Golden Christmas Tree Valued at $2M in Japan
Adding tinsel will only dull one tree in Japan.
A jewelry store in Tokyo, along with a flower arrangement artist, created a Christmas tree out of pure gold, valued at $2 million, according to a Reuters report. The store, Ginza Tanaka, located in the swanky Ginza district, will be displaying the tree through the holidays.
“I would like to see it,” Randy Davenport, general manager at Fred Meyer Jewelers in St. George, Utah, commented to The Christian Post. “I can’t imagine that they would display it.”
The golden tree is 2.4 meters tall and is made out of 26 pounds of gold. Reuters reported it took 15 craftsmen four and a half months to complete the creation, which is decorated with golden ribbons, hearts and orchids.
Despite the current economic struggle, that a jewelry store would have so much gold on hand is not unusual, Davenport said.
“A lot of people are hoarding gold these days. A lot of jewelry stores have a lot of gold in their safes,” Davenport said.
The general manager of Ginza Tanaka said the actual worth of the gold is $700,000, but the tree is worth much more because of the labor.
"Considering the time it took to make, the designer and hard work put into it, we can assume that the cost of this tree would be approximately 150 million yen ($2 million)," manager Naoto Mizuki told Reuters.
Davenport said he thought the idea was “pretty fun.”
“It’s pretty cool that they would make something like that and share it with the world,” he said.
But sorry Mrs. Claus, you can’t expect Santa to haul it home for you. The tree is not for sale.