, Corning only produced glass light bulbs. They discovered they could produce ornaments fairly cheaply on their machines. The silver lining of the ornaments, 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. Click to see all our Christmas Decorations Ideas, for the upcoming holiday season.