Christmas decorations from the times of the USSR: back to the Soviet past. Soviet Christmas decorations worth over a million rubles! My collection of Christmas decorations of the USSR

With age, sometimes there is an irresistible desire to remember your childhood, to feel some nostalgia for the times of the USSR. For some reason, the New Year in the Soviet style most reminds those over thirty of the times that, despite the scarcity, you remember with rapture of the heart, considering them the best.

Now the tendency to celebrate the New Year in the style of the USSR has increased. The Christmas tree, dressed up according to the American model in three colors, is no longer surprising. More and more I want to decorate the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys. And be sure to put cotton under it, imitating snow, and tangerines.

Variety of Christmas decorations

Often, the Christmas tree in Soviet families was dressed up with an abundance of toys and decorations. Clothespin toys deserve special attention, which are very convenient to attach to the middle of the Christmas tree branch. In the form of which only they were not presented: Santa Claus, Snowman, Snow Maiden, candle, nesting doll.

The balls, as now, were of different sizes, but the unique highlight was in the balls with round hollows, into which the light of the garlands fell, creating a fabulous illumination throughout the Christmas tree. There were also phosphor-patterned balls that glowed in the dark.

Since the New Year comes at midnight, clock-shaped toys were produced. They were given a central place on the tree. Often such Soviet Christmas decorations were hung at the very top, just below the top of the head, which, of course, was decorated with a red star - the main Soviet symbol.

Even Christmas decorations of those times were represented by decorations made of large glass beads and beads. Usually they were hung on the lower or middle branches. Old Soviet toys, especially pre-war ones, are carefully stored and passed from grandmothers to grandchildren.

From icicles, houses, watches, animals, balls, stars, a unique one was obtained.

And was it raining?

There was no such fluffy and voluminous rain as now in the days of Soviet socialism. The Christmas tree was decorated with vertical rain and beads. A little later, a horizontal rain appeared, but it was not thick and voluminous. Some voids on the Christmas tree were filled with garlands and sweets.

For a few days, you can feel the atmosphere of the Soviet Union with the help of a Christmas tree decorated in retro style. Unique Soviet-era Christmas decorations, decorations and tinsel should be looked for in the bins of our grandmothers or purchased at city flea markets. By the way, auctions and online stores for the sale and exchange of Christmas tree decorations of the USSR era are being created on the network. Some even collect such toys, many of which are already considered antiques.

It remains only to decorate the Christmas tree with old Soviet toys, turn on the Irony of Fate and remember your childhood for a second.

Collector Sergei Romanov: "There are very rare positions - the dog Hold and Grab and Leek"

New Year is a holiday outside of time and politics. It would seem that. But everything that has happened in our country over the past hundred years has been reflected in a Christmas tree toy. Sergey Romanov, one of the most famous collectors of Christmas decorations in Russia, told us about the most unique specimens.

Photo from personal archive

From golden angels, homemade nuts and candy beads to multi-colored balloons "Glory to the USSR", glass cosmonauts and workers with collective farmers ...

“During the Civil War, at the end of the 30s, even a ball appeared, which depicted the battle of our plane with the Nazi one, and ours, of course, knocked out the enemy,” says Sergei Romanov, a toy historian, art restorer. There are more than 3000 copies in his collection.

And if you add here other Soviet toys that are not related to the New Year holidays, you will get over 12 thousand. “But Christmas trees are a special topic!” - emphasizes the collector.

Photo from personal archive

Everyone remembers the joke about fake Christmas toys. Beautiful, shiny. But they are not happy - that's all! In fact, before we were happy not with toys, but with our childhood. What do you think, Sergei Gennadievich, is this so?

Love for Christmas decorations is special. In any house, they still remain from grandparents, but they are taken out only once a year, it turns out that this is also a kind of continuous connection between generations.

I was born in the 70th year, I remember from childhood that there was Santa Claus, reindeer. Unforgettable miracle! When I became a little older, busy parents often sent me to sit with a neighbor, the boy had to be occupied with something, and the neighbor Aunt Olya pulled out a large suitcase with old Christmas tree decorations from under the sofa. Summer, heat - and these magical toys from Aunt Olya's suitcase.

At home, I shared my impressions with my parents, and suddenly they tell me that we also have such beauty, grandmother's toys. “Why don’t we hang them on the Christmas tree?” - “But they are already old ...” Dad climbed onto the mezzanine - and for the first time I saw things that were completely different in their aesthetics ...

Photo from personal archive

- That is, the neighbor is “to blame” for the fact that you have become a toy collector?

If not for Aunt Olya, there would probably be something else. From childhood I was amazed by the world of old things and photographs from an old album covered with calico.

In the life of any little person, a wonderful discovery comes one day - when he suddenly finds out that both mom and dad, and even grandparents were also small ... “Here is your grandmother in the photo, she is 5 years old. And on the other she is already 25. How can this be? This is an amazing revelation! What was the time of other children and other toys ...

Thus began my acquaintance with the history of the family. I tirelessly asked to see things from that distant era, to find them, and indeed my grandmother had not only Christmas decorations, but also antique dolls, perfect beauties with papier-mâché bodies and fragile porcelain heads, and much more.

Photo from personal archive

How did your collection start?

Rather, it was the first push. I was fourteen years old when the kitten, who lived then in our apartment, overturned the New Year tree ... Many things were broken. And then friends and relatives simply brought us their toys so that the holiday would still take place.

People close to me then and now were not indifferent to my interest. But in high school, many did not understand my passion, I had to resist ridicule. The first copies of the collection were selected according to the principle "like - dislike". Of course, over time it grew into an amateur. I actually form a museum fund.

My collection is now of museum value. And at any moment it can become such a museum. Exhibitions are also held regularly. Right now, for example, in Kolomenskoye there is an exhibition “Another Childhood” - toys of the 20-50s of the last century are shown there.

Photo from personal archive

They are antiques. Anything older than half a century is antiques. That is, all toys made before the year 65 are of interest to collectors. For some reason, cotton wool jewelry is considered especially expensive and rare, and even made in Leningrad, they were not delivered to Moscow during the Soviet era, they went only to the regions, Ukrainian toys of the Klavdiev factory are also valued. The cost of especially rare specimens reaches 25-30 thousand rubles, sometimes higher.

It happens that several dozen collectors fight for a rare toy at once. Of course, there are serious people, but there are those who collect according to the principle of "sandbox syndrome" - since the neighbor has a car, then I want the same one. Actually, nothing has changed - even though the children have grown.

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- I want - and that's it ?!

Of course, the market dictates its own laws. There are some truly unique items. In general, prices for toys rose sharply because of the American Kim Balashak, she specially came to the city in the mid-90s and simply bought up everything she saw at the Izmailovo opening day. Traders figured it out right away.

In those years, there was also a famous flea market in the Tishinsky market. New Year's toys were a seasonal item on it, and their prices were quite affordable, then the first online auctions appeared - and the value of some lots skyrocketed.

Kim Balashak was really very interested in collecting our New Year's toys, but sometimes she simply did not know their history, our national mentality, balls with portraits of Lenin and Stalin could still be somehow identified, but the way she described some toys looks like an anecdote.

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So, Kim bought a series consisting of several characters: a soccer fox, a soccer hare, a soccer wolf, a soccer bear ... And I look and understand: this is a fairy tale about a kolobok!

Or Nekrasov's "peasant with a fingernail" was once called a mule driver. So it is not always possible for foreigners to understand our Russian toys and their meaning. This is part of our culture.

- They say that the first fakes of Soviet Christmas tree decorations appeared around the same time.

Yes, these were toys primarily made of cotton wool. There manufacturing technology is quite simple. It is almost impossible to fake glass! If only to repaint the existing balls under the old samples.

Kim Balasak paid well for anything, so this type of scam flourished. After Kim left, it became unprofitable to fake such things - it is much more profitable to make your own author's remakes of old, sometimes even pre-revolutionary copies.

So the toys of tsarist times have been preserved? Probably, we are the only country in the world where the “Christmas tree” connection of generations was interrupted by wars and revolutions. There were no toys ...

Few of the glass survived. But there were things that were different in terms of technology. Firstly, from embossed cardboard, this is thick-walled cardboard, which was made in a special way, there were surprise toys - you could hide something of your own there, like in a pencil case. Were wadded, from papier-mâché. There were also dolls with porcelain heads... The tradition of glass Christmas decorations arose not so long ago - approximately in the 60s of the 19th century.

Photo from personal archive

- And the Germans were the first to make them?

There is such a legend: in the city of Lausche, where the glass production was located, one poor glassblower had no money at all to buy gifts for his children. And, in order not to return home empty-handed, he blew figured toys, balls, pendants, they could be hung on a Christmas tree. Neighbors came to him for the holiday and were completely delighted with such beauty, they began to make orders.

The poor glassblower got rich, and glass New Year's toys appeared in the world. The factory in Lausche is still in operation today. The Germans captured in the First World War taught Russian craftsmen how to make similar decorations.

Usually in rich houses toys were ordered from catalogs. And those who could not afford it hung goodies on the Christmas tree - cookies, sweets, nuts in gold foil. But "delicious" toys lost the fact that they were immediately eaten. Remember Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker": the children burst into the room with a Christmas tree with laughter, instantly cut off all the branches, and the bare trunk is thrown out at the same time. But I wanted a longer holiday, contemplation of the Christmas tree, admiring it.

So advice appeared in ladies' magazines on how to make long-lasting jewelry: cook a paste, take a wire, wrap it with cotton wool, sprinkle crushed mica on top - such "recipes" were printed by all self-respecting women's publications in those days. Although the tradition of edible toys persisted for a long time. Remember the story by Mikhail Zoshchenko, written in the 20s, about Lelya and Mitya, who ate the Christmas tree?

- But after the revolution, the Christmas tree somehow suddenly found itself outside the law. As a bourgeois relic and a class enemy.

Not right away. As we know, Lenin arranged a Christmas tree for children in Sokolniki. But from about the year 27, the tree really fell out of favor, thematic products were not produced, the celebration was not welcomed. The younger generation had to be brought up on completely different examples and ideals.

- How did the “repressed” toys survive?

They were hiding. After all, I wanted a holiday anyway. Few toys from that era have survived. My grandmother has preserved - she was born in 1910. Grandmother got married in 1931, from the 36th Christmas tree was allowed again, Christmas was replaced by New Year, and since then grandmother bribed new toys every year, put them in one box with the pre-revolutionary decoration of her childhood: heavy German balls that were hung close to the trunk, where the branches were thicker; very thin Laush stars, rustling like foil.

Many of my grandmother's decorations are still alive today. A few pieces, however, crashed, they are not just lying there, but in constant operation.

I remember we had a completely unique Santa Claus in a hat, very carefully painted. And a bunch of grapes with a dragonfly on its side! Many people find something similar at home, and also give it to me, replenish the collection.

Photo from personal archive

In total, I now have more than three thousand toys, I have already lost count of them. From exhibition to exhibition, and there were dozens of them, the assortment is updated. But you can't follow everything.

Many years ago, when I was just starting to exhibit, in one of the museums, I won’t say which one, there was an accident. Part of the collection is broken. The show had already ended, the exposition was dismantled, everything was packed, the acceptance certificates were signed, and suddenly they offered me help - to bring the boxes to the car. I did not agree to any, but the lady employee insisted ...

The road was slippery, the woman slipped, fell and broke two boxes. It was very disappointing, because among the "dead" toys there were many rare Leningrad ones, which you can hardly find in Moscow.

- Were they insured?

At that moment, no. This is the 90s. When you are young, you don't think about possible risks. Many broken toys I then restored for decades.

And there are some sets that cannot be bought for any money. Simply because there are so few of them. For example, they went on sale for a specific event in a certain year or were sold in certain cities.

Many collectors are chasing the series "The Adventures of Cipollino" by Gianni Rodari. There are very rare positions there - the detective Carrot or the dog Hold-Hatch, Leek. These heroes were sold by the piece in the 50s, when Gianni Rodari was only translated into Russian, a cartoon appeared - and a real boom began for the heroes of the book.

The set came out several times, its most extended version was two-tiered boxes, in which there were about 20 fairy-tale characters. They were produced according to GOST.

- Wow!!!

You do not think that the production of Christmas tree decorations was taken very seriously in those days. They were part of the ideology of the country. Stalin returned the Christmas tree to the children. But at the same time, the concept of their manufacture and holiday has generally changed, politics intervened, and even the toys themselves became political. Soldiers, cosmonauts, balloons with the inscription "Glory to the Soviet people."

After 1936, factories began to mass-produce Chelyuskins, Red Army soldiers, balloons with the image of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Engels, and even small bonbonniere boxes in the form of district councils, in which, like in the good old days, you could put candy and hang it on a Christmas tree.

Heroes of fairy tales continued to be made even then, but at the same time, figurines of children of all nationalities, representatives of working professions, appeared. When they became friends with in the 50s, they began to produce small Chinese. I already told you about toys about the war in Spain, and I also have a glass ball with a “happy” inscription “Since 1941!” ...

- And who decided what toys to be? Who chose their theme?

In the Soviet Union there was an Institute of Toys, where a specially created expert commission worked. All toy projects had to go through her. The idea could be rejected for aesthetic or ideological reasons.

Sometimes the experts were late in making a decision, the toy was put into circulation, and later it turned out that it did not meet the party line, it happened that it did not pass according to sanitary standards - and then the whole series could be discontinued, and the author who took liberties punished. So there are some toys that have survived in extremely limited quantities.

Today, the VNII of toys does not exist, it was destroyed in the 90s. Therefore, the scientific approach to the production of toys is no more. But all the same, even in the "party" times, there were no completely identical toys and could not be. That is, some basic background and the idea was common for everyone, and then everything depended on the hand of the master. The toys were painted by hand. But it all depended on who made them, on what was in his soul. Even the region of manufacture often mattered. Everywhere there were traditions.

In Leningrad, let's say, they approached the process more carefully, their toys came out in strict, deep shades, very restrained in color, concise, regular and clear lines, which I personally really like, but they did everything a little more crooked, clumsy, but fun and warm. So I can easily distinguish toys from each other and find out the era in which they were made.

You know, my exhibition was once held on Poklonnaya Gora as part of the festival of New Year's toys. There, each Christmas tree represented a certain historical period in the USSR: 30s, early 40s, wartime, 60s ... And each era has its own soul. You can't confuse toys from one era with another.

- But for some reason you stopped at the "Brezhnev" era. There are almost no "Gorbachev" copies.

Something changed already in the 80s. That care, tenderness that the previous jewelry had was gone. Perhaps due to the fact that production has become cheaper.

The masters did not particularly bother: they would make a gold coating on a glass ball, draw some kind of curl - and you're done. It is possible that the changes taking place then in our country left their mark. No, the toys of those years are peculiar, but for their time, and among the current 25-year-olds, they will undoubtedly cause nostalgia someday. But I limited myself to the Soviet period. He is closer to me, more understandable, dearer.

Then I'm even afraid to ask how you feel about the numerous Chinese fakes that flooded all the Christmas tree markets today. It seems to be exact copies of even the rarities of the 19th century, beautiful, shiny, but - as in a joke - they are not encouraging. By what criteria do you decorate your New Year tree - after all, you can’t hang all 3000 toys on it with all your desire?

And when how. But I always try to maintain a single style: either it's German Christmas, or Sotsart, sometimes I only hang toys from my childhood, the 70s of the twentieth century. Neighbors think every time: what could it be? They come and are usually surprised that they didn’t guess again ...

Many of us somewhere on the mezzanine or in the closet have a box with old Christmas tree decorations, which were used by our grandparents. It is so? Usually we do not even think about the fact that such toys can be truly valuable, not only because of the memories, but because they have now become collectible.

Many of us have old Christmas decorations at home. The very ones with which our grandparents decorated the Christmas tree for the New Year. Usually we take them out of the box and don't even think about their value. This happened to 56-year-old Vladimir Schneider from Yekaterinburg.

The very ones that our grandparents used to decorate the Christmas tree for the New Year
BIG KUSH IN A SMALL STORAGE ROOM
Vladimir is a retired Airborne Colonel. All my life I wandered around the garrisons. And recently I decided to settle in my native Yekaterinburg. Here is his parent's apartment. The property has been vacant for four years...
- When he moved, he started a global renovation. He began to dismantle the deposits of old things. My mother was very thrifty - she did not allow anyone to throw anything away, - says Vladimir. - And my mother's pantry was generally a place "behind seven locks." She did not let anyone in there, even just to see what was there.
Vladimir found several cardboard boxes on the dusty mezzanines. They contained golden glass cones, carefully wrapped in paper, Christmas balls with a lace pattern, figurines of snowmen, fairy-tale heroes ... More than a hundred toys.

The same toys that our grandparents used to decorate the Christmas tree for the New Year
- At first I grabbed my head: “Where are there so many of them?” Not a single tree will survive, - Vladimir laughs. - Decided to quit. Yes, it was a pity - after all, my mother collected them for so many years. Let me sell, I think. A penny, no matter what, I'll help out. Got on the Internet to see how much this good can be sold. And gasped! Toys of the 50s, some sold for 50,000, and others for 100,000! It turns out that I found a whole "treasure"!
LOOK FOR BUNNS ON CLOTCHES
It turned out that at auctions, collectors are ready to pay several thousand for rare Christmas decorations. For example, a hut on a clothespin is bought for 5,000 rubles apiece, but for the Stargazer of the 50s, you can get up to 50,000 rubles ...

Toys of the 50s, some sold for 50,000, and others for 100,000!
- The first Christmas tree was decorated in 1937. Then they made more often wadded toys, for example, “Girl on a swing”. Her outfit is made of fabric, her face is made of papier-mâché and painted. This is a real "retro", - explains the antiques expert Vyacheslav Srebny. - Specialists in antiques estimate it at about 5,000 rubles. But on the Internet, collectors are ready to pay for such a little thing and all 150,000 rubles!
According to Vyacheslav, glass toys, which began to be made in the 50s, are especially popular. Moreover, products on clothespins are estimated twice as high as on a suspension.

Then they made more often cotton toys, for example, “Girl on a swing”
- These toys were painted by hand, you will definitely not find two identical ones. For each of them you can get 1500 rubles. For handmade toys, the price is 10 times higher than the factory price, Vyacheslav continues. – Collections of toys are especially appreciated. For example, the collection "Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish", which was released in the year of the 150th anniversary of Pushkin's birth. Putting them together is very difficult, they are hunted by collectors. I saw one toy on the Internet was sold for 22,000 rubles.
For clarity, Vyacheslav takes out a big Santa Claus from the box. It was made in the 50s. Srebny was lucky - he bought it from unknowing people for only 1,500 rubles. Now you can sell it for 8000.

It turned out that at auctions, collectors are ready to pay several thousand for rare Christmas decorations.
According to the expert, the cost of a toy is affected by its condition: chips can reduce its price even by 90 percent. A crack on a toy, even if it is thoroughly glued, reduces the price by 70 percent. If the paint is worn off - then up to minus 30, if it completely flies around, then it will be minus 50.
Determining the year of manufacture of a toy is not easy if it is not indicated on the product. But there are catalogs with the history of releases of manufacturing factories. For example, the guide-catalogue "Christmas Tree Decorations 1936-1970" with pictures, descriptions and the exact release date.
The rarest today are toys made from cotton wool. Behind them - go glass, then paper and cardboard, and finally, foam.

The kids loved the old Christmas toys.
And already in the 80s, the production of New Year's decorations was put on stream, millions of glass balls "scattered around the country", and now they are in almost every home. Glass colorful balls now cost 100-200 rubles.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Schneider, having learned about the high cost of his collection, is in no hurry to say goodbye to it. Who knows, maybe in ten years they will rise in price even more?
- I am not dependent on money, - the pensioner says firmly. - Therefore, I will leave these beautiful Christmas tree decorations to my grandchildren! And they, if they want, let them sell ...

These toys were painted by hand, you will definitely not find two identical ones. For each of them you will be paid 5000 rubles.

To this day, our happy childhood is reminiscent of Christmas decorations, which many still decorate Christmas trees. But not everyone knows that these toys are mostly considered antiques and can cost decent money.

Of course, the price includes the rarest and most complete toys of the 40-70s. And here we will show for which toys real connoisseurs of beauty and collectors are ready, without hesitation, to give a tidy sum.

1. New Year's abstraction.

Such abstract icicles, airplanes and pendulums have recently begun to attract collectors, so they have almost doubled in price.

2. Christmas jewelry.

Christmas tree beads are a rarity today. On modern holidays they have been replaced by tinsel and rain. But true connoisseurs of the warmth of the holiday of bygone childhood will buy such jewelry with great pleasure and offer an amount several times higher than their real value.

3. Antique lighting.

Today we are used to seeing the same type of diode lanterns on Christmas trees, flashing in different colors and speeds, but in the days of the USSR, there was a completely different approach to Christmas tree lanterns. Therefore, such a beautiful garland looks just like a work of art, which is worth paying a lot of money for.

4. Symbols of the USSR in price.

Collectors are diligently looking for airships with Soviet symbols and balloons with a communist red star. Such toys are not uncommon, but true connoisseurs will pay double the amount for their good condition.

5. Nice house.

Huts with a snow-covered roof - this is exactly what you can get a tidy sum for.

7. Clothespins with decor.

Clothespin toys in the form of various figures were produced in small batches for a certain period of time, so today they are considered relatively rare. If their condition is satisfactory, then you can easily earn extra money. See if something like that is lying around in your grandmother's chest. For example, for such a Little Red Riding Hood, the seller can ask for at least 1.5 thousand rubles.

8. Christmas tree clock.

No matter how strange it may sound, but today Soviet Christmas decorations in the form of clocks are in price. Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of them, collectors are willing to pay for them, as they vary in design and color scheme.

8. The most expensive of the cheapest materials.

You will be surprised, but such handmade dolls made of corrugated paper and cotton wool are considered the most expensive Christmas decorations. These dolls were among the first to appear on Christmas trees in the USSR. Today they are very rare, as they are made of materials that do not last long, unlike glass or plastic. Their price starts on average from 4-5 thousand rubles.

9. Valuable locomotive.

Not far in price are such steam locomotives of the 40s made of cardboard with a silver coating, a communist star and the inscription "Steam engine I. Stalin." These toys were released in a limited edition, and very few of them have survived to this day.

In December-January, an exhibition of Soviet New Year's toys was held at the exhibition center "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" near VDNKh. The history of Christmas tree decorations began long before the emergence of the USSR, but it was the Soviet government that harshly opposed the Orthodox "bourgeois-noble" Christmas and the Soviet "atheistic" New Year, along with all the inherent festive attributes. But, despite the changed semantic content of the holiday, the connection with the traditions of decorating the New Year tree has not been lost. So, thanks to the Soviet ideology, an original and original Christmas tree toy appeared, which is a bright layer of the cultural heritage of the Soviet era. Each series of Christmas decorations was created under the influence of important historical events, so you can easily trace the history of a great country.

Papier-mâché toys were used to decorate green beauties even before the revolution. Balls with stars, hammer and sickle appeared later, in the late 30s of the last century. Then toys in the form of stars and astronauts, glass corn and even an Olympic bear were hung on the Christmas trees. In general, all the symbols of our history are collected here. The exposition presents Christmas-tree decorations with Soviet symbols: balls with a star, a sickle and a hammer, toys symbolizing achievements in the field of aeronautics - airships with the inscription "USSR". Almost all toys in the exhibition are handmade. They were produced in a handicraft and semi-handicraft way. Therefore, even if they were of the same shape, then all the figures were painted by hand and in different ways, with different colors, with different ornaments. The exhibition, of course, did not do without Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden, Christmas decorations in the form of birds, animals, cones, icicles and glass garlands.

Mounting Christmas decorations of the 1920-50s are made by assembling glass tubes and beads with the help of wire. Mounted toys in the form of pendants, parachutes, balloons, airplanes, stars. The technology for making mounting Christmas decorations came to us from Bohemia, where they appeared at the end of the 19th century.

The theme of musical instruments is reflected in the Christmas decorations of the 1940-60s. Christmas tree decorations in the form of mandolins, violins, drums are distinguished by their perfect shape and unique hand painting.

With the release of the film "Circus" in 1937, all kinds of clowns, elephants, bears and other circus-themed toys gained great popularity.

The animal world around us is reflected in Christmas tree decorations - bears, bunnies, squirrels, chanterelles, birds give the New Year tree a special charm. Issued in the 1950s and 60s of the last century.

The underwater world is also reflected in Christmas decorations - all kinds of fish with bright tints of color and an unusual shape. Released in the 1950-70s of the last century.

In the late 1930s, a series of Christmas-tree decorations with an oriental theme was released. There is Aladdin, and old man Hottabych, and oriental beauties ... These toys are distinguished by oriental filigree forms and hand-painted.

What is the New Year without a snow-covered hut, a Christmas tree in the forest and Santa Claus. The sculptural forms of the huts, stylization under the roof covered with shiny snow create a unique New Year's mood. Released in the 1960s and 70s.

Christmas decorations depicting household items - teapots, samovars - began to appear in the 1940s. They are distinguished by fluidity of form and hand-painted with bright colors.

Santa Clauses made of papier-mâché and cotton wool in the 1940s and 60s were the base figures of the Christmas tree assortment. They are called coasters because they were fixed on a wooden stand and installed under the Christmas tree. Since the late 1960s, with the development of the production of plastics and rubber in the USSR, base figures were made from these materials in a wider range.

And with the release of the film "Carnival Night" in 1956, toys "Clock" were released with hands set to 5 minutes to midnight.

Symbols of the Soviet state appeared on Christmas tree decorations in the 1920s and 30s. These were balls with stars, a sickle and a hammer, "Budennovtsy".

With the development of cosmonautics, Y. Gagarin's flight into space, in the 1960s, a series of toys "Cosmonauts" was released. Christmas decorations on a sports theme were released in honor of the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow. A special place among them is occupied by "Olympic Bear" and "Olympic Flame".

Spear-shaped spear-shaped spear-shaped Christmas-tree decorations are connected with the design of military helmets from the time of Kaiser Germany: spear-shaped tops for Christmas trees were made there. Christmas tree toy "Bell" was produced in the 1970s. Thick glass jewelry was made in the first half of the 20th century. Since the glass in those days was thick, with a lead coating on the inside, the weight of the toys is quite significant. Mostly toys depict owls, leaves, balls.

In the early 1950s, Christmas decorations associated with China were released - lanterns stylized as Chinese and with the inscription "Beijing" or simply painted in different variations. Interior items (lamps), nesting dolls and children's toys are also reflected in the form of Christmas tree decorations of the 1950s and 60s.

The Christmas decorations presented in the exposition are made using the Dresden Cartonage technique, which appeared at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. At the factories of Dresden near Leipzig, embossed figures were produced, glued together from two halves of convex cardboard, tinted with gold or silver paint. The Dresden masters were famous for their special variety, elegance and subtlety of work.

Papier-mâché Christmas decorations were made until the middle of the 20th century (papier-mâché is paper mass mixed with glue, gypsum or chalk and covered with Bertolet salt for shine and density). Basically, the figurines depicted people, animals, birds, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables. Glued cardboard toys depict houses, lanterns, bonbonnieres, baskets, etc. They are made according to the following technology: the cardboard is cut out along the cutting contour with die-cuts and glued with carpentry glue. Finishing material is paper of different grades and textiles. Flag garlands were very popular in the 1930s and 40s. They were made of colored paper with a printed multicolor pattern.

Cardboard Christmas decorations presented in the exposition are made using the "Dresden Cartonage" technique, which appeared at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. In our country, after 1920, cardboard Christmas decorations were made in private workshops and consisted of two glued pieces of cardboard with a slight bulge in the form of a picture. They were covered with foil, silver or colored, and then painted with a spray gun with powder paints. As a rule, the figurines depicted the heroes of Russian folk tales "Kolobok", "Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka", "At the command of the pike ...", as well as animals, fish, butterflies, birds, cars, ships, stars, etc. Cardboard Christmas decorations were produced in the USSR until the 1980s.

Toys in the form of fruits and berries (grapes, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, lemons) were made after the Great Patriotic War. In the sixties, during the Khrushchev era, agricultural toys dominated: eggplants, tomatoes, onions, beans, peas, tomatoes, carrots and corn, cobs of all sizes and colors.

The first Christmas tree "traffic lights" of the 1930s were made for educational purposes, exactly repeating the location of the signal by color. But the "traffic lights", which were released in the 1960s, have only a decorative purpose - the signals burn in random order. Silver hoof, three girls at the window, Chernomor - characters of famous fairy tales. These toys were released in the 1960s and 70s.

A series of Christmas tree decorations based on the fairy tale by G. Rodari "Cipollino" was released in the 1960s, when the book was translated into Russian. Ruler Lemon, Cipollino, Cipollone, Lawyer Green Peas, Doctor Artichoke and other characters - these toys are distinguished by sculptural and realistic painting.

Aibolit, Bumba the owl, Chichi the monkey, Oink-Oink the pig, Abba the dog, Robinson the sailor, Karudo the parrot, Leo are the characters of the Aibolit fairy tale. Issued in 1930-60s.