Shiny Brite Makes Me Happy...



Last night at TJMaxx & Homegoods (what I like to call TJMaxx on steroids)I had an amazing discovery....dun dun dun...Shiny Brite ornaments by Christopher Radko! I was so excited! I got three boxes for a total of 40 ornaments for $38...now that's what I'm talking about. They are in my Christmas colors of pink, teal etc. I know, it's weird that those are my Christmas colors but they are and for me, it makes sense. Ah I'm so excited to decorate for Christmas!!!!!!! But, I can wait...I love fall too much to fast forward to Christmas.

Here's a little history on Shiny Brite ornaments, via good ol' wikipedia:

The Shiny-Brite company produced the most popular Christmas tree ornaments in the United States throughout the 1940's and '50s.

In 1937, Max Eckardt established "Shiny-Brite" ornaments, working with the Corning Glass Company to mass produce glass Christmas ornaments. Eckardt had been importing hand-blown glass balls from Germany since around 1907, but had the foresight to anticipate a disruption in his supply from the upcoming war. Corning adapted their process for making light bulbs to making clear glass ornaments, which were then shipped to Eckardt's factories to be decorated by hand. The fact that Shiny-Brite ornaments were an American-made product was stressed as a selling point during World War II.

Dating of the ornaments is often facilitated by studying the hook. The first Shiny-Brite ornaments had the traditional metal cap and loop, with the hook attached to the loop, from which the ornament was hung from the tree.

Wartime production necessitated the replacement of the metal cap with a cardboard tab, from which the owner would use yarn or string to hang the ornament. These hangers firmly place the date of manufacture of the ornament to the early 1940's.

Following the war, Shiny-Brite introduced a line of ornaments with a newly designed metal hook that provided the user with two lengths of hanger. The long hook traveled through the center of the ornament and exited the bottom, where it attached to the foot of the ornament. This provided the "short" hanger. Unlatched from the bottom, the entire length of the hook was available, allowing the ornament to dangle at a greater distance from the tree limb to which it was attached. This arrangement was designed to allow the ornament to fill sparsely limbed areas of a natural tree.

The increasing popularity of the aluminum artificial Christmas tree, first manufactured in 1958, made this device far less attractive to the consumer, as an artificial tree had no gaps to be filled. The added expense of the lengthy hanging wire coupled with the diminishing need caused this feature to be discontinued in 1960.

The demand for glass ornaments waned as plastic ornaments became more popular, ultimately bringing the Shiny-Brite company to close its doors in 1962.

During its peak, Shiny-Brite had four factories in New Jersey, located in the cities of Hoboken, Irvington, North Bergen, and West New York. The company's main office and showroom were located at 45 East 17th Street in New York City, NY.

Shiny-Brite's most popular ornaments have been reissued by Christopher Radko since 2001.

1 comment:

jjfid said...

What an interesting post! I too love Shiny Brite ornaments! I really enjoyed reading about them. Grandma Bonnie loved them too! Awesome that you bought some! xoxo Love you Rissy!