The Story of Shiny Brite
Max Eckardt, a German immigrant, established the Shiny Brite Company in
1937. Eckardt had been in the Christmas ornament business since 1907, hand-
painting hand-blown glass balls imported from Germany.
With the growing unrest and threat of war in Europe, Eckardt realized his
supply was likely to dry up and looked for another source. He approached the
Corning Glass Company. The company adjusted its process for making light
bulbs and began producing machine-blown glass balls. Corning shipped the
balls to Eckardt's factories, where they were intricately designed and painted
by hand. Christmas balls, figures of Santas and elves, cottages, stars,
lanterns, and other shapes were decorated with lacquer paints, stencils, glue,
and glitter. The fact that Shiny Brites were an American-made product
became a strong selling point during World War II.
The cap and hooks can date Shiny Brite ornaments. The first Shiny Brites had
a traditional metal cap and loop, with a hook attaching to the loop for
hanging. But wartime production necessitated the replacement of the
original metal cap with a cardboard tab. Owners would use yarn or string to
hang the ornament. Following the war, Shiny Brite introduced a line of
ornaments with a newly designed metal hook that provided the users with
two lengths of hangers. The long hook traveled through the center of the
ornament and texted the bottom where it attached to the bottom of the
ornament. Unlatched from the bottom, the entire length of the hook was
available. This allowed the ornament to dangle at a great distance from the
tree limb, filling in the bare spots found on natural trees.
The increasing popularity of the Aluminum tree, first manufactured in 1958,
made this feature unnecessary as artificial trees had no gaps to cover. The
added expense of the lengthy hangers and the diminishing need resulted in
the discontinuation of the two length hanger in 1960.
