A foray into the history of Christmas tree brooches

Did you know that Christmas tree brooches are a thing? Like a thing with serious collectors. When I first started selling brooches, they weren’t really on my radar — rather than vintage chic, Christmas brooches honestly seemed old-fashioned in a cheesy way, especially when compared to their showy floral rhinestone and gold tone starburst counterparts. But boy was my impression of them totally off base. 

With time, I noticed just how popular Christmas tree brooches were. I often found them in thrift stores, so it had to mean someone loved them at some point. And once, I even went to the first hour of the first day of an estate sale only to find all of the vintage Christmas brooches completely cleared out!

It’s not like they’re this weird, dowdy relic of the past. People still love a good Christmas tree pin these days, and there are truly hardcore collectors out there. But, as with all things, they do have a history of how they came to be. 

The history of Christmas tree pins 

Christmas, as we know it today in all of its excessive, materialistic glory, first took off during the Victorian era. In the 1840s, Queen Victoria popularized the tradition of setting up a Christmas tree, which, previously, had been a primarily German tradition. Her grandmother Queen Charlotte—yes, Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte—had introduced the royals to the German tradition of holiday trees when she married King George III. (Yes, of Hamilton and losing the American Revolution fame.)

With the publication of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the holiday became an even more prominent occasion in England. On the other side of the pond, America also saw an influx of German immigrants, who brought their Christmas traditions with them. 

You can learn more about the tradition of the Christmas tree by watching this video by Vox. 

Along with setting up Christmas trees, people adorned themselves for the holidays with jewelry, namely corsages, made out of cloth, ribbon, and sometimes even real holly branches. While festive, these pieces weren’t as durable or intricate as the mid-20th century’s Christmas brooches. 

Around the ’40s to ’60s, costume jewelry makers like Trifari, Gerry’s, and Weiss started mass producing Christmas tree brooches. Offering an alternative to fine jewelry, many of these companies started during times of economic hardship, such as the Great Depression and World War II. Instead of buying fine jewelry, people could enjoy the holidays with budget-friendly Christmas pins, which department stores would mass order for their customers. 

(Could you imagine if a flashy Christmas tree pin was made out of precious stones instead of crystal rhinestones? My life’s savings shudder at the thought.)

In the 1950s, women would send servicemen stationed abroad Christmas tree pins. The tradition of gifting and collecting Christmas pins stayed, and many costume jewelry companies began creating limited-edition Christmas tree designs around the holiday season. Sartorially, people would attach these festive pins to their collars, jacket lapels, and scarves during Christmastime to spread festive cheer. 

It was also during this time when we started to find more intricate holiday brooches, as opposed to simple plastic pieces. Think layered, brushed gold tone metal and beautifully arranged rhinestones. In addition to purchasing Christmas tree pins, many people also enjoyed holiday brooches shaped like ornaments, bells, wreaths, reindeers, Santas, poinsettias, snowmen, and snowflakes. 

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, crafty women also arranged regular brooches into the shape of a Christmas tree during the holidays, so you could partake in the seasonal cheer even if you didn’t technically have an actual Christmas tree pin. You just had to have a lot of pins. This also makes for a fun DIY project today if you have a lot of broken junk jewelry you’d like to put to use!

The best brands of vintage Christmas tree pins

Today, there are certain highly coveted styles of vintage Christmas tree pins. The most reputable holiday tree brooch manufacturers include Hollycraft, Cristobal, Eisenberg, and Trifari, and people are willing to pay good money for productions from these companies. A poured glass Trifari Christmas tree brooch by Alfred Philippe, in fact, can fetch you as much as $400. (I once sold a poured-glass style butterfly brooch by Philippe and can confirm that his designs are highly desirable.)

But some people are really out to have all of the brooches, brands and appraised value be damned. Adam Wide holds the world record for the largest collection of Christmas tree pins, touting a total of 8,250 brooches.

Different styles of Christmas tree pins

With so many Christmas tree pins out there, my own collection/inventory barely scratches the surface when it comes to all of the iterations out there. I do have carry some of the basic styles, including:

Gold tone layered Christmas trees with rhinestone ornaments

Rhinestone outline Christmas tree

Painted metal trees with rhinestone ornaments 

Cluster Christmas tree

Wood and resin Christmas trees

It’s no secret that during hard times or economic slowdowns, people love a little luxury. Economists call this the lipstick effect, although, in these trying times, it might feel more like the Labubu effect. But there are those out there who aren’t into lipstick or Labubus…they’re out for a Christmas tree pin, and they’re willing to drop more than top dollar on it.