Description
c1880's 6" Antique Kugel Christmas ornament Mercury glass ball. Very thick<br>antique glass guaranteed authentic. Good condition with no chips, cracks, or<br>dings, very clean 140 or so year old mirroring.<br><br>Holiday trees in 1840 were adorned with apples, gilded and natural fruits and<br>nuts, cookies, popcorn and cranberries, as well as homemade paper items,<br>candles, cornucopias, and presents. It was during this decade that the first<br>commercially produced Christmas decorations appeared. In 1848, the first glass<br>ornament, a kugel, appeared in Germany. The kugel was a large hollow ball<br>ranging in size from 1 inch to 18 inches. Smaller ones were used for tree<br>decorations. The blown, molded, figural glass ornaments that we are familiar<br>with today evolved from the tradition of blowing kugels. These ornaments were<br>not sold in America until 1880.<br><br>Kugel is a German word that means "ball" and can be used to describe any type of<br>ball-like object. Collectors used this term to describe any early thick glass<br>ornament with a decorative cap. Early Kugels were too heavy to hang on tree<br>branches; instead they were suspended from the ceiling. Soon after their<br>invention, the Germans decided small Kugels should adorn tree boughs in shapes<br>such as grapes, berry clusters, apples and pears. F. W. Woolworth is given<br>credit for bringing Kugels to America in the 1880s. His initial investment of<br>$25 turned into sales of at least $25 million worth of Kugels over the next<br>several years.<br>isshelf
