• Antique and Vintage Christmas Ornaments
  • People & Characters
  • Santa Figures
  • Animals
  • Birds
  • Fish and Sea Life
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Mushrooms
  • Glass Pinecones
  • Glass Flowers and Plants
  • Russian Space Ornaments
  • Antique Glass Houses
  • Kitchen and Foods Christmas Ornaments
  • Musical Instruments
  • Extra Large Ornaments
  • Mini Ornaments
  • Different Christmas Ornaments
  • Glass Bells
  • Glass Icicles
  • Christmas Tree Beaded Garland
  • Traditional Christmas Ornaments
  • Retro Tree Toppers
  • Vintage Wire-Beaded Decorations
  • Cardboard Dresden Ornaments
  • Antique Cotton and Papier-mache Ornaments
  • Modern Christmas Decorations
  • Foam Plastic Decorations
• Specimen Shells
  • Conidae
  • Cypraeidae
  • Volutidae
  • Muricidae
  • Mixed Specimen Shells
• Exclusive Picture Gallery
• Coins
• Other Collectables
  • Military Collectibles

History of Russian Christmas Tree Ornaments

I would like to share my knowledge about Russian Christmas tree ornaments with everyone who visits our website.

First Russian Christmas ornaments were manufactured in the Russian estate of Prince Menshikov in the first part of the 19th century. There were glass mouth-blown beads and glass balls. This first Russian glass Christmas ornaments were very expensive and never produced in large amounts. And they were mainly bought for the Russian Imperial Court.

Since 1900 years some Russian small private manufacturers launched producing of pressed cotton Christmas ornaments. However, Russia still imported Christmas ornaments from Germany until World War 1st.

First of all, You should do use a term - NEW YEAR TREE ORNAMENTS, if you speak about glass, wire, cotton and/or cardboard ornaments from the former Soviet Union, Russia. Why not to say CHRISTMAS ornaments? Simple, it was not the Christmas in USSR since 1918 until 1990. Since 1929 to year Christmas celebration was prohibited officially in Soviet Union by Soviet communist government during that time’s period. Russian people were not even allowed to celebrate New Year for a long time 1928-1935.

First New Year tree ornaments were produced in Moscow in 1936-1937. And as I already said above, there were 4 kinds of New Year tree ornaments; cotton ornaments, glass ornaments, cardboard ornaments and wire ornaments in 1940s. I have to mention about plastic ornaments that produced in USSR in 1980s too, but of course, same plastic items could not be vintage ornaments at all. Before 1970s all glass ornaments are blown and painted by hand in USSR. Producing cardboard, wire and cotton ornaments was stopped in 1950s.

You cannot see angels or other Bible’s characters, because same ornaments never produced in the former Soviet Union. However, you can watch some of the Russian historic events if you look on many ornaments from the former USSR. A few examples. In 1950s was the "corn period" in the USSR, and many glass corn ornaments were produced during that period. The "space race" between the USSR and the United States of the 1960s and this mean many Russian glass ornaments with Soviet space rockets, Soviet cosmonauts and orbital satellites. Russian Santa figures bird ornaments and animal ornaments were popular among Russian people very.