Christmas - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2016 - 80 Euro Cent

A classic ornament for the Christmas tree are Christmas tree balls made of glass or today often made of less fragile plastic. The shape of the ball as a tree decoration is probably derived from the fact that you initially decorated the Christmas tree especially with apples, nuts and fine pastry - for many people at the time unaffordable luxury. In German Thuringia, therefore, in the middle of the 19th century resourceful glassblowers are said to have for the first time made glass balls that were hung on the Christmas tree as decoration. The glass was initially coated with lead and tin, later with silver nitrate. Today, high-quality glass Christmas baubles are traditionally mouth-blown, a very elaborate craftsmanship, which also brings a correspondingly high price. In addition, they are often painted or decorated with glitter. Other forms such as animals, bells or angels are made of glass by pressing the still hot, soft glass balls in a mold. Cheaper balls are industrially made of glass or plastic. The subject of the Christmas stamp shows the classic form of a Christmas tree ball in the characteristic Christmas color red. However, this ball is not made of glass, but consists of many small pictures and motifs: stars, snowflakes, apples, animals, a snowman, a toboggan, a mistletoe , a bell, a gift package, Christmas decorations and of course the Christmas mail, with which one wishes his loved ones a merry and peaceful Christmas - all this together makes Christmas. A graphically reduced, pictogram-like representation that fills the traditional Christmas ball shape with content with the help of a clear visual language: memories, wishes and traditions that are combined with Christmas.