Collections: Vintage Shiny-Brite Ornaments

This is the first of several posts about our personal collection of vintage Christmas ornaments. We have a lot of Christmas ornaments in our family! Some of the few ornaments that Jonathan and I have purchased ourselves are vintage Shiny-Brite ornaments. Five years ago when we first began visiting Memphis antique malls, we kept seeing these lovely faded glass ornaments that also happened to be very affordable. We learned these ornaments were called Shiny-Brites and were marketed as such on their original boxes and metal caps. We bought several boxes of Shiny-Brites that year. After doing some research, we learned that Shiny-Brites were the original American glass Christmas ornaments. According to our research, all glass ball ornaments came from Germany prior to World War II. Shortly before the war began, a savvy American businessman named Max Eckardt (who had previously been importing the ornaments from Germany) decided to make American-made ornaments. The ornaments were proudly marketed that way and were all decorated by hand. The age of the ornaments can usually be determined by the hanger. The WWII-era balls didn't include the metal cap because of the metal shortage, but the ornaments that were made following WWII did.

Sadly, the company closed in the early 1960s when plastic ornaments and artificial trees increased in popularity. Fortunately, thanks to their mass appeal during the '40s and '50s, today they can be found at estate sales and antique malls. As you can see, we are quite addicted to their faded charm!

This was the first box of Shiny-Brites that we purchased. They are cute mini ornaments.

The boxes are as charming as the ornaments themselves. I think this box is from the '40s.

We bought this green ornament by itself. You can see "Shiny-Brite American Made" on the cap.

The colors are amazing...

...as is the graphic design on the boxes. Notice the price. Lowenstein's was a popular Memphis department store back in the day.

Pink ornaments were really popular in the '50s and '60s. I bet these were some of the last ornaments Shiny-Brite manufactured. I love the crackled look they have.

More pink ornaments with a beautiful patina.

Lovely vintage Shiny-Brite boxes.

Do you have Shiny-Brites hanging on your Christmas tree?

Family Stories: At Christmas

Today I wanted to share some photos of my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents at Christmas. My dad grew up in Naples, Italy, where he enjoyed American and Italian Christmas traditions. Here he is with his mother, Lucy, his sister Tina and their grandmother Tina. This would have been around 1960.

Here's my dad and Tina checking out the elaborate nativity scene, which is called a presepio in Italy. I love the look on his face. He could totally be one of the characters from the movie A Christmas Story.

Here they are a few years later in front of the Christmas tree. I love Tina's hat. She still makes this face, by the way!

If you look closely, you'll notice that they always put the Christmas tree in the exact same spot! Here's a later photo in color of my dad and grandmother standing beside the tree. My 90-year-old grandmother still lives in that same apartment, and I bet she still has many of these ornaments on her tree. :)

On the other side of the world in Palos Verdes, California, the family tree looked like this:

All of those ornaments hang on my mom's tree today. Here she is with her grandmother on Christmas morning. The stereo, end table and coffee table are all still in our family.

And here she is opening presents with Joan and her future stepdad Sid. They were very '60s!

It's easy to get away from taking photos when our holidays are so hectic, but it's so fun to revisit these memories. We hope they inspire you to pull out your own family pictures and add to the new photographic treasures this holiday season.

Holiday Collection: Vintage Knife Sets

What is it about the holidays that make us want to use our prettiest things? I've been thinking about putting together lovely Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and setting the table with our family china. My mom recently gave us these vintage knife sets, and I hope to incorporate them as well. I remember them being on our table throughout my childhood. Even then, I loved them. I guess some things never change!

This John Batt and Co. carving set came from the famous Portobello Road market.

I love that each of the handles has a slightly different patina. Although I don't know when they were made, the company was in existence until 1938. Here's a vintage ad featuring them! My guess is 1910s?

And the box...Oh, I love a good vintage box!

My Regent Sheffield knife set has been well-loved over the years, but it has so much charm.

Based on the boxes I found online, I believe it's from the 1950s.

The set includes knives for butter, cheese, pie, cake, bread, carving and steak! There are several steak knives!

I'm a huge fan of flowers, and these have a sweet flower detail on each handle.

Like I said, I loved using this set as a child, and I feel very fortunate that I get to enjoy them as an adult as well!

Want to see more vintage knife sets? Any of these would make lovely Christmas gifts!

These are lovely. I especially love the box and tag insert.

Here's a set similar to mine in its original box.

Again, my knives. Love the box!

Another fun mid-century design.

I love these ones too.

Blue and white is so classic.

The patina on this set is lovely.

Oh, this box...

Do you have any heirloom cutlery sets that you use daily or around the holidays? I'd love to hear about them!

Don't forget to check out our new Christmas card collection that debuted on Friday. :)

Our First Christmas Card Collection

We are very proud to introduce our first-ever Christmas card collection. Christmas has always been our favorite time of the year (we love it so much that our wedding date was December 15, 2007), and when I first started dreaming of Gerald and Joan, I knew Christmas would be an integral part of our business.

Fast forward several months, and our family slides came into my possession. As soon as I saw these images, I knew they were supposed to be our 2013 Christmas card collection. Our mission statement -- preserving history through design -- comes alive through this collection. These images and the cards themselves are completely timeless, yet nostalgic, and they effortlessly blend the past with the present and future.

Here's a little bit more about the collection from our look book:

The first Christmas collection from Gerald and Joan features five Kodachrome photographs from our personal archives. The images were taken at Joan's family home of Gates Mills, Ohio in the 1940s. Scanned from slides discovered after decades in storage, these vintage images transport us back to a simpler time when a white Christmas felt truly magical. To ensure each photograph shines, they are printed on heavy bright white cover stock. Inside each folded card the cover image is repeated and joined by a whimsical holiday greeting. The Christmas magic is then brought to life with a light dusting of crystal glitter and snow and embossed snowflakes dancing across each envelope flap.*

The collection features two options, plus our "little extras" -

5 x 7 Folded Card Set: A basic package of 10 cards includes two copies of our five classic designs. The cards are two-sided, and they are accompanied by 10 high quality A7 metallic silver envelopes.

4.5 x 6.25 Postcard Set: A basic package of 10 cards includes two copies of our five classic designs.

Little Extras* Three Snowflakes Embossed on Envelopes Dusting of crystal glitter and snow on cards Handwritten signatures printed inside each card (you send us your signatures and we digitize and add them to the cards)

The basic packages of 10 cards are now available in our Etsy shop. If you would like to purchase a larger quantity or a custom order with any or all of our little extras, contact us below:

[contact-form subject='[Gerald %26amp; Joan'][contact-field label='Name' type='name' required='1'/][contact-field label='Email' type='email' required='1'/][contact-field label='Website' type='url'/][contact-field label='Comment' type='textarea' required='1'/][/contact-form]

View the entire Gerald and Joan Christmas Look Book here or click on the image below.

We are so proud to be able to share this collection with you today! Ironically, November 15 happens to be our day to decorate our house for Christmas (a tradition we started in 2006), and it also marks the tenth anniversary of our first real date. :)