New Year's toys of the 80s. Vintage Christmas toys: history and photos

And these guys were probably supposed to symbolize the friendship of peoples))

Snowmen seem more modern. Maybe a new job, or maybe updated :)

Cucumbers pleased with natural coloring))

Also, until about the middle of the twentieth century, papier-mâché toys were popular.
I'm a little confused which toys are wadded and which ones are made of papier-mâché, they look quite similar. So who will be able to distinguish on their own - well done))

I think the chicken is still made of papier-mâché.

Large figures up to 1 meter, usually depicting Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. They were called coasters, because they were fixed on a wooden stand and placed under the Christmas tree. It was these large figures that turned out to be real centenarians among cotton toys. A few decades after the cessation of their release, Santa Claus in a fur coat made of cotton wool, but already with a face made of polyethylene, could still be purchased at New Year's markets.

Santa Claus and Snegurka were also planted on the Christmas tree))
There were also cardboard toys, they are two convex pieces of cardboard glued together. They were covered with silver or colored foil, and then painted with a spray gun with powder paints. Such toys depicted the heroes of Russian fairy tales, as well as animals, birds, butterflies, ships, stars, etc. Cardboard toys were produced in the USSR until the 1980s.


The lion is just voluminous :)

Birds in the nest.

Sister Alyonushka.

In the 20-30s, symbols of the state appeared on Christmas tree decorations - balls with stars, a sickle and a hammer, Budenovites.

Assembly toys of the 20-50s are made by assembling glass tubes and beads with the help of wire. Mounted toys in the form of aircraft, parachutes, pendants, stars. The technology for making mounting Christmas decorations came to us from Bohemia, where it appeared at the end of the 20th century.

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 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: 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 "Gingerbread Man", "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.

2017 will mark the 100th anniversary of the revolution that ended the Russian Empire. Now few people can imagine, but for almost 20 years in our country we did not celebrate the New Year at all. Already in 1918, the Council of People's Commissars banned this holiday as an attribute of the old world, and January 1 became an ordinary working day. Few people continued to decorate the Christmas tree, and those who did not want to deviate from traditions were forced to make Christmas decorations with their own hands from improvised materials. Of course, they stopped producing toys for the disgraced holiday.

In 2017, we can also celebrate the round date of the revival of the holiday. 80 years ago, in 1937, the party and government issued an order "On the celebration of the New Year in the USSR." At the same time, the first official Christmas tree of the USSR took place in the Hall of Columns. The holiday has its own new traditions. The Christmas tree in the Hall of Columns was decorated with a red five-pointed star. Soon, such stars adorned the tops of the symbols of the New Year in most Soviet homes. Moreover, at the first Christmas tree of the USSR, Father Frost first appeared on stage with the Snow Maiden. He had no assistant before.

It is not surprising that this year collectors and simply lovers of antiquity staged a real hunt for toys from the times of the October Revolution and the Stalin years. The first ones are now in great demand and rarely reach the exposition on the Internet.

“Pre-revolutionary and Soviet toys are fundamentally different,” says antiquary Alexander Kuznetsov to Life. - Still, they used to celebrate Christmas first of all. Hence the theme of toys - these are Christmas grandfathers, angels, figurines of children. Glass toys are most valued - very few of them have survived. I recently visited a woman to evaluate a 19th century slide. The slide itself was typical for that time, in average condition, I wouldn’t give more than 20 thousand rubles for it, but inside I saw a collection of porcelain toys from just the pre-revolutionary time - children on sleds. As a result, I bought them for 50 thousand. The buyer was already found for 200 thousand. But the antique market is fraught with risks. The price is largely determined by demand and there are no clear prices. A person can sell a rare toy for 500 thousand if he finds a collector.

While pre-revolutionary toys are still rare, almost everyone can now afford to decorate a Christmas tree with real balls and figurines of the Soviet era. Prices start from 500 rubles and reach several tens of thousands. Not only factory toys are sold, but also homemade toys. For example, figurines of animals and birds cut out of cardboard - hares, cockerels, piglets - can be bought for an amount from 200 rubles to 5 thousand. That is, Soviet toys now cost about 10 times more than modern ones.

“Among the most expensive are toys from the 30s and 40s,” says Yana Taran, director of the largest specialized store Soviet Porcelain, to Life. - For example, a Chukchi on a deer can cost 8-12 thousand rubles, depending on the condition, and simple vegetables - from 500 rubles. The price, by the way, depends not only on the degree of preservation, but also on the rarity.

According to Yana Taran, at that time - from the 30s to the end of the 40s - there were very few glass toys. Basically, they were made of cotton wool, which was treated with a special adhesive, and porcelain faces were already inserted into it. The simplicity of toys was associated with the war. But in the 50s and 60s there were a lot of glass figurines. People wanted a holiday, everything bright and shiny.

In the 60s there was a fashion, for example, for cartoon characters. Then among the toys appeared Tsar Dadon, the Golden Cockerel, Chipollino. After the flight into space of Yuri Gagarin in Christmas decorations, the space theme became very popular - stars, satellites.

- In the 70s, toys became more primitive, - continues Yana Taran. - In the 50s, faces were better drawn, hands were more natural. In the 70s, toys began to be made more streamlined, with less noticeable details. Among the characters are Pencil, Samodelkin, Snegurochka, but they are simple in shape - they look like nesting dolls. But in the 80s they began to make more balls.

Now in the assortment of "Soviet Porcelain" there are several thousand toys from the times of the USSR. Most sold copies of the 50-70s. By the way, modern replicas have appeared on these toys recently. But they are not in demand. As market participants say: the faces are not the same, the painting is not the same, it is clear that it is a remake. So true connoisseurs still prefer to buy originals. In addition, unlike Soviet times, now Christmas decorations are not at all in short supply.