Common Items Most People Don’t Know Are Valuable

5. Vintage Christmas Decor

Christmas celebrations in the mid and early 20th century were truly breathtaking spectacles. Households were adorned with meticulous care, featuring fresh Christmas trees embellished with enchanting, shimmering ornaments—some even boasting moving parts—and clusters of exquisite tinsel that seemed straight out of a fairy tale. While modern Christmas decor still holds its own charm, many of the delicate (albeit sometimes toxic) ornaments from the past century remain unmatched in their beauty and craftsmanship. It appears that numerous Christmas enthusiasts share this sentiment, as vintage Christmas decorations, particularly tree bulbs and garlands, command exceptionally high prices as sought-after collector's items, especially when preserved in their original festive packaging, whether it be boxes or bags.

Today, we can easily purchase a large plastic tub of ornaments for $20 or less, all made of similar plastic materials. However, Christmas ornaments were once far more elaborate and costly, crafted from delicately hand-blown glass. Many of these exquisite ornaments were produced in Germany, the birthplace of the Christmas tree tradition. Unfortunately, only a limited number of these fragile treasures have survived over the years, likely due to their extreme delicacy and the occasional mishaps, such as cats knocking them off trees. Consequently, the oldest hand-blown ornaments can command prices in the thousands. While mercury glass bulbs and spinner bulbs, which utilize the heat from light bulbs to spin little fans, are comparatively easier to come by, they can still cost as much as an entire tub of new ornaments or even more.