Sandy’s Eleven Petal-Leaves

Sandy is the second owner of these eleven beauties, purchasing them from a family whose son inherited them from his mother. She reached out to ask if they were authentic and the time period of creation.

These eleven petals are hand-painted American-made bulbs and date pre-war. Thanks to Sandy’s pictures, I compared the ornaments side by side and noticed variation.

The Corning factory in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania did not allocate staff to paint ornaments using humans to inspect thousands (later millions) of blown bulbs and pack the ornaments for shipment to decorating firms. So I think Max Eckardt or K & W Glass Works hand-painted these ornaments for a short time and sold them as Shiny Brites.

The good news is that Christmas magic (or the internet) helped Sandy locate a twelfth bulb to complete her set.