How to collect a beautiful collection of Christmas tree decorations. Exhibition of Soviet Christmas tree decorations
With age, sometimes an irresistible desire arises to remember your childhood, to feel some nostalgia for the times of the USSR. For some reason, the New Year in the Soviet style most reminds those over thirty of times that, despite the shortage, you remember with rapture of the heart, considering them the best.
Nowadays there is a growing tendency to celebrate the New Year in the style of the USSR. It’s no longer surprising to see a Christmas tree decorated according to the American model in three colors. More and more I want to decorate the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys. And be sure to put cotton wool simulating snow and tangerines under it.
Variety of Christmas tree decorations
Often the Christmas tree in Soviet families was decorated with an abundance of toys and decorations. Particularly noteworthy are the clothespin toys, which are very convenient to attach to the middle of a Christmas tree branch. They were presented in all sorts of forms: Santa Claus, Snowman, Snow Maiden, candle, matryoshka.
The balls, as now, were of different sizes, but the unique highlight was in the balls with round hollows, into which the light of the garlands fell, creating a fabulous illumination throughout the Christmas tree. There were also phosphor patterned balls that glowed in the dark.
Since the New Year begins at midnight, toys in the form of watches were produced. They were given a central place on the tree. Often, such Soviet Christmas tree decorations were hung at the very top, just below the top of the head, which was certainly decorated with a red star - the main Soviet symbol.
Christmas decorations of those times were also represented by decorations made from large glass beads and beads. They were usually hung on the lower or middle branches. Old Soviet toys, especially pre-war ones, are carefully stored and passed on from grandmothers to grandchildren.
From icicles, houses, clocks, animals, balls, stars, a unique design was made.
Was it raining?
There was no such fluffy and voluminous rain as there is now during Soviet socialism. The Christmas tree was decorated with vertical rain and beads. A little later, horizontal rain appeared, but it was not thick and voluminous. Some voids on the tree were filled with garlands and candies.
For a few days, you can feel the atmosphere of the Soviet Union with the help of a Christmas tree decorated in retro style. Unique Soviet-era Christmas tree decorations, decorations and tinsel should be looked for in the bins of our grandmothers or purchased at city flea markets. By the way, auctions and online stores are being created online for the purchase, sale and exchange of Christmas tree decorations from the USSR era. Some even collect such toys, many of which are already considered antiques.
All that remains is to decorate the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys, turn on the Irony of Fate and for a second remember your childhood.
Many of us have somewhere on the mezzanine or in the closet a box with old Christmas tree decorations that our grandparents used. It is so? Usually we don’t even think about the fact that such toys can be truly valuable, not only because of the memories, but because they have now become collectible.
Many of us still have old Christmas tree decorations at home. The same ones that our grandparents used to decorate the Christmas tree for the New Year. Usually we take them out of the box and don’t even think about their value. This happened to 56-year-old Vladimir Schneider from Yekaterinburg. 
The same ones that our grandparents used to decorate the Christmas tree for the New Year
BIG jackpot in a SMALL PANTRY
Vladimir is a retired Airborne Forces colonel. All my life I wandered around garrisons. And recently I decided to settle in my native Yekaterinburg. This is where he has his parents' apartment. The property has been empty for four years...
- When I moved, I started a major renovation. I started sorting out the deposits of old things. My mother was very thrifty - she didn’t allow anyone to throw anything away,” says Vladimir. - And my mother’s pantry was generally a place “with seven locks.” She didn’t let anyone in there, even just to see what was there.
On the dusty mezzanines, Vladimir found several cardboard boxes. They contained golden glass cones, Christmas tree balls with a lace pattern, figurines of snowmen, fairy-tale characters, carefully wrapped in paper... More than a hundred toys. 
The same toys that our grandparents used to decorate the Christmas tree for the New Year
- At first I grabbed my head: “Where are there so many of them?” Not a single tree can stand it,” Vladimir laughs. - I decided to throw it away. Yes, it was a pity - after all, my mother had been collecting them for so many years. Give it to me, I think I'll sell it. I'll help you out a penny, no matter what. I went online to see how much this stuff could be sold for. And gasped! Some toys from the 50s sold for 50,000, while others sold for 100,000! It turns out that I found a whole “treasure”!
LOOK FOR BUNNY ON CLOTHESPENS
It turned out that at auctions collectors are ready to pay several thousand for rare Christmas tree decorations. For example, a hut on a clothespin is bought for 5,000 rubles apiece, but for an “Stargazer” from the 50s you can get up to 50,000 rubles... 
Some toys from the 50s sold for 50,000, while others sold for 100,000!
- The first Christmas tree was decorated in 1937. Then they made cotton toys more often, for example, “Girl on a swing.” Her outfit is made of fabric, her face is made of papier-mâché and painted. This is a real “retro,” explains antiques expert Vyacheslav Srebny. – Antique experts estimate it at about 5,000 rubles. But on the Internet, collectors are ready to pay all 150,000 rubles for such a thing!
According to Vyacheslav, glass toys, which began to be made in the 50s, are especially popular. Moreover, products on clothespins are valued twice as much as on hanging ones. 
Then they made cotton toys more often, for example, “Girl on a swing”
- These toys were painted by hand, you definitely won’t find two identical ones. For each of them you can earn 1500 rubles. Handmade toys have a price 10 times higher than the factory price, continues Vyacheslav. – Toy collections are especially valued. For example, the collection “Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish,” which was released in the year of the 150th anniversary of Pushkin’s birth. It is very difficult to collect them together; collectors hunt for them. I saw one toy being sold on the Internet for 22,000 rubles.
For clarity, Vyacheslav takes out a large Santa Claus from the box. It was made in the 50s. Srebny was lucky - he bought it from unknowing people for only 1,500 rubles. Now you can sell it for 8000. 
It turned out that at auctions collectors are ready to pay several thousand for rare Christmas tree decorations
According to the expert, the cost of a toy is affected by its condition: chips can reduce its price by even 90 percent. A crack on a toy, even if it has been thoroughly glued, reduces the price by 70 percent. If the paint is worn off, then it will be minus 30, if it completely flies away, then it will be minus 50.
Determining the year of manufacture of a toy is not easy if it is not indicated on the product. But there are catalogs with the history of releases from manufacturing factories. For example, the guide catalog “Christmas tree decorations 1936-1970” with pictures, descriptions and the exact date of release.
The rarest toys today are those made from cotton wool. Behind them come glass, then paper and cardboard, and finally foam. 
The children really liked the old New Year's toys
And already in the 80s, the production of New Year's decorations was put on stream, millions of glass balls “scattered across the country,” and now they are in almost every home. Glass colorful balls now cost 100-200 rubles.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Schneider, having learned about the high cost of his collection, is in no hurry to say goodbye to it. Who knows, maybe in ten years they will increase in price even more?
“I’m not dependent on money,” the pensioner says firmly. – Therefore, I will leave these beautiful Christmas tree decorations to my grandchildren! And if they want, let them sell... 
These toys were painted by hand; you definitely won’t find two identical ones. For each of them you will be paid 5,000 rubles
Green beauties were decorated with papier-mâché toys even before the revolution. Balls with stars, a sickle and a hammer appeared later, in the late 30s of the last century. Then toys in the form of stars and astronauts, glass corn and even an Olympic bear were hung on the Christmas trees. In general, all the symbols of our history are collected here. The exhibition features Christmas tree decorations with Soviet symbols: balls with a star, hammer and sickle, toys symbolizing achievements in the field of aeronautics - airships with the inscription "USSR". Almost all the toys at the exhibition are handmade. They were produced in a handicraft and semi-handicraft way. Therefore, even if they were the same shape, all the figures were painted by hand and in different ways, with different colors, with different ornaments. The exhibition, of course, would not be complete without Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, Christmas tree decorations in the form of birds, animals, cones, icicles and glass garlands.
Mounted Christmas tree decorations from the 1920s to the 50s were made by assembling glass tubes and beads using wire. Mounted toys in the form of pendants, parachutes, balloons, airplanes, stars. The technology for making mounting Christmas tree decorations came to us from Bohemia, where they appeared at the end of the 19th century.
The theme of musical instruments is reflected in Christmas tree decorations from the 1940s to the 60s. Christmas tree decorations in the form of mandolins, violins, and drums are distinguished by their perfect shape and unique hand-painting.
With the release of the film "The Circus" in 1937, all kinds of clowns, elephants, bears and other circus-themed toys gained great popularity.
The animal world around us is reflected in Christmas tree decorations - bears, bunnies, squirrels, foxes, birds give the New Year tree a special charm. Released in the 1950-60s of the last century.
The underwater world is also reflected in the Christmas tree decorations - all kinds of fish with bright colors and unusual shapes. Released in the 1950s-70s of the last century.
At the end of the 30s, a series of Christmas tree decorations on an oriental theme were released. Here are Aladdin, and old man Hottabych, and oriental beauties... These toys are distinguished by oriental filigree of shape and hand-painting.
What is New Year without a snow-covered hut, a Christmas tree in the forest and Santa Claus. The sculptural forms of the huts and the stylization of a roof covered with shiny snow create a unique New Year's mood. Released in the 1960s and 70s.
Christmas tree decorations depicting household items - teapots, samovars - began to appear in the 1940s. They are distinguished by fluidity of form and hand-painting with bright colors.
Santa Clauses made of papier-mâché and cotton wool were the base figures of the Christmas tree assortment in the 1940s-60s. They were called stand-shaped because they were mounted on a wooden stand and installed under the tree. Since the late 1960s, with the development of plastic and rubber production in the USSR, stand figures were made from these materials in a wider range.
And with the release of the film "Carnival Night" in 1956, "Clock" toys were released with hands set to 5 minutes to midnight.
Symbols of the Soviet state appeared on Christmas tree decorations in the 1920s and 30s. These were balls with stars, a sickle and a hammer, “Budenovtsy”.
With the development of astronautics and Yu. Gagarin's flight into space, a series of Cosmonauts toys was released in the 1960s. Christmas tree decorations with a sports theme were released in honor of the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow. A special place among them is occupied by the “Olympic Bear” and the “Olympic Flame”.
Christmas tree decorations “Tops” in the shape of a lance are associated with the design of military helmets from the times of the Kaiser’s Germany: lance-shaped tops for Christmas trees were made there. The Christmas tree toy "Bell" was produced in the 1970s. Thick glass jewelry was made in the first half of the 20th century. Since the glass in those days was thick, with a lead coating on the inside, the weight of the toys was quite significant. Mostly toys depict owls, leaves, balls.
In the early 1950s, Christmas tree decorations associated with China were released - lanterns stylized as Chinese and with the inscription "Beijing" or simply painted in different variations. Interior items (lamps), nesting dolls and children's toys were also reflected in the form of Christmas tree decorations of the 1950s and 60s.
The Christmas tree decorations presented in the exhibition are made using the Dresden cartonage technique, which appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Factories in Dresden and Leipzig produced embossed figures glued together from two halves of convex cardboard, tinted with gold or silver paint. Dresden craftsmen were famous for their particular variety, elegance and finesse of work.
Christmas tree decorations from papier-mâché were made until the middle of the 20th century (papier-mâché is paper pulp mixed with glue, plaster or chalk and coated with Berthollet salt for shine and density). Mostly the figurines depicted people, animals, birds, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables. Toys made from laminated cardboard depict houses, lanterns, bonbonnieres, baskets, etc. They are made using the following technology: cardboard is cut out along the cutting contour using die-cutting tools and glued with wood glue. The finishing materials are different types of paper and textiles. Flag garlands were very popular in the 1930s and 40s. They were made of colored paper with a printed multi-color design.
The cardboard Christmas tree decorations presented in the exhibition are made using the “Dresden cartonage” technique, which appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In our country, after 1920, cardboard Christmas tree decorations were made in private workshops and consisted of two pieces of cardboard glued together with a slight convexity in the form of a pattern. They were covered with foil, silver or colored, and then spray painted with powder paints. As a rule, the figurines depicted heroes of Russian folk tales “Kolobok”, “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “At the Pike’s Command...”, as well as animals, fish, butterflies, birds, cars, ships, stars, etc. Cardboard Christmas tree decorations were produced in the USSR until the 1980s.
Toys in the form of fruits and berries (grapes, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, lemons) were made after the Great Patriotic War. In the sixties, during the reign of Khrushchev, agricultural-themed toys predominated: eggplants, tomatoes, onions, beans, peas, tomatoes, carrots and corn, cobs of all sizes and colors.
The first Christmas tree “traffic lights” of the 1930s were made for educational purposes, precisely repeating the location of the signal by color. But the “traffic lights”, which were released in the 1960s, have only a decorative purpose - the signals light up in random order. Silver hoof, three girls at the window, Chernomor - characters from famous fairy tales. These toys were released in the 1960s and 70s.
A series of Christmas tree decorations based on the fairy tale "Cipollino" by J. Rodari was released in the 1960s, when the book was translated into Russian. Ruler Lemon, Cipollino, Cipollone, lawyer Green Peas, Doctor Artichoke and other characters - these toys are distinguished by sculpture and realistic painting.
Aibolit, the owl Bumba, the monkey Chichi, the pig Oink-Oink, the dog Ava, the sailor Robinson, the parrot Carudo, the Lion - characters from the fairy tale "Aibolit". Issued in the 1930-60s.
Over the past 20 years, he has been collecting and restoring old children's toys, with a special love for Christmas tree decorations. His extensive collection contains about three thousand old New Year's toys, which found their home in a small room in the Palace of Pioneers on Sparrow Hills. Among the rare exhibits of Sergei Romanov are toys made from the 1830s–1840s until the collapse of the USSR, as well as papier-mâché toys from the 50s. We invite you to plunge into the atmosphere of magic and look at ancient Christmas tree decorations from the past.
Angel, early 20th century
Boat. Late 19th - early 20th century
Christmas grandfather. Glass. Late 19th - early 20th century
Boy skiing, glass balls. Late 19th - early 20th century
Children on a sled. Cotton toys with porcelain faces. Late 19th - early 20th century
Christmas grandfather. Cotton toy, chromolithography. Late 19th - early 20th century
Star. Mounted toy. Glass. Late 19th - early 20th century
Christmas grandfather. Chromolithograph. Late 19th - early 20th century
Ball in honor of the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution. Glass. 1937
Letter from Santa Claus. New Year card. Mid-20th century
Father Frost. Cotton toy 1930-1940
Snow Maiden. Cotton toy. 1930-1950
Locomotive. Embossed cardboard. 1930-1940
Airships. Glass. 1930-1940
Watch. Glass. 1950-1960
Hare with a drum. Glass. 1950-1970
Clown with a pipe. Glass. 1950-1970
Glass toys 1960-1980
Lady with a snowball. Porcelain doll. Late XIX - beginning
New Year tree with cotton toys. Second half of the 1930s
To this day, Christmas tree decorations, which many still decorate Christmas trees with, remind us of our happy childhood. But not everyone knows that these toys are mostly considered antiques and can cost a lot of money.
Of course, the price includes the rarest and most complete toys from the 40s to the 70s. And here we will show you for which toys true connoisseurs of beauty and collectors are ready, without hesitation, to pay a tidy sum.
1. New Year's abstraction.
Such abstract icicles, airplanes and pendulums have recently begun to attract collectors, so their prices have almost doubled.
2. Christmas tree jewelry.
Beads for the New Year tree are a rarity today. At modern holidays they have been replaced by tinsel and rain. But true connoisseurs of the warmth of the holiday of bygone childhood will be very happy to buy such decorations and offer an amount several times higher than their real cost.
3. Antique lighting.
Today we are accustomed to seeing the same type of diode lights on Christmas trees, blinking in different colors and speeds, but in Soviet times there was a completely different approach to Christmas tree lights. Therefore, such a beautiful garland simply looks like a work of art, for which it is worth paying a lot of money.
4. The symbols of the USSR are valuable.
Collectors diligently search for airships with Soviet symbols and balloons with the communist red star. Such toys are not uncommon, but true connoisseurs will pay double the amount for their good condition.
5. Sweet house.
Huts with a snow-covered roof are exactly what you can get a tidy sum for.
7. Clothespins with decor.
Clothespin toys in the form of various figures were produced in small quantities over a period of time, so today they are considered relatively rare. If their condition is satisfactory, then you can easily earn extra money. Take a look to see if there is something similar lying around in your grandmother’s chest. For example, for such a Little Red Riding Hood, the seller can ask for at least 1.5 thousand rubles.
8. Clock for the Christmas tree.
No matter how strange it may sound, Soviet Christmas tree toys in the form of clocks are in price today. Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of them, collectors are willing to pay for them, since they vary in design and color scheme.
8. The most expensive of the cheapest materials.
You will be surprised, but the most expensive Christmas tree decorations are considered to be handmade dolls made from corrugated paper and cotton wool. These dolls were among the first to appear on New Year trees in the USSR. Today they are very rare, as they are made from materials that do not last long, unlike glass or plastic. Their price starts on average from 4-5 thousand rubles.
9. Valuable locomotive.
These steam locomotives from the 40s made of cardboard with a silver coating, a communist star and the inscription “Steam Locomotive I. Stalin” have gone down in price not far. These toys were produced in limited editions, and very few of them have survived to this day.
