143 - Christmas tree ornaments tank, zeppelin and balloon, glass partly wire-wrapped, 2nd half 20th c.

Christmas tree ornaments tank, zeppelin and balloon, glass partly wire-wrapped, 2nd half 20th c. Glass and wire. Three Christmas tree ornaments, also baubles, of silvered, partly painted glass with military motifs: 1) Tank, tracked vehicle with ribbed, dark-accented tracks on both sides, on the superstructure a square field in black, white and red with Iron Cross, metal cap with hanging loop, 13x7x6.5 cm (LxWxH). 2) Airship with longitudinally and transversely ribbed envelope, on one side in black lettering "Zeppelin", a small clear glass tip at the nose, wrapped with crimped wire. 3) Balloon with ribbed envelope, red ring at the neck and red-accented gondola, completely wrapped with crimped wire, a Father Christmas head of paper glued to the envelope. Good condition commensurate with age, hangers corroded, on the zeppelin the wrapping wire partly slack. Glass Christmas tree ornaments were made from the middle of the 19th century above all in Lauscha in Thuringia, where an order for six dozen Christmas baubles is first recorded in 1848. The figures were made by blowing the glass into moulds, and interior silvering with silver nitrate became established after 1870.