10 Best Crystal Christmas Tree Ornaments – Brands Personalized Collectibles – 2022
Image by kathrinzeisberger from Pixabay
Your 10 + Best crystal christmas tree ornaments have a long and artistic history in the glass industry of Mesopotamia, China, the Venetian region of Italy, and in the rest of Europe.
Lead has been in glass for a very long time. While it was first commercialized by Englishman George Ravenscroft, in the 1600’s, it appeared in a blue glass fragment dated back to 1400 BC.
The current Ravenscroft company makes lead-free glasses, and those would actually be called crystalline, not crystal, according to many references.
Lead crystal glass became industrialized in England and dominated the business throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
The image of the snowflake above was taken with an electron microscope. Now you can have such pretty crystal snowflakes as decorations in your windows or on your holiday trees, made from fine lead crystal.
Is Lead In Crystal Harmful?
Occasional use of lead wine or water goblets, and lead glasses for spirits, is not harmful. But for daily use, it is recommended to drink from glass rather than crystal.
Crystal jewelry is safe to wear.
Crystal decanters once were used to store spirits, and were beautiful decorations when filled with the deep colored whiskeys, brandies and sherries.
As awareness of lead toxicity became known, the custom became to pour spirits into crystal decanters for serving, but not for storing.
The collectors of crystal Christmas tree decorations don’t have to worry about the lead content in their ornaments. For this reason these beautiful objects continue to be popular, and will become heirlooms in your family, no doubt.
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Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree Ornaments
SWAROVSKI Rockefeller Center Tree Topper Shining Star 843215
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The Rockefeller Christmas Tree has had its Swarovski topper redesigned a few times. The one above is from 2006. It is truly gorgeous, and is designed to top your tree too!
I just love time lapse videos, do you? Here is one showing the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree go up – ending with its shining Swarovski topper.
SWAROVSKI Christmas Set, A.E. 2019 Ornament, Crystal
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This exquisite trio of 3″ crystal snowflakes is unique to 2019 and the year is marked on the tiny metal tags.
“Decoration Object, Not A Toy” – this cautions you to not let your children handle them, because of the lead content.
Hang them from the white satin ribbons on your tree or in a sun-catching location, to enhance your enjoyment of the winter season.
I love to hang decorations in the window, do you? When I see these in my neighbors’ windows, it feels like we share the joy and meanings of the season, even though we don’t really know each other. It is a nice bond.
Click to see a whole Amazon page of Swarovski annual Christmas Tree ornaments.
Crystal Angel Christmas Tree Ornaments
Swarovski Angel Sophia Christmas Figurine
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This figurine is described as having frosted crystal face and hands, carved in good detail. The wings extend all the way down the back of the angel.
Who is Sophia in Christianity?
Hagia Sophia is God’s Wisdom, or Holy Wisdom.
Sophia is not a person from the Bible, but a personification of high qualities.
This angel offers comfort to the grieving, as it represents wisdom and compassion for self, as well as others.
Swarovski Authentic Especially Designed 2019 Annual Editions Angel Ornament
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The first debut of this design was in 2004, and the Swarovski Crystal Angel Ornament Annual Edition has been made a tradition that continues to bring its sparkle to every holiday season.
The 2019 design has been exquisitely crafted with 302 brilliant reflective facets. This angel holds a star finished with a glorious Aurora Borealis effect evoking visions of the Northern Lights.
Juan Ignacio Aleena is its designer. It will only be available in 2019 and has been elegantly engraved showing the year.
A symbol of peace and hope for the years to come, this ornament will add sparkle to your tree, mantle or window decorations.
SWAROVSKI 2014 Angel Ornament
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This angel can hang or stand. It is not the only one from previous years you can find on Amazon. Collectors do like to get them all!
Looking today, I see the 2015 and 2016 angels too.
The wonderful thing about the angels is that they are not an exclusively winter time or holiday time symbol.
Angels can be shown all year round, in any part of your decor, to remind you of the qualities you yourself might aspire to. They are life’s inspiration, are they not?
Waterford Angel of Prayer
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Number one in this series, the crystal Waterford Angel of Prayer figurine evokes the beauty of your hopes and dreams in life.
Buyers rated this 5 Stars for the detail in the designer’s craft with gorgeous carved patterns over the 7 inch figurine.
It comes well padded in a box. It is perfect for an any occasion gift, or to decorate and catch the sun in a special place of your home.
Waterford Crystal Angel of Grace
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This 6.5 inch high figurine appeared on the market for the first time in 2004.
It is the first angel in the Waterford Celestial Angel series.
It comes in a gift box.
The angel is praying, head bowed, and has long hair and wears a gown that flows to her feet.
Crystal Icicle Christmas Tree Ornaments
Waterford 4th Edition Icicle Ornament
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Icicles are our outdoor decorations, reflecting the sun after a snowfall, and dazzling entire city blocks.
Do you remember that soft sound of large icicles falling into the deep snow below, as the sun melted them? Then, later in the day as the ground froze once more, the falling icicles would crash onto the ice, having grown longer all day as the water dripped down them, making the tips look like dangerous daggers.
That threat was merely a passing illusion.
This group of crystal icicles is something you can have for many years, to add to your Christmas tree beauty or the sunny places you might hang these, for the best reflections.
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Waterford Ruby Cased Ball Ornament
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By the 11th century, crystal was used to make artificial gemstones in Europe.
This gorgeous ruby red colored ornament brings a sparkling gemstone sophistication to your red/green/ice white traditional decor.
Red crystal is layered over the clear crystal, so when it is cut, the light shines through the dazzling clear crystal underneath.
Waterford The Green Cased Ball Ornament
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This is the prettiest of the green crystal Christmas tree ornaments. The deep shade of fir trees, holly leaves, and Mistletoe sprigs, accented with the faceted ice of winter, will sparkle on your tree.
It will also make a beautiful sun catcher hanging in your window.
The following article covers more information about glass and crystal making.
What Is Crystal? by Louis Cooper
“Fasten your seatbelts… time for a little generalized chemistry class on glass. Typical glass as we know it–everyday drinking glasses, window glass, bakeware, etc.–is referred to as soda-lime glass. It’s made up of several essential ingredients, including sodium carbonate, lime, dolomite, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide along with smaller quantities of other variable ingredients called “fining agents.” These raw materials are melted in a glass furnace to the whopping temperature of around 2400F. The molten liquid is then allowed to rest for a bit to allow the bubbles in it to rise out of it (referred to as “fining out”). The glass is then formed according to what it’s being used for, i.e. a vessel to hold a beverage or a windowpane. Drinking glasses are formed by the blowing or pressing process, and flat glass by the float process. While all crystal is glass, not all glass is crystal. For crystal, you have to add an extra ingredient into the mix.
Heavy Metal, Man
When traditional crystal glass is produced, it involves the addition of the heavy metal, lead, to the glass recipe. While some manufacturers have developed lead-free crystal, historically, for crystal to be considered crystal, it had to have a certain amount lead in it. Soda-lime glass involves molecules that are amorphous, or without structure–there’s no order to them but they are bound rigidly, making the glass more durable than crystal. The molecules in lead crystal have a distinct, repeating three-dimensional pattern. This produces the more brilliant, sparkly characteristic of it. It’s based on an index called the “refractive index”–the higher the refractive index, the more sparkly the glass. The addition of lead also makes the crystal glass not have to be so hot when it’s being worked. Another thing that distinguishes lead crystal glass is that it absorbs less energy than normal glass when struck (like when you tink tink it with your fingernail). That causes it to “oscillate”–producing the ring. If you’re like me you can’t resist tapping a high-quality lead crystal wine glass to hear that beautiful “song.”
How Much Lead makes it Lead Crystal?
This varies pretty dramatically on a global basis. There’s no rule set in stone, but the traditionally accepted lead content for a lead crystal glass is no less than 30% lead oxide. The European standards are much greater than in the US, which can be significantly lower and still be called crystal; however, there has been a trend of late that shows some of the higher-end European crystal producers to be dipping down to 24% lead content in their wares, which is completely sufficient in my opinion.
Are There Any Drawbacks to Crystal vs. Glass?
Not in my opinion, but I could be biased. If I have an the option to drink my Chardonnay out of a non-crystal wine glass that can be purchased at the Dollar Store, or say a Riedel crystal Chardonnay glass, I’ll take the crystal any day of the week. To be fair, though, crystal is less durable than soda-lime glass, and breaks easier. It’s also more sensitive to extreme temperatures. If the liquid is to hot, it can break and vice versa. This is no big issue, in my opinion, as most people wouldn’t put anything extreme in a crystal wine glass. There are also those who have health-related concerns about lead leaching into their beverage. While lead is toxic and can leach into a beverage, it’s when the wine or spirit has sat in the vessel for an extended period of time that any significant amount of lead is found in the liquid. Exercising common sense and consulting the Internet for information on how long it is safe to keep your beverage in a crystal vessel can eliminate worry on the issue.
Cheers!
Louis Cooper is a 37 year veteran of the retail trade. An avid wine connoisseur, in 2007 he started OnWineTime to offer the wine enthusiast the finest wine glasses, decanters and wine accessories from around the world. Located in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, OnWineTime carries over 300 different wine and beer glasses and over 100 wine and spirit decanters from the top glass producers in the world, including Riedel, Schott Zwiesel, Wateford, Eisch, Spiegelau, Peugeot, Ravenscroft and Nachtmann. The real wine and beer glass superstore.”
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