An instant collection of 12 Shiny Brite glass ornaments.

HISTORY:

Born in Germany in 1890, Max Eckardt entered the ornament business with his brother, Ernst, in 1926. In their factory, Max, Ernst and friends, and family made glass ornament balls by hand. The company soon had a United States location. Then, with the rumblings of war on the horizon, Eckardt emigrated to America and partnered with Corning in the U.S. as he anticipated troubles with exporting from Germany. To accommodate the partnership, Corning adapted their process for making lightbulbs into making glass ornaments, and then these ornaments were sent to the Eckardt factory to be painted by hand.

As fortune would have it, his forethought and concerns about a possible war were valid. During World War II, the British Blockade stopped importing European ornaments, and the "American Made" aspect of the now-named "Shiny Brite" ornaments was a huge selling feature. (Aptly named Shiny Brites after the silver nitrate that was used in their making, keeping them forever shiny!)  By 1940, Corning was producing 300,000 ornaments a day, and color options and shapes and sizes began to expand.

Box and ornaments show the normal patina of something this old.

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