Crystal Clear: The Early Rumblings of a New Collection

An end of Christmas look at Swarovski, Waterford, Snowflakes and Tradition

Dec 30, 2024

Swarovski is one of those brands I have random beef towards for no good reason. In my mind, it’s an airport brand, glorified costume jewelry. Its only clear purpose in my eyes is fashion embellishments. For example, when I’m told that a Fantasy Bra in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show has been adorned with Swarovski crystals, or that Rihanna’s Adam Selman CFDA gown from 2014 was covered in over 260,000 Swarovski sparklers, I’m into it!

There was a brief moment a few years back where their octagon watch design caught my eye. They look like candy, and remind me of Pretty Pretty Princess. Would I spend $500 on it? Absolutely not. But if someone handed one to me I would wear it happily.

Fun, whimsical, feels like it should be $40 max no offense.

But all of this is relatively unimportant. My feelings about the brand, the Swarovski family’s deeply disturbing involvement with the Nazi’s, the company’s current day involvement in Wicked— awful as all those things may be, Swarovski has managed to ever so slightly enchant me. Let me explain.

I come from a Christmas ornament obsessed mother. She has hundreds of them, and she knows the backstory of every single one. Each Christmas growing up, my sister and I were gifted an ornament, usually reflective of something important that happened to us that year, in our stocking. When I got married, my mom bequeathed my ornament collection to me, it was a really big moment. My husband came with less ornaments, but when sorting through our freshly combined collection, a showstopper emerged.

This snowflake ornament was heavy and stunning, with a little 1999 tag dangling in front. I asked my husband excitedly about it (he had no idea what it was or where it came from of course), and then I started Googling feverishly.

And there she was, clear as, well, crystal: The Annual Swarovski Crystal Snowflake Ornament. I was giddy! There’s nothing I love more than unlocking a new thing to obsess over and collect, especially when it comes to Christmas. My haunch is that someone gifted this to my husband’s family in 1999 and it was a one-off thing, as I don’t think there are other snowflakes hanging around. But that didn’t matter. I so loved the feel of this ornament, the way the light danced off of it on the tree— I was simply, hooked.

It turns out Swarovski has been making an annual snowflake ornament since 1991. Our 1999 snowflake is going for nearly $500 on secondhand sites which is equal parts thrilling and disturbing. You can find it for cheaper, but still we’re in the neighborhood of ~$300. The 2024 snowflake is currently on sale at Macy’s for $54 (down from $90).

Now here’s where I run into a bit of a conundrum. As previously stated, I have resistance to the Swarovski brand, and if I had to align myself with a crystal purveyor, it would without a doubt be Waterford. It was engrained into me at a young age that Waterford was the gold standard for Irish exports and luxury goods. We have a Waterford bell ornament that I think my dad got my mom the year I was born, and my wedding registry was full of Waterford glassware, candlesticks, frames, and more. In my mind, they maintain a sort of dignity that Swarovski sacrificed somewhere along the way (maybe when they were supporting literal Hitler).

So naturally I couldn’t help but wonder, like a somehow dumber version of Carrie Bradshaw obsessed with Christmas, did Waterford make an annual snowflake ornament, and if so, were they better than Swarovski’s?

The answer, dear reader, isn’t so simple.

A quick search will show you that yes, indeed, Waterford has an “annual origami snowcrystal ornament” for sale with a little “2024” at the top, very reminiscent of the Swarovski year marker. Currently sold out at Macy’s, but 8 left for sale at the time of publishing on Amazon, the Waterford snowcrystal can be yours for $93 (so the original pricing of the Swarovski and Waterford ornaments are very comparable, Waterford is $95, Swarovski is $90).

Because I am me, I need to know who was first to the snowflake game. Was Waterford hopping on the annual ornament bandwagon after seeing the success of Swarovski or was it the other way around? Was Baccarat somehow involved? I’m ashamed to admit how long I spent searching for the answer to these questions. What’s worse, I don’t even have a clear answer.

To make matters even more confusing, Waterford also has an annual “Origami Snowstar Ornament”.

You’ve got to be kidding me. A snowstar? See this is where they lose me. Not only can I not for the life of me find the years of production for any of Waterford’s design collections, they’re doing way too much. “Mini snowflake” “snowstars” and the incredibly confusing “snowflake wish” collection which for some reason has champagne flutes and snowflake ornaments.

In my hours of research, I stumbled upon a late 80s early 90s Waterford collection of the “Twelve Days of Christmas”, but it nearly made my brain explode:

Seems great at first glance right? Wrong.

First of all, you’ll note that there are 14 ornaments. In 1982 they start strong with a Partridge in a Pear Tree. Then in 83 and 84 they go completely off the rails with an ornament and a lamp post. Someone in 1985 was like “wait, wait, no let’s go back to the song!” and we get two turtledoves. The rest continue correctly in order ending in 1995 with a drummer drumming. Then what? What happened in 1996?

Here’s where they start to gaslight us. They decide that this was actually the plan all along, and they start calling these “The Songs of Christmas Collection”, with the Holy Family above in 1996 being “Silent Night”. This collection ends in 2005 with the “Final Edition: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” ornament featuring a stocking. A nice idea, but execution was all over the place, and how long did they think this could go on for? There are only so many classic Christmas songs.

Imagine you’re a die-hard Christmas song ornament collector and then all of a sudden in 2005 you get hit with “FINAL EDITION”. That would have ruined my holiday season I’m not even joking.

Waterford, you’ve done too much. There’s no consistency, and therefore you’ve forced me to pledge my allegiance to Swarovski, a brand I don’t even like to pronounce. Baccarat, I have almost no feelings towards you and while you also do an annual ornament, vibe wise I’m just not on board, sorry. I’d love to start a collection for my future child, getting them a special ornament year after year. And while I would have loved to celebrate my Irish roots with Waterford, I can’t risk what you’ve proven time and time again— you don’t have a plan.

So there you have it folks! Another fascinating glimpse into the scary corners of my brain. Christmas may be over, but remember, real collectors never rest. Don’t be alarmed when I order more pieces for my vintage Christmas Village in March, or more Spode plates in July. There is a method to my madness.

Please enjoy this video of me, eventually (funny, her name is Shannon O’Brien, I wonder if she also debated the Waterford path):