Christmas tree worth its weight in gold
WANT to impress the kids this Christmas? A Tokyo retailer has just the thing – if you’ve got about US$2 million to spare.
Jeweller Ginza Tanaka is going all out this season with a 2-metre (6.6-foot) Christmas tree made with pure gold wire that’s as fine as angel hair pasta.
The shop in Tokyo’s glitzy Ginza district says the 19-kilogram (42-pound) tree is made up of more than 1200 metres (3950 feet) of gold wire.
“The wire is made of the finest gold which has a 99.999 percent purity level,” Ginza Tanaka store manager Takahiro Ito said.
Ito said the tree was made by the jeweller’s in-house artisans.
The price tag? A cool 200 million yen ($1.8 million).
While it may be a stretch finding a buyer, Ito said he hoped the opulent display would show off Japan’s worldfamous craftmanship.
“We want them to see our great technique and craftsmanship, and the glittering beauty of gold,” he said.
A Ginza Tanaka employee shows off a Christmas tree made with 19 kilograms of pure gold wires at the Ginza Tanaka store in Tokyo on November 22.