Antique European ornaments

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 14th. We’re thankful that you’ve turned to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Well, it’s Christmas time. If you celebrate with a tree, you know the feeling you get when you pull out all those Christmas ornaments you’ve been keeping in the attic or basement. For some people seeing a beloved Christmas ornament is like seeing an old friend.

REICHARD: But have you ever wondered how the tradition of Christmas ornaments began? And have you ever wondered if you’ve got too many? WORLD’s Jenny Lind Schmitt recently visited a Swiss gentleman who probably has more ornaments than all of us put together. Here’s his story.

AUDIO: [Wiping feet]

JENNY LIND SCHMITT, REPORTER: To get to Didier Oeuvray’s hayloft, you have to go through the garden. The hayloft is the top half of the barn attached to his family home in the village of Coeuve. Next to the door stands a huge wooden wagon wheel. Oeuvray’s grandfather made it. He was a wheelwright. Oeuvray’s father was a butcher and had his shop on the ground floor. Now, Didier Oeuvray owns the house, the barn, and all the treasures inside.

OEUVRAY: Alors c'est un mélange de ce que j'aime, de ce que je entrepose pour le magasin, de ce que de ce que je conserve dans un grenier.

The hayloft is dim as we enter. Then Oeuvray turns a switch, and thousands of twinkle lights sparkle along every wardrobe and bookcase in the wooden interior. Instantly, a million shiny surfaces reflect the light back in reds, greens, whites, pinks, blues. Hundreds and hundreds of antique Christmas balls and ornaments lie nestled in boxes and baskets carefully arranged on every shelf, table, and sofa.

AUDIO: [Reaction]

Oeuvray is a brocanteur. That’s a French term that means something between an antique dealer and a thrift shop owner. At his store in town he sells carefully polished antique furniture, dishes, and old tools. He also sells some of the vintage Christmas ornaments he’s acquired over the years, but most of them he keeps on display here in his barn.

AUDIO: [Oeuvray talking and opening cupboard]

Historians say the tradition of Christmas ornaments began in Germany when people decorated Christmas trees with natural things from the garden: nuts, berries, fruit. Legend recounts that one year, a poor glassmaker had a meager harvest, so instead of putting real berries on his tree, he made some out of glass.

Oeuvray thinks the origin is probably less romantic. He holds up a string of small red glass beads.

OEUVRAY: Et probablement qu'à l'origine les verriers allemands faisaient des colliers en perles de verre...

TRANSLATION: It probably began with the German glassmakers making necklaces out of glass beads. Then they figured out how to make the beads bigger. And by making them bigger and bigger, they made glass balls.

Oeuvray’s own origin story began one year when he didn’t feel like decorating an entire tree. But he still wanted some Christmas ambiance. So he got out a couple boxes of heirloom glass balls he’d inherited.

OEUVRAY: J’ai trouvé que ces boites de boules sont magnifiques…

He was struck by how elegant they looked just sitting in their boxes. So he started buying up any antique balls he could find, at yard sales and second hand shops. Then people brought him ornaments they’d found in their parents’ attics. Finally one year, he had so many he couldn’t display them all in the house. So he decided to hold an exposition in the barn.

He invited his neighbors in the village and offered appetizers and mulled wine as they filed through the hayloft and house, admiring his shiny treasures.

OEUVRAY: On faisait le tour ici, on descendait par l'appartement…

TRANSLATION: They came through here, then down into the house, and out the back door. But on the opening night so many people brought food to share, that the next night we served appetizers again. And the next night and the next. Those were 10 marvelous days.

Every evening the sharing continued as guests came from neighboring villages. Then from the whole region.

That experience led Oeuvray to a new vocation. A few years earlier, at age 45, Oeuvray had had a massive stroke that left him relearning to walk and swallow. He’d spent his career working for the Swiss railways. But the brush with death and months in rehab made him think about all the other things he wanted to do in life.

He had always loved old things, objects with a history and a story to tell. The Christmas exposition made him see that he had a talent for helping other people appreciate them as well. Two years later, he took his life savings and bought an antique shop.

Back in the hayloft, we continue the tour. The Christmas ornaments are arranged by color. In the red corner are the oldest balls, made by German artisans in the 1880s. He has me hold one to feel how heavy it is.

OEUVRAY: En fait ces boules-là sont argentées avec du mercure. Et le verre est plus épais.

TRANSLATION: These balls were actually silvered with mercury on the inside. And the glass is thicker. Later on this method was outlawed.

AUDIO: [Didier talking about Art Nouveau…]

Across the room, on the shelves of a white cupboard, sit tiny white glass animal ornaments—a stag and a stork. They were made in Nancy, France, in the Art Nouveau era of the early 1900s.

OEUVRAY: En 1900, il y a beaucoup d'entreprises de Nancy…

TRANSLATION: In 1900, many businesses from Nancy won prizes at the Paris World Exposition for their glassworks and became well known.

There’s a corner of blue ornaments, an antique sleigh full of pink ornaments, and a vintage green velvet sofa covered with boxes of green ornaments. They come in all colors, all sizes, and all shapes too. And Oeuvray has a snippet of history to tell about each one. But exactly how many ornaments does he have?

OEUVRAY: Je ne sais pas. Quand on aime, on ne compte pas...

Oeuvray doesn’t know. And he doesn’t want to know. He just says, “When you love something, you don’t count.”

For WORLD, I’m Jenny Lind Schmitt, finding Christmas treasures in Coeuve, Switzerland.

REICHARD: To see photos and read the story about this man’s ornament collection, look for the December 24th issue of WORLD Magazine and we’ll post a link to the digital version of the story in the transcript of this episode.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.