Figural Christmas Lights

Following up on the popularity of figural ornaments, handmade and hand painted figural lights first appeared in Austria in the beginning of the 20th century. These were delicate lights, shaped like flowers, birds, fruits and the like. Around 1920, machine made copies of these bulbs began to be produced in Japan and the USA, as well as a variety of other shapes like Santas and stars.

Japanese figural lights, made until around the 1950's, can be distinguished by their heaver glass. Many of the Japanese bulbs were made from milk glass and took the form of cartoon characters and Asian motifs like paper lanterns.