Unsilvered Shiny Brites

These WWII era Shiny Brites are not flashy and shiny because silver nitrate was used in the war effort so ornaments were left plain or sprayed with a transparent color and trimmed in mica or colored glitter.   As far as I know these ornaments were never reproduced in later years.   Often the ornaments had paper tops instead of metal…metal was also used in the war effort.  They may have had their original paper tops and strings replaced sometime in their travels from tree to tree.

This clear striped ornament has been painted with a transparent paint and decorated with mica…sometimes  called sugar mica.

Chance gave me this clear lantern shaped ornament that is trimmed in colored glitter.

This tornado shaped clear ornament has a heavy coat of mica. 
They are other shapes also…bells, I have a few, and what are called UFO’s…think the opposite shape of the tornado. The striped round ornaments can be small two inch size or three to four inch sizes. There may be other shapes and sizes also.  I am not an expert…I can only talk about the ornaments I own or have seen. 

So not all Shiny Brites are shiny after all.  These ornaments are the easiest to date.  Since they are not as flashy many people just pass over them but they are sought after ornaments by Shiny Brite hoarders collectors. They were only produced for three or four years.

I think they are beautiful in their simplicity, especially so since they were purchased by someone during the war years, what stories they could tell.

The Christmas Cards have been mailed, the shopping has been completed, most of the decorating has been done, neighbor JoLynn made cookies and brought us a tray full…so we can have cookies and coffee.  Menus are still in the planning stage but our brunch will be simple…juice, fruit, Far Guy’s famous cinnamon rolls and something eggy.

Far Guy is feeling a bit better.  Sadly he has shared with me, but with cold tablets and Aleve I almost feel like a real person.