Christmas Santa

Victorian Christmas Tree Ornaments: Antique Delights

Lots of people enjoy the “sport” of antiquing – searching out rare items that, many times, can be bought for (or haggled down to!) very reasonable prices. At an antique store, one can find many different items in various conditions. In antiquing, the old adage, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, is definitely true. An increasingly popular item among antiquers is Christmas ornaments, especially Victorian Christmas tree ornaments.

Christmas Tree Ornaments from the Victorian Era

The Victorian era – which ran from 1837 all the way to 1901 – is usually associated only with England (logically enough!), but the period also had a huge influence on the United States in terms of tastes and values. Victoria was famously rigid, yet her era also saw extremely fine decorations, and Victorian Christmas tree ornaments often reflect this.

Throughout most of the Victorian era, very few if any people had electricity available. So there were no strings of Christmas lights – instead, candles were used to light up the tree. While very few candles survive from that time, the candles themselves were set in brass candle holders, and those candle holders are now prized as classic Victorian Christmas tree ornaments.

“Father Christmas” was another common theme on classic Victorian Christmas tree ornaments. Although Father Christmas and Santa Claus are really the same person (who was really Saint Nicholas), they do not look at all alike. Rather than the familiar red and white suit with a black belt, Victorian era “Father Christmas” ornaments show figures of a man with an ample white beard and flowing robes, more reminiscent of a wizard or old sage than what we think of as Santa Claus. A fairly large number of Victorian Christmas ornaments that depict this image of Father Christmas are still out there, and you can find them — if you’re willing to look.

One type of Victorian Christmas tree ornaments that are rather hard to come by these days are velvet ribbons. Crimson colored velvet ribbons were prized tree ornaments, and were placed decoratively throughout the Christmas tree. Velvet does not keep for a very long time, so if you do find any examples of these antique Christmas tree ornaments, they will probably need to be restored.

Thus, a simpler option is just to get new velvet for your Christmas decorations and ornaments at a local fabric shop. In fact, if you or someone you know can sew, you can purchase a piece of velvet, cut some strips out of it, then just sew the sides, and you’ve just made your own velvet ribbons. Regardless of how you decide to do it, have fun decorating your Christmas tree! Remember the Internet always has websites available that can help you with any and all of your holiday decorating ideas.