‘Tis the season to be jolly-especially if you’re among the many collectors of vintage Christmas ornaments.
Evanston resident Elaine Disch has been collecting vintage and antique ornaments for 13 years.
“This is my favorite time of year,” she says. “I can bring out all my holiday treasures to share with others, which is really what Christmas is all about.”
Each year Disch puts up in her home a dozen or more live and artificial Christmas trees of different sizes. Each tree is trimmed with ornaments from the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Disch has nearly 600 vintage ornaments in her collection, including some rather unusual pieces, such as spun-cotton fruit from the late 1800s, clip-on birds with spun-glass tails from the 1920s and glass Santas from around the turn of the century. Disch also has “snow-covered” cardboard-box houses with celluloid windows that can be lighted from within, which were made in Japan and Germany in the early 1900s.
Bob Brenner of Princeton, Wis., has one of the largest ornament collections in the United States, with more than 85,000 pieces. A majority of the ornaments are from the 1800s to the mid-1900s.
Brenner got hooked on collecting in 1960 when he stumbled across a box of antique ornaments at an auction for a few dollars.
“I liked the old ornaments because they helped me decorate my tree so it looked more like what I remember my grandmother having,” Brenner says. “Pretty soon we had three trees, and what happened after that my wife is still trying to figure out.”
Today the couple decorates 37 trees, many with themes, such as one that features only Santas. This year Brenner will introduce a Polish theme-one tree will be trimmed with handblown-glass ornaments and paper stars made in Poland until the late 1920s.
Brenner shares his passion for ornaments with the public by opening his home-every square foot is decorated-for tours each December.
“I’m a historical collector, so I want people to enjoy the ornaments and decorations, but also learn something about them,” he says.
Collectors who like the vintage look, but don’t have the time or money to invest in finding antique ornaments, often focus their efforts on good reproductions of Old World ornaments. Christopher Radko is one of the more popular designers of old-fashioned-looking European glass ornaments.
At the Pine Cone Christmas Shop in Long Grove, a year-round holiday collectible store, manager Bob Bukowski stocks many Victorian- and Old World-styled ornaments, some designed exclusively for the shop by a Polish artisan who makes hand-painted glass ornaments. These sell for $13 to $22 each.
“Anything nostalgic, Victorian or European-looking is very popular,” said Bukowski.
Rita Bucheit, owner of Rita Bucheit Ltd. Antiques Gallery in Chicago, discovered a treasure trove of Old World-styled ornaments on a trip to her native Austria several years ago. She met a family in Salzburg who uses authentic 18th Century molds to create large beeswax ornaments that are then hand-painted in great detail by artisans. The ornaments, which range in height from 2 inches to 10 inches, come in a wide variety of designs, from Biblical figures to a bust of Mozart.
Bucheit keeps many of her pieces on display all year, and the Austrian family who creates these art pieces makes her several hundred to sell exclusively through her shop each Christmas. About a dozen or so of her customers have become avid collectors of the ornaments and eagerly anticipate their arrival from Austria each November. The pieces range in price from about $75 to $260.
What to look for
Brenner notes that the most coveted of Christmas collectibles include pre-1900 spun-cotton ornaments in the shape of human figures and Dresden ornaments. Manufactured in Dresden and Leipzeig, Germany, from Victorian times until World War I, these hand-detailed ornaments feature all sorts of intricate designs, from animals and people to carriages and musical instruments. Rare, high-quality Dresden ornaments can sell for many hundreds of dollars.
Also, Brenner says, Christmas ornaments from the 1950s are developing a following among a new generation of collectors looking to capture holiday memories from their own youth.
To locate vintage ornaments, Disch, Brenner and other collectors recommended house sales, auctions, antique stores and flea markets. A reputable dealer who specializes in holiday collectibles also can be a good source.
Reproduction pieces are carried in most places that sell fine Christmas ornaments, as well as some antique shops.
The forecast
Disch notes that prices of vintage and antique ornaments have risen dramatically over the last 10 years.
“Old ornaments have escalated in price because interest in them has increased,” Disch says. “More and more people seem to want things that take them back to their childhood, and as a result, the ornaments are getting much harder to find.”
She advises collectors to buy vintage ornaments for love rather than investment purposes. They also should consider the condition and fragility of antique ornaments before they buy, she says.
“These old ornaments are often very fragile,” she explains. “The truth is, the attrition rate on them is unfortunately very high, no matter how careful you are.”
Disch says special care should be taken when storing vintage ornaments. Place them in strong cardboard boxes or special storage boxes, which are available at hardware stores and other shops that specialize in containers or storage systems.
She also recommends wrapping each ornament separately in paper towels or packing materials and storing them away from potential water- or heat-damage sources.
To learn more
– The Golden Glow Christmas Past Club, c/o Robert Dullage, 6401 Winsdale Ave., Golden Valley, Minn. 55427. The club’s $20 annual membership includes a bimonthly collectors’ newsletter on vintage Christmas memorabilia and where to find it, plus invitations to regional and national conventions.
– Dunning’s Auction House, 755 Church Rd., Elgin, 708-741-3483. The auction house has several major auctions of vintage and Christmas collectibles each year, and will appraise items as well.
– The Pine Cone Christmas Shop, 210 Robert Parker Coffin Rd., Long Grove, 708-634-0890.
– Rita Bucheit Ltd., 449 N. Wells St., 312-527-4080.
– Bob Brenner’s Christmas Open House, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 27 and 28, 316 W. Main St., Princeton, Wis. 54968, 414-295-3009. Admission: $2, benefits local Catholic schools. One of the biggest private collections of Christmas memorabilia in the country displayed publicly.
Suggested reading materials:
– “Christmas Past” by Robert Brenner (Schiffer Publishing, $24.95) is a comprehensive guide to quality vintage and antique ornaments and includes information about their rarity and potential worth.
– “Christmas Ornaments, Lights and Decorations” by George Johnson (Collector Books, a division of Schroeder Publishing, $19.95) includes detailed descriptions and other information on all types of Christmas collectibles.
– “Christmas Collectibles” by Margaret and Kenn Whitmeyer (Collector Books, a division of Schroeder Publishing, $19.95) is a comprehensive guide to ornaments, decorations, lights and other Christmas memorabilia.
