Vintage Christmas Tree Toppers

While stars and snowflakes at the tops of Christmas trees are the favorites of many families, angels rule the roost. That's because a 1848 engraving published in "The Illustrated London News" depicted Queen Victoria and her family surrounding a Christmas tree topped with a small angel. The queen, who set trends for centuries to come, was inspired by the trees of German royalty. Their traditional tree was topped with an angel meant to represent the biblical angel Gabriel, who is part of the nativity. In 18th-century Germany, tree-topping Christmas angels were formed of plaster on a composition armature, with paper robes covered in brass foil. Some late-19th-century Nuremberg angels wore paper-and-foil crowns, while others were backed by pleated paper wings and wrapped in matching paper skirts. In the 20th-century United States, particularly popular angel tree-toppers were manufactured by companies such as National Tinsel of Wisconsin and TIMCO. Made of lithographed and foiled paper, with spun cotton for clouds, these angels were backed by halos of hair-thin glass rods, which obviously broke easily, making them scarce today. Cardboard tubes, glass cylinders, or small springs were used to attach angels to trees. The second-most-popular Christmas tree topper is probably the five-pointed star, meant to represent the Star of Bethlehem that guided the wise men to the baby Jesus. (In Jewish homes, a Hanukkah bush is often topped with the six-pointed Star of David.) In the 20th century, tin or aluminum foil star tree toppers produced by companies like NOMA tend to be lit with embedded Christmas lights. NOMA made light-up Christmas angels, as well. The glassblowing art developed for Christmas tree ornaments was also used to create the glass finial, or French “cimier oriental," tree toppers featuring two or three spheres leading up to a peak. Other types of vintage tree toppers have taken the forms of Santa Claus, Christian crosses, pop-culture characters, snowflakes, or sunbursts. You can find fancy Waterford crystal or Lladro ceramic toppers and blown-glass toppers by the likes of Shiny Brite or Radko. Other people topped their trees with more humble paper flowers or ribbon bows.