With age, sometimes there is an irresistible desire to remember your childhood, to feel a certain nostalgia for the times of the USSR. For some reason, the New Year in the Soviet manner most reminds those over thirty of the times that, despite the deficit, you remember with ecstasy, considering them the best.

Now there is a growing tendency to celebrate the New Year exactly in the style of the USSR. A Christmas tree dressed up according to the American model in three colors is no longer surprising. More and more I want to decorate the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys. And by all means put cotton wool, imitating 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 ornaments. Special attention should be paid to clothespins toys, which are very convenient to attach to the middle of a Christmas tree branch. In the form of what only they were not presented: Santa Claus, Snowman, Snow Maiden, candle, matryoshka.

The balls, as now, were of different sizes, but a 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 balls with a phosphoric pattern that glowed in the dark.

Since the New Year comes at midnight, toys in the form of clocks 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 crown, which, of course, was decorated with a red star - the main Soviet symbol.

Even Christmas tree decorations of those times were represented by ornaments made of 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 one was obtained.

Was it raining?

There was no such fluffy and voluminous rain as now during Soviet socialism. The tree was decorated with vertical rain and beads. A little later, a horizontal rain appeared, but it was not thick and voluminous. Some of the gaps in 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 dressed up in a retro style. Unique Christmas tree decorations of Soviet times, ornaments 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 for the purchase, sale and exchange of Christmas tree decorations of the USSR era are being created on the network. Some even collect such toys, many of which are already considered antiques.

It remains only to dress up the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys, turn on the Irony of Fate and for a second remember your childhood.

Collector Sergei Romanov: "There are very rare items - Hold-Grab dog and Leek"

New Year is a holiday outside of time and politics. It would seem that. But everything that has happened in our country over the past hundred years is reflected in the Christmas tree decoration. Sergey Romanov, one of the most famous collectors of Christmas tree decorations in Russia, told us about the most unique specimens.

Photo from personal archive

From golden angels, homemade nuts and candy beads to colorful balloons "Glory to the USSR", glass astronauts and workers with collective farmers ...

“During the Civil War, at the end of the 30s, even a ball appeared on which a battle of our plane with a fascist one was depicted, and ours, of course, knocked out the enemy,” says Sergei Romanov, a toy historian, an artist-restorer. In his collection there are more than 3000 copies.

And if you add here also other Soviet toys that are not related to the New Year holidays, you get over 12 thousand. "But Christmas trees are a special topic!" - emphasizes the collector.

Photo from personal archive

Everyone remembers the anecdote about fake Christmas tree toys. Beautiful, shiny. But they are not encouraging - that's all! In fact, before we rejoiced not toys, but our childhood. What do you think, Sergei Gennadievich, is this so?

Love for Christmas tree decorations is special. In any home, they remain from grandmothers and grandfathers, they are also taken out only once a year, it turns out that this is also a kind of continuous connection between generations.

I was born in the 70th year, from childhood I remember that there was Santa Claus, reindeer. An unforgettable miracle! When I got a little older, busy parents often sent me to sit with a neighbor, the boy had to do something, and the neighbor, Aunt Olya, took out from under the sofa a large suitcase with antique Christmas tree decorations. Summer, heat - and these magical toys from my aunt's suitcase.

At home, I shared my impressions with my parents, and suddenly they tell me that we also have such beauty, grandmother's toys. "Why don't we hang them on the tree?" - "But they are already old ..." Dad climbed onto the mezzanine - and for the first time I saw things completely different in their aesthetics ...

Photo from personal archive

- That is, the neighbor is “to blame” for the fact that you became a collector of toys?

If not for Aunt Olya, there would have been something else, probably. Since childhood, I have been amazed by the world of old things and photographs from an old album covered with a calico.

In the life of any little person, one day a wonderful discovery comes - when he suddenly learns that both mom and dad, and even grandparents were also small ... “Here is your grandmother in the photo, she is 5 years old. And on the other she is already 25. ” How can this be? This is a delightful revelation! What was the time of other children and other toys ...

This is how my acquaintance with the history of the family began. I tirelessly asked to show things from that distant era, to find them, and indeed my grandmother had not only Christmas decorations, but also old dolls, perfect beauties with papier-mâché bodies and fragile porcelain heads, and much more.

Photo from personal archive

- Is that how your collection began?

Rather, it was the first push. I was fourteen years old when a kitten that was then living in our apartment knocked over a Christmas tree ... Much broke. And then friends and relatives simply brought us their toys so that the holiday would still take place.

People close to me both then and now were not indifferent to my interest. But in high school, many did not understand my hobby, I had to resist ridicule. The first pieces of the collection were selected according to the principle "like it or not." Of course, over time it grew into amateurism. I am actually forming a museum fund.

My collection is now of museum value. And at any moment it can become such a museum. Exhibitions are also held regularly. Right now, for example, in Kolomenskoye there is an exhibition called “Another Childhood” - toys from the 1920s and 1950s are displayed there.

Photo from personal archive

They are antiques. Anything older than half a century is antiques. That is, all toys made before the 65th year are of interest to collectors. For some reason, jewelry made of cotton wool is considered especially expensive and rare, and even made in Leningrad, they were not supplied to Moscow during the Soviet era, they went only to the regions, Ukrainian toys of the Klavdiev factory are also valued. The cost of especially rare specimens reaches 25-30 thousand rubles, sometimes higher.

It happens that several dozen collectors fight for a rare toy at once. Of course, there are serious people, and there are those who collect according to the principle of "sandbox syndrome" - since a neighbor has a car, then I want the same one. Actually, nothing has changed - even though the children have grown up.

Photo from personal archive

- I want - that's all ?!

Of course, the market dictates its own laws. There are also truly unique things. In general, the prices for toys rose sharply because of the American Kim Balashak, she specially came to in the mid-90s and just bought everything she saw at the Izmailovo opening day. The merchants figured it out right away.

In those years, there was also a famous flea market in the Tishinsky market. Christmas toys were seasonal goods on her, and the prices for them were quite affordable, then the first online auctions appeared - and the value of some lots skyrocketed.

Kim Balashak really got carried away with collecting our New Year's toys, but sometimes she simply did not know their history, our national mentality, balls with portraits of Lenin and Stalin could still be somehow identified, but the way she described some toys looks like an anecdote.

Photo from personal archive

So, Kim acquired a series consisting of several characters: a fox-football player, a hare-football player, a wolf-football player, a bear-football player ... And I look and understand: this is a fairy tale about a bun!

Or Nekrasov's "little man with a fingernail" was once called a mule driver. So it is not always possible for foreigners to understand our Russian toys and their meaning. This is part of our culture.

- They say that the first fakes of Soviet Christmas tree decorations appeared at about the same time.

Yes, these were primarily cotton toys. The manufacturing technology there is quite simple. It is almost impossible to counterfeit glass! If only to repaint the existing balls under the old patterns.

Kim Balashak paid well for anything, so this type of scam flourished. After Kim left, forging such things became unprofitable - it is much more profitable to make your own original remakes of old, sometimes even pre-revolutionary copies.

So the toys of the tsarist times survived? Probably, we are the only country in the world where the “Christmas tree” link between generations was interrupted by wars and revolutions. There was no time for toys ...

Not many glass ones survived. But there were different things in terms of technology. Firstly, from embossed cardboard, this is a thick-walled cardboard, which was made in a special way, there were surprise toys - there, like in a pencil case, you could hide something of your own. They were wadded, made of papier-mâché. There were also dolls with porcelain heads ... The tradition of glass Christmas tree decorations arose not so long ago - around the 60s of the 19th century.

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- And the Germans were the first to make them?

The following legend has survived: in the city of Laushe, where the glass production was located, one poor glassblower had no money at all to buy gifts for his children. And, in order not to return home empty-handed, he blew out figured toys, balls, pendants, they could be hung on a Christmas tree. On a holiday, neighbors came to him and were delighted with such beauty, they began to make orders.

The poor glassblower became rich, and glass New Year's toys appeared in the world. The factory in Lauscha is still in operation. The Germans captured in the First World War taught Russian craftsmen to make such jewelry.

Usually, toys were ordered from catalogs to wealthy houses. And those who could not afford it hung delicacies on the tree - cookies, sweets, nuts in gold foil. But the “tasty” toys lost out by the fact that they were immediately eaten. Remember Hoffmann's The Nutcracker: the kids burst into the hall with a Christmas tree with laughter, instantly cut off all the branches, and the bare trunk is thrown away at the same hour. But I wanted a longer holiday, contemplation of the tree, admiring it.

So, advice on how to make long-lasting jewelry appeared in women's magazines: weld a paste, take a wire, wrap it with cotton wool, sprinkle it with crushed mica on top - such "recipes" were published by all self-respecting women's publications in those days. Although the traditions of edible toys have been preserved for a long time. Remember the story of Mikhail Zoshchenko, written in the 1920s, about Lelia and Mitya, who ate the Christmas tree?

- But after the revolution, the tree suddenly suddenly turned out to be outlawed. As a bourgeois relic and class enemy.

Not right away. As we know, Lenin arranged a Christmas tree for children in Sokolniki. But from about the 27th year, the tree really fell out of favor, themed products were not produced, the celebration was not welcomed. The younger generation had to be brought up on completely different examples and ideals.

- How did the "repressed" toys survive?

They were hidden. After all, I wanted a holiday anyway. Few toys of that era have survived. My grandmother kept it - she was born in 1910. My grandmother got married at 31, from the 36th the Christmas tree was allowed again, Christmas was replaced by New Year, and since then my grandmother bribed new toys every year, put them in one box with the pre-revolutionary decoration of her childhood: heavy German balls that were hung close to the trunk where the branches were thicker; very thin Laush stars rustling like foil.

Many of my grandmother's ornaments are still alive. Several pieces, however, crashed, they are not just lying, but in constant use.

I remember we had a completely unique Santa Claus in a hat, very carefully painted. And a bunch of grapes with a dragonfly on its side! Many people find something similar at home, and also give it to me, replenish the collection.

Photo from personal archive

In total, I now have more than three thousand toys, I have already lost count of them. From exhibition to exhibition, and dozens of them have passed, the assortment is updated. But you can't keep track of everything.

Many years ago, when I was just beginning to exhibit, in one of the museums, I will not say in which one, there was an accident. Part of the collection crashed. The show had already ended, the exposition was dismantled, everything was packed, the acceptance certificates were signed, and suddenly I was offered help - to bring the boxes to the car. I did not agree to any, but the lady employee insisted ...

The road was slippery, the woman slipped, fell and broke two boxes. It was very disappointing, since among the "dead" toys there were many rare Leningrad toys, which you can hardly find in Moscow.

- Were they insured?

At that time, no. This is the 90s. Being young, you somehow don't think about the possible risks. Many of the broken toys have been restored for decades afterwards.

And there are sets that cannot be bought for any money. Simply because they are negligible. For example, they went on sale for a specific event in a certain year or were sold in certain cities.

Many collectors are chasing the Adventures of Cipollino series by Gianni Rodari. There are very rare positions there - detective Carrot or dog Hold-Grab, Leek. These heroes were sold by the piece in the 50s, when Gianni Rodari was just translated into Russian, a cartoon appeared - and a real boom in the heroes of the book began.

The set came out several times, the most extensive version of it is bunk boxes, which contained about 20 fairy-tale characters. They were produced in accordance with GOST.

- Wow!!!

Do not think that the production of Christmas tree decorations was taken very seriously in those days. They were also part of the country's ideology. Stalin returned the tree to the children. But at the same time, the concept of their making and the holiday has changed altogether, politics intervened, and even the toys themselves became political. Soldiers, cosmonauts, balloons with the inscription "Glory to the Soviet people."

After 1936, factories began to mass produce Chelyuskinites, Red Army soldiers, balloons depicting Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Engels, and even small bonbonniere boxes in the form of district councils, in which, as in the good old days, you could put candy and hang it on the Christmas tree.

Heroes of fairy tales continued to be made even then, but at the same time there appeared figures of children of all nationalities, representatives of working professions. When they began to be friends with in the 50s, they began to produce little Chinese. I have already told you about toys about the war in Spain, and I also have a glass ball with a “happy” inscription “Since 1941!” ...

- And who decided what toys to be? Who chose their theme?

In the Soviet Union, there was a Toy Institute, where a specially created expert commission worked. All toy projects had to go through it. The idea could be rejected for aesthetic or ideological reasons.

Sometimes experts were late in making a decision, the toy was put into circulation, and later it turned out that it did not correspond to the party line, it happened that it did not pass according to sanitary standards - and then a whole series could be removed from production, and the author, who had taken liberties, was punished. So there are some toys that have survived in extremely limited quantities.

Today the All-Russian Research Institute of Toys does not exist; it was destroyed in the 90s. Therefore, there is no more scientific approach to the production of toys. But all the same, even in the "party" times, completely identical toys were not and could not be. That is, everyone had some basic background and idea, and then everything depended on the hand of the master. The toys were painted by hand. But everything depended on who made them, on what was in his soul. Even the region of manufacture often mattered. Everywhere there were traditions.

In Leningrad, let's say, they approached the process more carefully, their toys came out strict, deep shades, very restrained in color, laconic, correct and clear lines, which I personally really like, but they did everything a little more crooked, lurid, but fun and warmly. So I can easily distinguish toys from each other and find out the era in which they were made.

You know, on Poklonnaya Hill, my exhibition was once held as part of the festival of New Year's toys. There, each tree represented a certain historical period in the USSR: 30s, early 40s, wartime, 60s ... And each era has its own soul. Toys of one time cannot be confused with another.

- But for some reason you stopped at the "Brezhnev" era. There are almost no "Gorbachev" copies.

Something has changed already in the 80s. Gone is the care and tenderness that the previous jewelry had. Perhaps due to the fact that production has become cheaper.

The masters did not bother too much: they will make gold plating on a glass ball, draw some kind of curl - and that's it. It is possible that the changes taking place in our country then left their mark. No, the toys of those years are peculiar, but for their time, and for the current 25 year olds, they will undoubtedly cause nostalgia someday. But I limited myself to the Soviet period. He is closer to me, clearer, dearer.

Then I'm afraid to even ask how you feel about the numerous Chinese counterfeits that have filled all the Christmas tree markets today. It seems that exact copies of even nineteenth-century rarities, beautiful, brilliant, but - as in a joke - are not encouraging. By what criteria do you decorate your New Year tree - after all, you can't hang all 3000 toys on it?

And when how. But I always try to maintain the same style: either this is a German Christmas, or sotsart, sometimes I hang exclusively toys from my childhood, 70s of the twentieth century. Neighbors wonder every time: what could it be? They come and are usually surprised that they have not guessed right again ...

Many of us, somewhere in the mezzanine or in the closet, have a box with old Christmas tree decorations, which were used by our grandparents. It is so? Usually we do not 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 very ones that our grandparents used to decorate the Christmas tree for the New Year. Usually we get them out of the box and don't even think about their value. So it happened with 56-year-old Vladimir Schneider from Yekaterinburg.

The very ones with which our grandparents decorated the Christmas tree for the New Year
LARGE COOK IN A SMALL STORAGE
Vladimir is a retired colonel of the Airborne Forces. All my life I ran through the garrisons. And recently I decided to settle in my native Yekaterinburg. Here he has his parents' apartment. The dwelling was empty for four years ...
- When I moved, I started a global renovation. He began to dismantle the deposits of old things. My mother was very thrifty - she did not allow anyone to throw anything away, - says Vladimir. - And my mother’s pantry was generally a place “behind seven locks”. She did not let anyone in there, even just to see what was there.
Vladimir found several cardboard boxes on the dusty mezzanine. They contained golden glass cones carefully wrapped in paper, Christmas balls with a lace pattern, figures of snowmen, fairy-tale heroes ... 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 will stand, - Vladimir laughs. - I decided to throw it away. Yes, it became a pity - after all, my mother had been collecting them for so many years. Let me sell it, I think. I’ll help out a penny, whatever. I went to the Internet to see how much this stuff can be sold. And gasped! Some of the 1950s toys sold for 50,000 and others for 100,000! It turns out that I have found a whole "treasure"!
LOOK FOR BUNNIES ON CLOTHES
It turned out that at the 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 the "Stargazer" of the 50s you can get up to 50,000 rubles ...

Some of the 1950s toys sold for 50,000 and others for 100,000!
- The first Christmas tree was decorated in 1937. Then they made more often wadded toys, for example, "Girl on a swing". The outfit on her is sewn from fabric, her face is made of papier-mâché and painted. This is a real "retro", - explains the expert on antiques Vyacheslav Srebny. - Antique experts estimate it at about 5,000 rubles. But on the Internet, collectors are ready to pay for such a thing and all 150,000 rubles!
According to Vyacheslav, glass toys, which began to be made in the 50s, are especially popular. Moreover, products on clothespins are estimated twice as high as on a suspension.

Then they made more often wadded toys, for example, "Girl on a Swing"
- These toys were painted by hand, you will definitely not find two identical ones. For each of them, you can get 1,500 rubles. For toys made by hand, the price is 10 times higher than the factory price, - continues Vyacheslav. - Collections of toys are especially appreciated. For example, the collection "Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish", which was released in the year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Pushkin. Putting them together is very difficult, collectors hunt for them. I saw one toy 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. The greedy was lucky - he bought it from ignorant 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 price of a toy is influenced by its condition: chips can reduce the cost of it even by 90 percent. A crack on a toy, even if it is thoroughly glued, reduces the price by 70 percent. If the paint has worn off, then up to minus 30, if it flies around completely, then it will be minus 50.
Determining the year of release of a toy is not easy if it is not indicated on the product. But there are catalogs with the history of the production of manufacturing factories. For example, the guide-catalog "Christmas tree decorations 1936-1970" with pictures, descriptions and exact release date.
The rarest toys for today are toys made of cotton wool. They are followed by glass, then paper and cardboard, and finally, foam.

Children loved the old Christmas toys
And already in the 80s, the manufacture 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 her. Who knows, maybe in a dozen years they will rise even more in price?
“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 will definitely not find two identical ones. For each of them you will be paid 5000 rubles

An exhibition of Soviet New Year's toys was held at the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Exhibition Center near VDNKh in December-January. The history of Christmas tree decorations began long before the emergence of the USSR, but it was the Soviet government that rigidly opposed the Orthodox "bourgeois-noble" Christmas and the Soviet "atheistic" New Year, along with all the inherent festive attributes. But, despite the changed semantic content of the holiday, the connection with the traditions of decorating the New Year tree has not been lost. So, thanks to Soviet ideology, an original and distinctive Christmas tree toy appeared, which constitutes a bright layer of the cultural heritage of the Soviet era. Each series of Christmas tree decorations was created under the influence of important historical events, so you can easily trace the history of the great country.

Green beauties were decorated with papier-mâché toys even before the revolution. Balls with stars, a sickle and a hammer appeared later, at the end of the 30s of the last century. Then toys in the form of stars and astronauts, corn from glass and even an Olympic bear were hung on the trees. In general, all the symbols of our history are collected here. The exposition presents Christmas tree decorations with Soviet symbols: balls with a star, a sickle and a hammer, toys symbolizing achievements in the field of aeronautics - airships with the inscription "USSR". Almost all toys at the exhibition are handmade. They were produced by handicraft and semi-handicraft methods. Therefore, even if they were of the same shape, then all the figures were painted by hand and in different ways, with different colors, with different ornaments. The exhibition, of course, was not without Ded Moroz and Snegurochka, Christmas tree decorations in the form of birds, animals, cones, icicles and glass garlands.

Christmas tree decorations from the 1920s and 1950s are made by assembling glass tubes and beads using a 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 and 1960s. Christmas tree decorations in the form of mandolins, violins, drums are distinguished by their perfect form and unique hand-painting.

With the release of the film "Circus" in 1937, all kinds of clowns, elephants, bears and other circus-themed toys became very popular.

The animal world around us is reflected in the Christmas tree decorations - bears, bunnies, squirrels, chanterelles, birds give the New Year tree a special charm. Released in the 1950s and 1960s.

The underwater world is also reflected in the Christmas tree decorations - all kinds of fish with bright tints of color and an unusual shape. Released in 1950-70s of the last century.

At the end of the 30s, a series of Christmas tree decorations on an oriental theme was released. Here are Aladdin, and old man Hottabych, and oriental beauties ... These toys are distinguished by oriental filigree of forms and hand-painted.

What a New Year without a snow-covered hut, a Christmas tree in the forest and Santa Claus. The sculptural shapes of the huts, the stylization under the roof covered with shiny snow create a unique New Year's mood. Released in the 1960s and 70s.

Christmas decorations depicting household items - teapots, samovars, began to appear in the 1940s. They are distinguished by their fluidity of form and hand-painted with bright colors.

Fathers-Frosts made of papier-mâché and cotton wool in the 1940s-1960s were the supporting figures of the Christmas tree assortment. They are called pedestal because they were fixed on a wooden stand and installed under the tree. Since the late 1960s, with the development of the production of plastics and rubber 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, toys "Clock" with hands set at 5 minutes before midnight were released.

Symbols of the Soviet state appeared on Christmas tree decorations in the 1920s and 1930s. These were balls with stars, a sickle and a hammer, "Budyonnovtsy".

With the development of cosmonautics, Yuri Gagarin's flight into space, a series of toys "Cosmonauts" was released in the 1960s. Christmas toys on a sports theme were released in honor of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. A special place among them is occupied by the "Olympic Bear" and "Olympic flame".

The peak-shaped Christmas tree decorations "Tops" are associated with the design of military helmets from the times of imperial Germany: the peak-shaped tops for the Christmas trees were made there. The Bell Christmas tree toy was produced in the 1970s. Thick glass jewelry was made in the first half of the 20th century. Since glass in those days was thick, with a lead coating on the inside, the weight of toys is quite significant. Most of the toys depict owls, leaves, balls.

In the early 1950s, Christmas tree decorations related to 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 from the 1950s and 1960s.

The Christmas tree decorations on display are made using the "Dresden Cartonage" technique, which appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the factories of Dresden to Leipzig, embossed figures were produced, glued from two halves of convex cardboard, tinted with gold or silver paint. Dresden craftsmen were famous for their special variety, elegance and subtlety of work.

Christmas decorations made of papier-mâché were made until the middle of the 20th century (papier-mâché is a paper pulp mixed with glue, plaster or chalk and coated with berthollet's salt for shine and density). Basically, the figurines depicted people, animals, birds, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables. Glued cardboard toys represent houses, lanterns, bonbonnieres, baskets, etc. They are made according to the following technology: the cardboard is cut along the cutting contour with die cuts and glued with carpentry glue. The finishing material is paper of various grades and textiles. Flag garlands were very popular in the 1930s and 40s. They were made of colored paper with a printed multi-color pattern.

The cardboard Christmas tree decorations on display were 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 glued together pieces of cardboard with a slight bulge in the form of a pattern. They were covered with foil, silver or colored, and then painted with a spray gun with powder paints. As a rule, the figurines depicted the heroes of Russian folk tales "Kolobok", "Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka", "By 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 toys prevailed: eggplants, tomatoes, onions, beans, peas, tomatoes, carrots and corn, ears of all sizes and colors.

The first Christmas tree "traffic lights" of the 1930s were made for educational purposes, accurately 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 are lit in an arbitrary 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 G. Rodari's fairy tale "Cipollino" was released in the 1960s, when the book was translated into Russian. Ruler Lemon, Cipollino, Cipollone, attorney Green peas, Dr. Artichoke and other characters - these toys are distinguished by sculpturality and realistic painting.

Aibolit, owl Bumba, monkey Chichi, pig Oink-Oink, dog Abba, sailor Robinson, parrot Karudo, Leo - characters from the fairy tale "Aibolit". Released in the 1930s and 60s.

For several years now, he has been collecting a collection of special Christmas tree decorations: old ones, brought from travels, or just those that you want to keep for many years. In this article, she will talk about the history of the appearance of toys in Russia, how she herself selects jewelry, where to buy them, how much they cost and how to create her own unique collection.

In the world of things that surround us every day, Christmas tree decorations have a special place. The New Year's holidays are ending, the tree is dismantled, the toys are packed in boxes and sent for storage until next December. From a practical point of view, a Christmas tree toy is a completely useless thing, it is designed to serve a different purpose: to evoke nostalgia, revive memories and the brightest images from childhood.

The hero of Stephen King's novel "The Dead Zone" (1979) John Smith very rightly said: "That's how funny it is with these Christmas tree decorations. When a person grows up, little remains of the things that surrounded him in childhood. Everything in the world is transient. Little can serve both children and adults. You will exchange your red stroller and bicycle for adult toys - a car, a tennis racket, a fashionable console for playing hockey on TV. Little is preserved from childhood. Only toys for the Christmas tree in the parents' house. The Lord God is just a joker. A big joker, he did not create the world, but some kind of comic opera, in which the glass ball lives longer than you. "

Each historical era created its own Christmas tree decorations. Pre-revolutionary Christmas tree decorations, for example, were fundamentally different from Soviet ones. The Russian Christmas tree was a product of German culture, because it is Germany that is considered the first European country where they began to decorate the Christmas tree - this was in the 16th century. In the second half of the 19th century, spruce became a common German tradition. A description of the decorated classic German Christmas tree of the 19th century can be found in Hoffmann's fairy tale "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (1816): sweets and all sorts of sweets. " In Russia, the tree appeared after the decree of Peter I of December 20, 1699, but the tradition spread everywhere only at the beginning of the 19th century. In tsarist Russia, the tree was an attribute of a privileged noble culture and decorated the houses of merchants, doctors, lawyers, professors and civil servants. The presence of a Christmas tree in the house testified to the involvement in European culture, which greatly raised the social status. From the second half of the 19th century, the Christmas tree appeared in the provinces, especially in those county towns where the German diaspora was strong.

The Christmas tree decorations that went on sale were only imported and were very expensive. Therefore, it was not easy for an ordinary city dweller, albeit an intellectual, to decorate a Christmas tree. Due to the lack and high cost of Christmas tree decorations, and then due to tradition, even in aristocratic families, toys were made at home. True, there were public charity trees that allowed children from low-income families to attend the holiday.

Christmas decorations in tsarist Russia contained religious symbols: the top of the tree was crowned with the star of Bethlehem, angels and birds soared here and there, apples and grapes hung - symbols of "heavenly" food, garlands, beads and wreaths - symbols of the suffering and holiness of Christ. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, the Christmas tree was decorated with toys made of papier-mâché, cotton wool, wax, cardboard, paper, foil and metal. Glass decorations were still imported, so the main place on the tree was occupied by “homemade” toys and edible decorations. It was they who endowed the tree with that festive scent that remains in the memory for a lifetime.

The absence of its own toy production in tsarist Russia made the Russian Christmas tree absolutely apolitical and devoid of any national flavor. Russian toys during the reign of Nicholas II were manually carved from wood, blown out of glass and painted in a few handicraft industries. Now these toys are kept in museums and private collections of successful collectors. After the October Revolution, after 20 years of oblivion and prohibitions, the tree will be revived as a symbol of the new Soviet era and will become one of the main tools of the new ideology and education of patriotism.

My collection of Christmas tree decorations is not an object of worship for a fragile material thing. Each of them personifies memories, emotions, unfulfilled hopes and dreams that still have a chance to come true someday. Already as an adult, I admired the ballet dancers, admired their grace and grace. In my collection lives a weightless crystal dancer from Vienna and an old glass ballerina with singed velvet legs, which I found on the eve of Christmas at Le Puce in Paris. Over the past few years, I have assembled a Russian ballet troupe from cotton wool - all these ballerinas come from pre-revolutionary and Soviet Russia. "Wadded" toys in our country appeared much earlier than glass ones, because the production of Christmas tree decorations from glass was incomparably more expensive than the production of papier-mâché, cotton wool and shreds. Now the situation has changed dramatically: a glass ball of the late 1930s can be bought for 300–500 rubles, but the price of cotton figurines from this period starts at 3,000 rubles.

In my collection there is a clown from the series "Circus" (colored batting, painting, mica; 1936) and a reindeer herder (stearin, colored batting, painting, mica; 1930). By the way, circus performers appeared on the Soviet Christmas tree thanks to Stalin, who liked the film "Circus" with Lyubov Orlova in the title role. After the film was released in 1936, acrobats and circus performers swiftly decorated the tree. The development of the North Pole also did not pass without a trace for the tree: deer, polar bears, Eskimos and skiers - all this was embodied in cotton wool, glass and cardboard. Soviet Christmas tree decorations reflected the events taking place in the country: red stars burned on the Christmas tree, cosmonauts and rockets flew into the sky in the footsteps of Gagarin, agricultural products grew, and especially the queen of the fields - Khrushchev's corn. Heroes of fairy tales celebrated in 1937 the centenary of the death of A.S. Pushkin - now the Old Man with a seine, Tsar Dadon, the Shahamanskaya queen, Alyonushka, Chernomor with heroes and other fairytale heroes are coveted trophies of collectors all over the world. In 1948, Christmas decorations on clothespins appeared, and in 1957 in the USSR, sets of mini-toys were released, which made it possible to decorate a Christmas tree even in a small space of a Khrushchev apartment with low ceilings. From the second half of the 60s, the production of Christmas tree decorations in the USSR was put on stream: with the development of factory production, Christmas tree decorations were standardized as much as possible and practically lost their artistic and stylistic originality. By the decision of the International Organization of Collectors of Christmas tree decorations Golden Glow, toys made before 1966 are recognized as vintage.

I advise you to look for the most interesting papier-mache toys of the Soviet period at flea markets (for example, on Tishinka in December) and from sellers on the sites Molotok.ru and Avito.ru. The price of toys varies from 2,000 to 15,000 rubles, depending on the rarity and degree of preservation.

However, I do not pursue the goal of making my Christmas tree vintage, I want it to be unique and reflect the history of my family. And this story is happening right now! Now we can safely talk about a true revival of the production of Christmas tree decorations in our country: there has been a return from the use of glass blowing machines to a unique manual method of blowing toys, filling them with special content and meaning, using the best traditions of domestic folk craft. And I am very glad that today fewer and fewer people are decorating the Christmas tree with monochromatic faceless balls. The tendency to replace a speckled and multi-colored Christmas tree with a pretentious "grown-up" designer Christmas tree seems blasphemous to me! A laconic and discreet Christmas tree, which forms a sense of stylish luxury, can hardly impress anyone, leaving memories in their souls for years to come. In my opinion, the bright diversity of Christmas tree decorations never seemed to people either annoying or vulgar: it is at the sight of a multi-colored and shining Christmas tree that I feel that special Christmas smell, which consists of the smells of a pine forest, wax candles, baked goods and painted toys.

My childhood was spent with my grandmother in the village, so I have a special weakness for Christmas tree decorations with rustic motives. Hand-made Christmas tree decorations made by Russian glassblowers and artists look wonderful, but still a rare exception among the Chinese abundance: unique figurines from Pavlova and Shepelev's majolica workshop, hand-painted balls and figurines from Ariel. Unique balls from the series "Russian Traditions" by SoiTa are painted using the technique of miniature painting by the artists of Palekh, Fedoskino, Mstera and Kholuy. Each of these balls is unique, made by hand (craftsmen spend from two to four weeks to make) and can rightfully be called a work of art! In my collection there is a ball "By the pike's command", which can be viewed endlessly! The majolica workshop of Pavlova and Shepelev is located in the city of Yaroslavl, you can order Christmas tree decorations on the website mastermajolica.ru (prices from 1,000 to 6,000 rubles); the plant for the production of Christmas tree decorations "Ariel" is located in Nizhny Novgorod, in Moscow their toys are widely represented in the book house "Moscow" (prices from 500 to 2,500 rubles); New Year's toys from SoiTa can be purchased at soita.ru (prices range from 6,000 to 40,000 rubles).

In recent years, I travel a lot and always bring old and unusual Christmas tree decorations from my trips. On my last trip to New York, I ended up in a totally incredible store owned by an old lady who is in love with Christmas. From under the More & More antiques counter she pulled out treasures that I have no doubt about: clay figures of animals and mermaids from Chile, Noah's Ark from Mexico, a glass skunk with a silver tail from Italy - I paid $ 148 for a large box of treasures! If you are in New York, stop by after visiting the Museum of National History: the shop is a five-minute walk from the museum.

Now the tree is neither an exquisite luxury for the rich, nor a joy for the elite, nor a fad for the spoiled, and everyone has access to hang sparkling glass squirrels on the spruce paws of sparkling glass squirrels on the eve of Christmas and New Years.

1. Katya, your collection was born spontaneously?

On the one hand, the decision and desire to collect Christmas tree decorations can be called spontaneous. But if you think about it, everything falls into place! When I moved to Moscow five years ago, all my time was devoted to study and work. I lived in a rented apartment, which was in no way associated with the word "home". So at the beginning of my first December in Moscow, I went into the store "Scarlet Sails" and was stunned: it all sparkled and shimmered with the light of New Year's lights and bulbs. There I first saw the incredibly beautiful Christmas tree decorations, they appeared as if from my childhood memories, as a picture appears in a Polaroid photograph. And the most interesting thing, they were exactly what I could dream of - bright, sparkling nutcrackers, crocodiles, squirrels and watches with neat painting. Previously, I could only see these toys in films or in pictures; in the Soviet and post-Soviet times there were no such toys. I will forever remember that evening, because he confirmed me in my thoughts: “If today I do not have a home, and I cannot buy sofas and curtains, then let there be Christmas tree decorations. They symbolize the warmth of family traditions, and it is not so difficult to transport a small box to a new place. " And so it began!

2. How many years have you been collecting Christmas toys?

About 7 years old.

3. How many exhibits are in your collection?

I didn’t count, but I believe there are at least 600 pieces.

4. How do you select new toys for your collection?

Today I am very selective - not like at first! Now I only buy very special toys. From each trip I definitely bring a few pieces, so I definitely check where the antique shops and markets are in the new city. Often, toys can be bought in shops at museums: in Vienna, I found the heroes of the triptych of Hieronymus Bosch "The Temptation of St. Anthony" - that was a joy! As for buying in Moscow, I really love the Ariel toy factory - the highest quality hand-painted and very close to everyone stories. In my opinion, this is incomparably better than the Chinese conveyor!

5. What is the oldest exhibit?

The oldest toys are Russian pre-revolutionary figurines made of cotton wool, in my case, ballerinas. There are toys from the late 19th century from Barcelona, ​​but it should be noted that they are still heroes of the puppet theater, ideally sized to hang on a Christmas tree.

6. Do you have any favorites?

Of course, everyone has favorites! And as it happens in life, favorites do not always occupy a justified place in our hearts. The most favorite toys are gifts from my closest people. What I value most is my husband's gifts, such as a cotton acrobat bought on our first Christmas together at the Flea Market. Of course, I love gifts from our parents, grandmothers, sisters, friends! Everyone knows about my collection, so for the new year it is always replenished.

I have already said that when I travel, I buy toys at flea markets and museum shops. Well, if you are traveling during the “season”, then you can find something interesting at the Christmas markets. Although I found my most interesting specimens in the off-season, when less Chinese junk catches the eye. In Moscow, there is an excellent opportunity to buy antique jewelry at the traditional "Flea Market" in December, but the prices there are greatly inflated, and if you search, you will find more interesting and much cheaper items on the Avito or Ebay sites. If you are looking for a toy as a gift, you can see the Polish factory M. A. Mostowski - Christmas tree decorations are quite expensive, but extremely beautiful and of high quality, grouped in series and packed in holiday boxes.

8. How do you keep your collection?

To date, 4 large boxes have been allocated for my collection, which neatly stand in the closet and take up half of it! I pack each toy in kraft paper. I almost never store original boxes because they take up a lot of space.

9. Does your collection have a practical application? Are there toys that you buy out of your passion for collecting, knowing that you will not use them in your Christmas tree decor?

No, when I buy a toy, I always "see" it on the tree. For me, the meaning of a collection is to bring joy, not to satisfy the passion of the collector. In an amicable way, I am a collector in the second place, in the first place - a happy adult child. After all, children do not collect, they are happy with what they hold in their hands.

10. How much in advance do you decorate the house for the new year? How do you select toys?

As a rule, we put the tree a week before the New Year, that is, right on Christmas Eve (December 24). Sometimes a little earlier if we leave for the holidays. We always buy a living tree, so we never have a Christmas tree for a month - I don't want the magic to get boring. As for the toys, I just dress up until the place runs out on the tree!

11. Can you give some tips for aspiring collectors?

It seems to me that the most important thing is not to invest in a collection of material value, but to collect a "family history". Buying not the toys themselves, but remembering the days and moments in which these cats and nutcrackers appeared. There are no fashion and trends here, there is only your heart and your soul, your thoughts and feelings that will pop up in your memory when you open the next box with your Christmas tree decorations. Only our memory gives value to things .