Here's a bowl of colorful German kugels, the original glass Christmas ornaments.

“Christmas in July?” scoffs a suspicious old Barnaby in the classic “Babes in Toyland” film, as Ollie and Stan try to trick their way into his home with an out of season Christmas present.
I suspect the Christmas in July idea came from some summer camp counselor desperate to amuse his kids. But whoever invented it, it’s a neat idea.

It’s not only a great excuse for a party, but it’s a very practical idea as well. Christmas in July reminds us that these lazy days may just be the perfect time to make a dent in our Christmas shopping, so we won’t be so overwhelmed when the harried holidays are upon us.
If summer weather makes it difficult to get in the spirit, however, don’t be an old Barnaby. Start by noticing all those wonderful heirloom Christmas ornaments in the antique shops. I guarantee they will work like charms.

The earliest Christmas ornaments were edibles, like fruits and nuts, or marzipan (almond paste candies) and lebkuchen (hard cookies). But there were also homemade and manufactured ornaments made of cut out paper, cardboard (sometimes called “Dresdens”) and tole (painted tin).
The blown glass ornaments that we are all so familiar with originated in the mid-19th Century among German glassblowers who initially made them on their own time just for their families and friends.

These glass ornaments are called “kugels,” the German word for “spheres” or “globes.” They are hollow blown glass, filled with a mercury-based substance and sealed with an attached metal top.
Original kugels are quite thick and heavy. You really couldn’t decorate a whole tree with them without bracing the limbs in some way. These were meant as accent pieces, special ornaments to catch the light here and there.
By the 1870s kugles became more popular throughout Europe, and the glassblowers, who had originally made them just for themselves, found themselves in a profitable little business.

In America, however, kugels were still fairly rare, available only in the big cities, and quite expensive. One man changed all that and turned glass ornaments into the primary decoration on American Christmas trees. His name was F. W. Woolworth.
Woolworth’s first five-and-ten-cent store (the equivalent of today’s successful dollar stores) was in Lancaster, Pa. He had seen the glass ornaments from Germany that the Pennsylvania “Dutch” had brought over, and had been persuaded to purchase some wholesale in Philadelphia. When all his stock sold out so quickly, he decided he would go right to the source.
In 1890, Woolworth personally traveled to Germany and negotiated such a large purchase of glass ornaments that he was able to sell them in America for nickels and dimes. Those nickels and dimes added up to millions of dollars for his stores, and made glass ornaments affordable to every American family.

In time, German glassblowers were able to make thinner, lighter ornaments. They also expanded the variety of shapes from globes to fruits, like pears and clusters of grapes. Then, pinecones appeared along with bells, horns, pipes, birds, angels, and Santas.
By the early 20th Century, multi-colored ornaments were common and the number of fanciful shapes was endless--Santas on horseback, in cars and planes, angels in hot-air balloons, pigs in sleighs, pink monkeys, blue donkeys, green elephants and more.
Some old ornaments are too good for the tree. They should be displayed as objects of art—out on the mantel, an end table, in the china cabinet, in a bowl, on the night stand or a kitchen shelf.
One look, and you’ll be in the spirit in no time. It’s magic.

Appraisals: Glass and cotton clown on bike, German, 1930s ($475); Set of 12 glass reflector ornaments (indented to catch the light), orig. box ($110); Met Museum sterling snowflake 1973 ($150); Waterford crystal, partridge in pear tree, 1982 ($305); Glass bead garland (approx. $15 each); set of 12 doz (144) assorted, simple glass balls (German, Japanese, Polish) ($227.50).
When you can find them in antique shops today, old kugels will be priced from $100 to $350 each, depending on size and color. Reds, dark blues and purples are rarer.

Arthur Schwerdt, a certified appraiser, is the author of “The Antique Story Book: Finding the Real Value of Old Things, and co-owner of The August Farmhouse Antiques on Route 9 in Swainton. Send your comments and appraisal requests with photo to: aschwerdt@cmcherald.com.