For several years now he has been collecting a collection of special Christmas tree decorations: antique ones, brought from travels, or simply ones that he wants to keep for many years. In this article, she will talk about the history of the appearance of toys in Russia, how she selects jewelry herself, where to buy them, how much they cost and how to create your own unique collection.
In the world of things that surround us every day, Christmas tree decorations occupy a special place. The New Year holidays are over, the tree is dismantled, the toys are packed into 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 another purpose: to evoke nostalgia, revive memories and the most vivid images from childhood.
The hero of Stephen King’s novel “The Dead Zone” (1979), John Smith, said very correctly: “It’s so funny 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 transitory. 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 remains of childhood. Only toys for the Christmas tree at my parents' house. The Lord God is just a joker. A great joker, he created not a world, but some kind of comic opera in which a 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 Germany is considered the first European country where they began to decorate a Christmas tree - this was in the 16th century. In the second half of the 19th century, spruce became a pan-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): “The large Christmas tree in the middle of the room was hung with gold and silver apples, and on all the branches, like flowers or buds, grew sugared nuts, variegated candies and all sorts of sweets in general.” In Russia, the Christmas tree appeared after the decree of Peter I on December 20, 1699, but the tradition spread everywhere only at the beginning of the 19th century. In Tsarist Russia, the Christmas tree was an attribute of the privileged culture of the nobility and decorated the homes of merchants, doctors, lawyers, professors and government officials. The presence of a Christmas tree in the house testified to involvement in European culture, which greatly increased social status. From the second half of the 19th century, the Christmas tree also 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 resident, even 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 Christmas trees that allowed children from low-income families to attend the holiday.
Christmas tree decorations in Tsarist Russia contained religious symbols: the top of the tree was crowned with the Star of Bethlehem, angels and birds hovered 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 and beginning of the 20th centuries, 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 Christmas tree with that festive smell that remains in the memory for a lifetime.
The absence of its own toy production in Tsarist Russia made the Russian Christmas tree completely apolitical and devoid of any national flavor. Russian toys from the reign of Nicholas II were hand-carved from wood, blown from glass, and painted in a few handicraft industries. Now these toys are kept in museums and private collections of lucky collectors. After the October Revolution, after 20 years of oblivion and prohibitions, the Christmas 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 represents memories, emotions, unfulfilled hopes and dreams that still have a chance to come true someday. Already as an adult, I looked at ballet dancers with enthusiasm, admired their grace and elegance. My collection includes a weightless crystal dancer from Vienna and an antique 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. “Cotton” toys appeared in our country much earlier than glass ones, because the production of Christmas tree decorations from glass was incomparably more expensive than those made from papier-mâché, cotton wool and shreds. Now the situation has changed dramatically: a glass ball from the late 30s can be bought for 300–500 rubles, but the price of cotton figurines from this period starts from 3,000 rubles.
In my collection there is a clown from the “Circus” series (colored batting, painted, mica; 1936) and a reindeer herder (stearin, colored batting, painted, 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, the tree was quickly decorated by acrobats and circus performers. The exploration of the North Pole also left its mark on 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 shone on the tree, cosmonauts and rockets took off into the sky in Gagarin's footsteps, agricultural products grew, and especially the queen of fields - Khrushchev's corn. The heroes of fairy tales celebrated the centenary of the death of A.S. Pushkin in 1937 - now the Old Man with a Net, Tsar Dadon, the Shakhaman Queen, Alyonushka, Chernomor with the Bogatyrs and other fairy-tale heroes are coveted trophies of collectors all over the world. In 1948, Christmas tree decorations on clothespins appeared, and in 1957, sets of mini-toys were released in the USSR, which made it possible to decorate a Christmas tree even in the small space of a Khrushchev-era 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 became as standardized as possible and practically lost their artistic and stylistic originality. By decision of the International Organization of Collectors of Christmas Tree Decorations Golden Glow, toys produced before 1966 are recognized as antique.
I advise you to look for the most interesting papier-mâché toys of the Soviet period at flea markets (for example, in Tishinka in December) and from sellers on the websites 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, my goal is not to make my 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 genuine 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, and using the best traditions of domestic folk craft. And I am very glad that today fewer and fewer people decorate the Christmas tree with plain, faceless balls. The trend of replacing the variegated and multi-colored Christmas tree with a pretentious designer Christmas tree “for adults” seems blasphemous to me! A laconic and discreet Christmas tree, creating a feeling of stylish luxury, is unlikely to impress anyone, leaving memories in the soul for many years. In my opinion, the bright diversity of Christmas tree decorations has never seemed to people either intrusive 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.
I spent my childhood with my grandmother in the village, so I have a special weakness for Christmas tree decorations with rustic motifs. A wonderful, but still rare exception among the Chinese abundance, are handmade Christmas tree decorations made by Russian glassblowers and artists: unique figurines from the majolica workshop of Pavlova and Shepelev, hand-painted balls and figurines from the Ariel company. Unique balls from the “Russian Traditions” series by SoiTa are painted using miniature painting techniques by artists from Palekh, Fedoskino, Mstera and Kholuy. Each of these balls is unique, made by hand (craftsmen spend two to four weeks making it) and can rightfully be called a work of art! In my collection there is a ball “At the command of the pike”, which can be looked at 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 Moscow book house (prices from 500 to 2,500 rubles); New Year's toys from SoiTa can be purchased on the website soita.ru (prices from 6,000 to 40,000 rubles).
In recent years, I have been traveling a lot and always bring back antique and unusual Christmas tree decorations from my trips. On my last trip to New York, I walked into an absolutely incredible store owned by an old lady who loves Christmas. From under the More & More antiques counter, she pulled out treasures, the value of which for me is beyond doubt: clay figurines 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're in New York, stop by after visiting the National History Museum: the store 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 on Christmas and New Year's Eve everyone can hang sparkling glass squirrels on the spruce paws.
1. Katya, was your collection 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 Scarlet Sails store and was stunned: it was all sparkling and shimmering with the light of New Year’s lights and bulbs. There I first saw incredibly beautiful Christmas tree decorations, they appeared as if from my childhood memories, like a picture appears on a Polaroid photograph. And the most interesting thing is that they were exactly what I could have dreamed of - bright, sparkling nutcrackers, crocodiles, squirrels and clocks with neat paintings. Previously, I could only see these toys in movies or in pictures; there were no such toys in Soviet and post-Soviet times. I will always remember that evening, because it confirmed my thought: “If today I don’t have a home, and I can’t buy sofas and curtains, then let me have Christmas tree decorations. They symbolize the warmth of family traditions, and moving a small box to a new place is not that difficult.” And so it begins!
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 that there are at least 600 pieces.
4. By what principle do you select new toys for your collection?
Today I am very selective - not like at first! Now I only buy very special toys. I always bring a few from each trip, so I always 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 Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych “The Temptation of St. Anthony” - that was such a joy! As for purchasing in Moscow, I really love the Ariel toy factory - the highest quality of hand-painting and stories that are very close to everyone’s heart. In my opinion, this is incomparably better than the Chinese conveyor belt!
5. What is the oldest exhibit?
The oldest toys are Russian pre-revolutionary figures 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, ideal in size to hang them on the Christmas tree.
6. Do you have any favorites?
Of course, everyone has their favorites! And as happens in life, favorites do not always occupy a justified place in our hearts. My favorite toys are gifts from my closest people. My favorite gifts are my husband's, such as the cotton acrobat he bought at the Flea Market our first Christmas together. Of course, I adore gifts from our parents, grandmothers, sisters, and friends! Everyone knows about my collection, so by the new year it is always replenished.
I’ve already told you that when I travel, I buy toys at flea markets and museum stores. Well, if you go 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 trash 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 websites. If you are looking for a toy as a gift, you can look at the Polish factory M. A. Mostowski - Christmas tree decorations are quite expensive, but exceptionally beautiful and high quality, grouped in series and packaged in holiday boxes.
8. How do you store your collection?
As of today, 4 large boxes have been allocated for my collection, which sit neatly in the closet and take up half of it! I pack each toy in craft paper. I almost never keep the original boxes because they take up so much space.
9. Does your collection have a practical application? Are there toys that you buy out of passion for collecting, knowing that you will not use them in Christmas tree decorations?
No, when I buy a toy, I always “see” it on the Christmas tree. For me, the point of a collection is to bring joy, not to satisfy the collector's passion. In a good way, I am a collector secondarily, a happy adult child first. After all, children do not collect, they rejoice in what they hold in their hands.
10. How early do you decorate your home for the New Year? By what principle do you select toys?
As a rule, we put up a Christmas tree a week before the New Year, that is, right on Christmas Eve (December 24). Sometimes a little earlier if we are leaving for the holidays. We always buy a live tree, so we never have a tree for a month - I don’t want the magic to become boring. As for the toys, I just decorate until I run out of space on the tree!
11. Can you give some advice to new 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.” Buy not the toys themselves, but remember the days and moments in which these cats and nutcrackers appeared. There is no fashion or trends here, there is only your heart and your soul, your thoughts and feelings that will emerge in your memory when you open the next box with your Christmas tree decorations. Only our memory gives value to things. .
In December-January, an exhibition of Soviet New Year's toys was held at the "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" exhibition center near VDNKh. The history of Christmas tree decorations began long before the emergence of the USSR, but it was the Soviet government that strictly contrasted the Orthodox “bourgeois-noble” Christmas with the Soviet “atheistic” New Year, along with all the inherent holiday 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. Thus, thanks to Soviet ideology, an original and distinctive Christmas tree toy appeared, constituting 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, in the late 30s of the last century. Then toys in the form of stars and astronauts, glass corn and even an Olympic bear were hung on the Christmas trees. In general, all the symbols of our history are collected here. The exhibition features Christmas tree decorations with Soviet symbols: balls with a star, hammer and sickle, toys symbolizing achievements in the field of aeronautics - airships with the inscription "USSR". Almost all the toys at the exhibition are handmade. They were produced in a handicraft and semi-handicraft way. Therefore, even if they were the same shape, all the figures were painted by hand and in different ways, with different colors, with different ornaments. The exhibition, of course, would not be complete without Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, Christmas tree decorations in the form of birds, animals, cones, icicles and glass garlands.
Mounted Christmas tree decorations from the 1920s to the 50s were made by assembling glass tubes and beads using 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 to the 60s. Christmas tree decorations in the form of mandolins, violins, and drums are distinguished by their perfect shape and unique hand-painting.
With the release of the film "The Circus" in 1937, all kinds of clowns, elephants, bears and other circus-themed toys gained great popularity.
The animal world around us is reflected in Christmas tree decorations - bears, bunnies, squirrels, foxes, birds give the New Year tree a special charm. Released in the 1950-60s of the last century.
The underwater world is also reflected in the Christmas tree decorations - all kinds of fish with bright colors and unusual shapes. Released in the 1950s-70s of the last century.
At the end of the 30s, a series of Christmas tree decorations on an oriental theme were released. Here are Aladdin, and old man Hottabych, and oriental beauties... These toys are distinguished by oriental filigree of shape and hand-painting.
What is New Year without a snow-covered hut, a Christmas tree in the forest and Santa Claus. The sculptural forms of the huts and the stylization of a roof covered with shiny snow create a unique New Year's mood. Released in the 1960s and 70s.
Christmas tree decorations depicting household items - teapots, samovars - began to appear in the 1940s. They are distinguished by fluidity of form and hand-painting with bright colors.
Santa Clauses made of papier-mâché and cotton wool were the base figures of the Christmas tree assortment in the 1940s-60s. They were called stand-shaped because they were mounted on a wooden stand and installed under the tree. Since the late 1960s, with the development of plastic and rubber production 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, "Clock" toys were released with hands set to 5 minutes to midnight.
Symbols of the Soviet state appeared on Christmas tree decorations in the 1920s and 30s. These were balls with stars, a sickle and a hammer, “Budenovtsy”.
With the development of astronautics and Yu. Gagarin's flight into space, a series of Cosmonauts toys was released in the 1960s. Christmas tree decorations with a sports theme were released in honor of the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow. A special place among them is occupied by the “Olympic Bear” and the “Olympic Flame”.
Christmas tree decorations “Tops” in the shape of a lance are associated with the design of military helmets from the times of the Kaiser’s Germany: lance-shaped tops for Christmas trees were made there. The Christmas tree toy "Bell" was produced in the 1970s. Thick glass jewelry was made in the first half of the 20th century. Since the glass in those days was thick, with a lead coating on the inside, the weight of the toys was quite significant. Mostly toys depict owls, leaves, balls.
In the early 1950s, Christmas tree decorations associated with 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 of the 1950s and 60s.
The Christmas tree decorations on display are made using the Dresden cartonage technique, which appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Factories in Dresden and Leipzig produced embossed figures glued together from two halves of convex cardboard, tinted with gold or silver paint. Dresden craftsmen were famous for their particular variety, elegance and finesse of work.
Christmas tree decorations from papier-mâché were made until the middle of the 20th century (papier-mâché is paper pulp mixed with glue, plaster or chalk and coated with Berthollet salt for shine and density). Mostly the figurines depicted people, animals, birds, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables. Toys made from laminated cardboard depict houses, lanterns, bonbonnieres, baskets, etc. They are made using the following technology: cardboard is cut out along the cutting contour using die-cutting tools and glued with wood glue. The finishing materials are various types of paper and textiles. Flag garlands were very popular in the 1930s and 40s. They were made of colored paper with a printed multi-color design.
The cardboard Christmas tree decorations presented in the exhibition are 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 pieces of cardboard glued together with a slight convexity in the form of a pattern. They were covered with foil, silver or colored, and then spray painted with powder paints. As a rule, the figurines depicted heroes of Russian folk tales “Kolobok”, “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “At 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-themed toys predominated: eggplants, tomatoes, onions, beans, peas, tomatoes, carrots and corn, cobs of all sizes and colors.
The first Christmas tree “traffic lights” of the 1930s were made for educational purposes, precisely 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 light up in random 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 the fairy tale "Cipollino" by J. Rodari was released in the 1960s, when the book was translated into Russian. Ruler Lemon, Cipollino, Cipollone, lawyer Green Peas, Doctor Artichoke and other characters - these toys are distinguished by sculpture and realistic painting.
Aibolit, the owl Bumba, the monkey Chichi, the pig Oink-Oink, the dog Ava, the sailor Robinson, the parrot Carudo, the Lion - characters from the fairy tale "Aibolit". Issued in the 1930-60s.
Collector Sergei Romanov: “There are very rare items - the Hold-Grab dog and the 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. Sergei 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 beads made from candies to multi-colored “Glory to the USSR” balls, glass cosmonauts and workers with collective farmers...
“During the Civil War in the late 30s, there even appeared a ball on which the battle of our plane with the fascist one was depicted, and ours, of course, knocked out the enemy,” says Sergei Romanov, a toy historian and restoration artist. There are more than 3000 copies in his collection.
And if you add here other Soviet toys not related to the New Year holidays, you will get over 12 thousand. “But Christmas trees are a special topic!” - the collector emphasizes.
Photo from personal archive
Everyone remembers the joke about fake Christmas tree decorations. Beautiful, shiny. But they don’t make you happy - that’s all! In fact, before we rejoiced not in toys, but in our childhood. What do you think, Sergei Gennadievich, is this so?
There is a special love for Christmas tree decorations. In any house they are left over from grandparents, but they are taken out only once a year, so it turns out that this is also some kind of continuous connection between generations.
I was born in 70, from childhood I remember that there was Santa Claus and reindeer. An unforgettable miracle! When I became a little older, busy parents often sent me to sit with a neighbor; the boy needed to be occupied with something, and the neighbor, Aunt Olya, would take out from under the sofa a large suitcase with antique Christmas tree decorations. Summer, heat - and these magical toys from Aunt Olya's suitcase.
At home I shared my impressions with my parents, and suddenly they told me that we also have such beauty, grandma’s toys. “Why don’t we hang them on the Christmas tree?” - “But they’re already old...” Dad climbed onto the mezzanine - and for the first time I saw things that were completely different in their aesthetics...
Photo from personal archive
- So, it’s your neighbor’s “fault” that you became a toy collector?
If it weren't for Aunt Olya, there would probably be something else. Since childhood, I have been amazed by the world of old things and photographs from an old album covered in calico.
In the life of any little person, one day a wonderful discovery comes - when he suddenly finds out that mom, dad, and even grandparents were little too... “Here is your grandmother in the photo, she is 5 years old. And on the other she’s already 25.” How can this be? This is an amazing revelation! That there was a time for other children and other toys...
This is how my acquaintance with family history 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 ancient dolls, perfect beauties with papier-mâché bodies and fragile porcelain heads, and much more.
Photo from personal archive
- Is this how your collection began?
Rather, it was the first push. I was about fourteen years old when the kitten, who lived in our apartment at the time, knocked over the New Year tree... A lot of things 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, and I had to resist ridicule. The first copies of the collection were selected on the basis of “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 “Another Childhood” - toys from the 20s to the 50s of the last century are displayed there.
Photo from personal archive
They are antiques. Anything older than half a century is an antique. That is, all toys made before 1965 are of interest to collectors. For some reason, decorations made of cotton wool are considered especially expensive and rare, and those made in Leningrad were not supplied to Moscow during the Soviet era, they only went to the regions; Ukrainian toys from the Claudian 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 “sandbox syndrome” principle - since my 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, prices for toys rose sharply because of the American Kim Balashak, she specially came to the country in the mid-90s and simply bought everything she saw at the Izmailovo vernissage. The traders immediately saw through this.
In those years, there was also a famous flea market at the Tishinsky market. New Year's toys were a seasonal product, and their prices were quite affordable, then the first online auctions appeared - and the value of some lots skyrocketed.
Kim Balashak was really very keen on 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” was once called a mule driver. So foreigners are not always able to understand our Russian toys and their meaning. This is part of our culture.
- They say that around the same time the first fakes of Soviet Christmas tree decorations appeared.
Yes, these were toys primarily made of cotton wool. The manufacturing technology there is quite simple. It is almost impossible to fake glass! If only you repaint the existing balls to match the old designs.
Kim Balashak paid well for all kinds of things, so this type of fraud flourished. After Kim left, it became unprofitable to counterfeit such things - it was much more profitable to make your own remakes of old, sometimes even pre-revolutionary, copies.
So the toys from Tsarist times have survived? We are probably the only country in the world where the “Christmas tree” connection between generations was interrupted by wars and revolutions. There was no time for toys...
Few glass ones survived. But there were things that were different in technology. Firstly, from embossed cardboard, this is 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. There were cotton ones, 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.
Photo from personal archive
- And the Germans were the first to start making them?
The following legend has been preserved: in the city of Lausha, 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 shaped toys, balls, pendants, they could be hung on the Christmas tree. Neighbors came to visit him for the holiday and were completely delighted with such beauty and began to place orders.
The poor glassblower became rich, and glass New Year's toys appeared in the world. The factory in Lauscha is still operating. Germans captured in the First World War taught Russian craftsmen how to make similar jewelry.
Usually, rich houses ordered toys from catalogs. And those who could not afford it hung treats on the tree - cookies, sweets, nuts in gold foil. But the “delicious” toys lost out because they were immediately eaten. Remember Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker”: children burst into the hall with a Christmas tree with laughter, instantly tear off all the branches, and immediately throw out the bare trunk. But I wanted a longer holiday, contemplating the Christmas tree, admiring it.
So in women's magazines, advice appeared on how to make long-lasting jewelry: weld a paste, take a wire, wrap it with cotton wool, sprinkle crushed mica on top - such “recipes” were published by all self-respecting women’s publications in those days. Although the traditions of edible toys persisted for quite a long time. Do you remember the story by Mikhail Zoshchenko, written in the 20s, about Lelya and Mitya, who ate a Christmas tree?
- But after the revolution, the Christmas tree suddenly suddenly turned out to be illegal. As a bourgeois relic and a class enemy.
Not right away. As we know, Lenin organized a Christmas tree for children in Sokolniki. But from about the year 27, the tree really fell out of favor, thematic products were not produced, and the celebration was not welcomed. The younger generation had to be brought up with completely different examples and ideals.
- How did the “repressed” toys survive?
They were hidden. After all, I still wanted a holiday. Few toys from that era have survived. My grandmother still has them - she was born in 1910. Grandmother got married in 1931, from 1936 Christmas trees were allowed again, Christmas was replaced by New Year, and since then grandmother bought 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 Lauschi stars, rustling like foil.
Many of my grandmother's jewelry are still alive. Several pieces, however, were broken; they don’t just sit there, but are 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 the side! Many people find something similar in their home and also give it to me, adding to the collection.
Photo from personal archive
In total, I now have more than three thousand toys, I’ve already lost counting them. From exhibition to exhibition, and there have been dozens of them, the assortment is updated. But you can't keep track of everything.
Many years ago, when I was just starting to exhibit, an accident occurred in one of the museums, I won’t say which one. Part of the collection was broken. The show had already ended, the exhibition had been dismantled, everything had been packed, the acceptance certificates had been signed, and suddenly they offered me help - to carry the boxes to the car. I didn’t agree to anything, but the lady employee insisted...
The road was slippery, the woman slipped, fell and broke two boxes. It was very disappointing, since among the “lost” toys there were many rare Leningrad ones, which you practically cannot find in Moscow.
- Were they insured?
At that time, no. This is the 90s. When you are young, you somehow don’t think about possible risks. I then restored many broken toys for decades.
And there are sets that cannot be bought for any money. Simply because there are negligible numbers of them. 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 series “The Adventures of Cipollino” by Gianni Rodari. There are very rare positions there - detective Carrot or dog Hold-Grab, Leek. These heroes were sold individually in the 50s, when Gianni Rodari was just translated into Russian, a cartoon appeared - and a real boom in book heroes began.
The set was released several times, its most expanded version being two-tier boxes containing about 20 fairy-tale characters. They were produced according to GOST.
- Wow!!!
Don’t 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 Christmas tree to the children. But at the same time, the concept of making them and celebrating them generally changed, 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 with images of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Engels, and even small bonbonniere boxes in the form of district councils, in which, like in the good old days, you could put candy and hang it on the Christmas tree.
Fairy tale heroes continued to be made even then, but at the same time, figures of children of all nationalities and representatives of working professions appeared. When they started making friends with us in the 50s, they started producing little Chinese. I already told you about toys about the war in Spain, and I also have a glass ball with a “happy” inscription “Happy 1941!”...
- Who decided what toys there should be? Who chose their topics?
In the Soviet Union there was an Institute of Toys, where a specially created expert commission worked. All toy projects had to go through her. The idea could be rejected for aesthetic or ideological reasons.
Sometimes the experts were late in making a decision, the toy was put into circulation, and later it turned out that it did not meet the party line, it happened that it did not meet sanitary standards - and then the whole series could be removed from production, and the author who took liberties could be punished. So there are also 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 longer a scientific approach to the production of toys. But still, even in “party” times there were not and could not be completely identical toys. That is, everyone had some basic background and idea in common, 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 had its own traditions.
In Leningrad, let’s say, they approached the process more carefully, their toys came out in strict, deep shades, very restrained in color, laconic, regular and clear lines, which I personally really like, and they made everything a little more crooked, clumsy, but fun and warm. So I can easily distinguish toys from each other and find out the era in which they were made.
You know, my exhibition was once held on Poklonnaya Hill as part of the New Year’s Toy Festival. There, each tree represented a certain historical period in the USSR: the 30s, early 40s, wartime, 60s... And each era has its own soul. You can't confuse toys from one era with another.
- But for some reason you stopped at the “Brezhnev” era. There are almost no “Gorbachev” copies.
Something changed already in the 80s. The care and tenderness that previous jewelry had was gone. Perhaps due to the fact that production has become cheaper.
The craftsmen didn’t bother too much: they’ll plating gold on a glass ball, draw some kind of curlicue, and it’s done. It is possible that the changes taking place in our country at that time left their mark. No, the toys of those years are unique, but for their time, and for today's 25 year olds, they will undoubtedly evoke nostalgia someday. But I limited myself to the Soviet period. He is closer to me, more understandable, dearer.
Then I’m afraid to even ask how you feel about the numerous Chinese fakes that have filled all the Christmas tree markets today. They seem to be exact copies of even 19th-century rarities, beautiful, brilliant, but - as in the joke - they are not pleasing. By what criteria do you decorate your New Year tree - after all, no matter how hard you try, you can’t hang all 3000 toys on it?
And when and how. But I always try to maintain a single style: either it’s German Christmas or Sots Art, sometimes I hang exclusively toys from my childhood, the 70s of the twentieth century. The neighbors wonder every time: what could it be? They come and are usually surprised that they didn’t guess right again...
Over the past 20 years, he has been collecting and restoring old children's toys, with a special love for Christmas tree decorations. His extensive collection contains about three thousand old New Year's toys, which found their home in a small room in the Palace of Pioneers on Sparrow Hills. Among the rare exhibits of Sergei Romanov are toys made from the 1830s–1840s until the collapse of the USSR, as well as papier-mâché toys from the 50s. We invite you to plunge into the atmosphere of magic and look at ancient Christmas tree decorations from the past.
Angel, early 20th century
Boat. Late 19th - early 20th century
Christmas grandfather. Glass. Late 19th - early 20th century
Boy skiing, glass balls. Late 19th - early 20th century
Children on a sled. Cotton toys with porcelain faces. Late 19th - early 20th century
Christmas grandfather. Cotton toy, chromolithography. Late 19th - early 20th century
Star. Mounted toy. Glass. Late 19th - early 20th century
Christmas grandfather. Chromolithograph. Late 19th - early 20th century
Ball in honor of the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution. Glass. 1937
Letter from Santa Claus. New Year card. Mid-20th century
Father Frost. Cotton toy 1930-1940
Snow Maiden. Cotton toy. 1930-1950
Locomotive. Embossed cardboard. 1930-1940
Airships. Glass. 1930-1940
Watch. Glass. 1950-1960
Hare with a drum. Glass. 1950-1970
Clown with a pipe. Glass. 1950-1970
Glass toys 1960-1980
Lady with a snowball. Porcelain doll. Late XIX - beginning
New Year tree with cotton toys. Second half of the 1930s
