Under the headline, “New Christmas Tree Lamps,” Scientific American magazine in its Nov. 12, 1910 issue reported on a new type of Christmas tree light:
“The electrically lighted tree is now a feature of the holidays in many homes. This year, some new kinds of miniature incandescent lamps are available which should make the electrically lighted Christmas tree more artistic and beautiful than ever.
“The bulbs of the new lamps, instead of being mere ‘pocket editions’ of the ordinary incandescent bulb, are shaped and colored to resemble fruit, flowers, birds and animals. Commercially, they are classified under five heads as follows:
“1. Small fruit: including apple, blackberry, gooseberry, lemon, mulberry, orange, pear, peach and strawberry.
“2. Large fruit: including apple, orange, peach and pear.
“3. Nuts: including acorn, pine cone and walnut.
“4. Flowers: including lily, rose and thistle.
“5. Animals: including canary, clown, dog, owl, snow man and Santa Claus.
(Here’s a video slideshow of a collection of antique figural bulbs.)
“It is doubtless somewhat embarrassing to Santa Claus to be classified as an ‘animal,’ but there seems to be no alternative. The bulbs are colored by hand with waterproof paints by professional toy makers. The realistic effect is considerably heightened when the lamps are lighted.
“As far as the base and filaments are concerned, the miniature incandescents are just like the conventional decorative lamps used in the past (and still available) for Christmas tree illumination. They have 3/8 inch miniature screw bases, and are designed to be burned eight in series on circuits of from 100 to 120 volts. By using a bell ringing transformer they may be burned in multiple, but while the arrangement has the advantage that the burnout of a single lamps does not extinguish others, the cost of equipment is considerably greater than with the series system.
“The bulbs contain one candlepower filaments, but the coloring material absorbs a large percentage of the light and softens the remainder by diffusion.
“Whether festooned on the Christmas tree or used to decorate the room or table, these fascinating little lamps add a touch of light and color that harmonizes with the yuletide spirit.”
The new bulbs today are known as figural bulbs and they are collected as Christmas antiques.