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Antique lightbulbs, ornaments displayed
The Victorian Christmas displays at The Dake House and Antiques Plus in Genoa will feature an antique collection of Christmas ornaments and lightbulbs. The John W. Laird collection of novelty lightbulbs will be on display until Dec. 24.
Ann Hunt-Laird and her husband John have been collecting Christmas novelties since 1957, with the most fascinating part of the collection, an assortment of figural Christmas lights.
Many of the earliest figural light bulbs representing fruit, flowers and holiday figures were blown in molds that were also used to make small glass ornaments. These figural lights were painted by toy makers, according to information provided by Hunt-Laird.
The first figurals, primarily from Austria and Germany, were introduced in the United States around 1909. At the time, they were made from clear glass that was hand painted. The paint used on the lights did not adhere well to glass and as the lights were turned on and off, the constant expansion and contraction of the glass made the paint flake off. It was discovered that milk glass looked better than clear glass so the industry quickly and almost exclusively switched to the use of milk glass in the 1920s. Around 1922, the Japanese began offering huge quantities of the figural lamps. These milk glass lights did not have the superior detail of the Austrian and German lamps, but because they were machine made, their cost was far less. Within a few years, the Japanese figurals dominated the market.
"My husband always had a fascination for these figural lights," Hunt-Laird said. "When he was young his mother had a string of comic strip character lights. He always remembered those and most people collect things because of fond memories."
According to Hunt-Laird, the first electric lights of record made their appearance on a Christmas tree in 1882 when Edward Johnson, a friend of Thomas Edison and a partner in the Edison Illumination Company in New York City, hand-wired 80 red, white and blue bulbs and wound them around a rotating evergreen tree in his home.
Despite a report of this event appearing in the Detroit Post and Tribune, few Americans heard of electric Christmas lights until 1895, when President Grover Cleveland commissioned a White House tree lighted with Edison bulbs. The large evergreen featured more than a hundred multicolored lights.
In 1909, the trademark name of Mazda was first used by General Electric to describe the Christmas lights they produced. The name was taken from Persian mythology since the female Ahura Mazda was the goddess of light. It was soon licensed by Westinghouse as well, and became accepted by the buying public as a sign of quality and long life. Soon, many Christmas lighting outfit manufacturers proudly proclaim the inclusion of Mazda lamps in their strings. In the famous advertising paintings for General Electric Mazda lamps done by Maxfield Parrish, there were often women depicted in flowing robes, a tribute to the heritage of the trademark. In 1932, General Electric offered bell-shaped lamps for the first time. These are called "Mazda bells" by collectors.
Another type of lights in the Laird collection are bubble lights. First marketed in 1946 by Noma, a company famous for their quality innovations in Christmas lights, the company was unable to hold a patent on the bubbling, oil-filled glass candles and many other companies were offering their own bubbling light sets by 1947.
All these memorable ornaments and figural lights will be on display with Ann Hunt-Laird on hand to answer questions, share history and Christmas memories on Nov. 25 at an opening reception at the Dake House Victorian Christmas from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Champagne punch and other refreshments will be served.
The Dake House is located at 2242 Main St., next to the post office. For more information call 782-4951 or visit the Web site www.genoaevents.com
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