Antique 8” Kugel Oval Egg 1840-1900 Clear Etched Thick Glass German Ornament for Sale

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Antique 8” Kugel Oval Egg 1840-1900 Clear Etched Thick Glass German Ornament For Sale

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Antique 8” Kugel Oval Egg 1840-1900 Clear Etched Thick Glass German Ornament:
$120.00

The rare shining glass of a Victorian Kugel ornament is a mirror onto the past.

This is a beautiful antique German Kugel blown glass. It’s quite large with an etched draped ribbon, stars, and snowflake pattern. This would really look nice hanging in a front window, from a high ceiling or in a large entranceway.

The bulb is very large with thick heavy glass, so it wouldn’t work for a tree.

It measures 9” tall - 7” wide.

It has a brass cap with curled legs (referred to as a “double hanger”) , which holds the bulb in place when it’s hung. I did not attempt to polish the cap.

*There are a few noteworthy items.

1st- The glass has some scratches in it here and there. There is one scratch that is more than one line. I put a close up in the last picture.

2nd- the mouth of this glass, where the brass cap is inserted, it appears someone tried to get the brass cap off. The surface around the edge has what looks like small chips. ( I put a close up of this in the photographs.) it has not affected the strength of the cap holding the glass. It’s not noticeable when hanging but definitely worth mentioning.

3) This has an occasional air bubble in the glass. The etching is done by hand because it’s not perfection but that’s what anyone would love about it. A true handmade antique.

I don’t have enough information to pinpoint the date this beautiful glass exactly but all signs are pointing to 1840- early 1900’s .

I get my items from estate full of old antiques, which is why I know this item is old and not purchased recently.

I still did my research and you can read details about Kugels with further reading if you want to.

Shipped via Priority Mail fully insured

Below is not required reading. It’s information that I gathered to determine the validity of this item.

I have learned that Kugel glass is being made or copied these days.

I included a diagrams about ways of identifying the genuine glass bulbs (see photographs)

Early Kugels were too heavy to hang on tree branches; instead they were suspended from the ceiling.

"Kugel" is the name of heavy glass Christmas ornaments that were made in Germany from as early as 1820 to the early 1900s. Although the word kugel means "round ball" in German, original kugels were also made in the shape of grapes, apples, pears, pine cones, berries, eggs, tear drops and balls with melon-style ribs.

The first kugels were blown in Lauscha, Germany as early as 1820. These were big and hung from ceilings in churches, schools, stores and homes.

There is a hole in the top of each ornament which is concealed by a brass cap. Caps may or may not have an embossed design. Caps are fastened to the ornament with a piece of wire with spread out legs. Circular hanging loops are usually fastened to the wire on the cap. Embossed brass caps with rings were added to globes of various sizes in the 1840s

Identifying New Kugels

One way to identify authentic Kugels is by their enormous thickness of glass. This may go from one up to five millimeters, that is from 1/25"

Brass caps in new kugels are raised up above the surface of the ornament; brass caps on old are nearly flush with the surface.

New kugels began appearing in the American market years ago in a national mail order catalog. The new pieces are made in old shapes such as round 2″ balls, grapes in 5″ and 3″ clusters, and a 2 1/8″ melon-ribbed ball. New kugels arrived from the wholesalers with a removable paper or cardboard label marked "Made in India."

Another major difference between new and old is the glass around the hole in the top of the ornament. Old kugels (with the exception of very early pieces) were cut off the blowing iron virtually flush with the surrounding surface. New kugels are cut off the iron substantially above the surface of the ornament. The raised glass surrounding the hole is technically called a pike or spear but most collectors just say "neck" which is the term we'll use.

Tops of the new necks are very rough having a "cracked off" appearance. Generally, most old kugels have much smoother tops although this can vary with the skill in which the old ornament was made.

So far only three types of brass caps have been used on the new kugels. These are shown in Fig. 9. ( see pictures) Any pieces with these particular embossed patterns should be considered suspect. The top wire and hanging loop on the new kugels arrives from the wholesaler already aged and rusted. The new brass caps also have an "antique" patina.

New kugels retailed for about $7.50. Originals sell for $50-300 with some rare examples selling for $1,000 and more.

Do not confuse kugels, which were made ca. 1820-1900 and are thick heavy glass, with the thin-walled glass ornaments made after 1918. Use the guidelines above for kugels only.