Condition Types for Christmas Tree Ornaments

Video Transcript

"When you are out searching out for your collection and you are looking at a ornament and the way to really judge the value and the condition is to take a look at the ornament and see how this one in particular has been oxidized and a lot of the colors are gone on it. The age place is different some people prefer to have a ornament that is oxidize and other people don't so it is a personal thing. But you have to take in mind the value for what you are paying for it to so when you go out and you are looking for buying a ornament that is going to retain it's value the best advice I can give you is try to buy something that is not cracked, it is whole, it doesn't have any cracks or dents or chips in it. Like or sometimes want happens to it gets to close to a light and they would burn so they would have burn holes in them. The other thing to really look for is on the tops of the bulbs this is what is called the pike the pike is a small part that connects the ornament itself to your loop to hang it. This is called your pike and a lot of times what happens to the pike is over the years it gets chip or broken. See there is a very tiny chip on that which doesn't take away from this at all but you would find that some of these pikes are totally missing they have been chipped right off. When you are looking to buy a ornament really consider if the pike is really chip badly and you see it a lot that would effect the value of the ornament. But if you really like it and really just want to use I would still consider it but to retain it's value you really should buy one that is whole and in tact and try to buy make sure that the caps that are on top of these ornaments fit snuggly or they fit like they would hold the ornament up wherever you are going to display it. So those are some of the considerations along with the paint you can see with the color and you can see on this one it is in really good shape and compare it to this Santa right here where it is really oxidized and lost its color and it does effect the value. So those are some things to think about when your choosing your ornaments."