I Found A 6-Ft. Mid-Century Aluminum Christmas Tree... in the TRASH!!!

 I Found A 6-Ft. Mid-Century Aluminum Christmas Tree... in the TRASH!!!

ust a few weeks ago, I had been discussing a few of my best finds thus far with my husband, which led to a discussion about what I would consider to be my dream finds. I immediately thought of the beautiful silver tinsel Christmas trees of yesteryear. Although my husband and I do not share the same deep feelings about vintage items, he has always been a really good sport about it and has humored me and accompanied me on many afternoons to thrift stores and antique malls while I "nerd out" as he calls it. So while he has heard me mention the trees before, I knew he likely had no idea what one actually looked like, so I immediately took to Google to give him a visual.

He wasn't nearly as impressed or enthusiastic as I was, that is until I showed him the prices they were currently, in July 2022, selling for on eBay. (I am convinced men understand things better when there is a fiscal value attached.) The prices ranged from about $200 for a 2ft tree to upwards of $1800 for larger sizes, and that definitely piqued his interest. I sighed, and explained that those prices were precisely why I would probably never get to own one, because they are more than a little bit out of my price range. He shook and his head, and gave me his usual, "you never know" nod, and that was the end of our discussion of mid-century Christmas décor, for that night at least.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we are in the car driving home and through the trees and backyards of the houses on the next street, I see a mountain of boxes piled up in front of one the houses. When I saw that glimpse of the mountain of boxes, I don't know why, buy I associated the stacked up boxes with someone new moving into one of the houses and I saw a chance to grab a bunch of boxes in all sorts of sizes to restock my garage and reduce the number that I would end up having to purchase that month. The next day, after running some errands, I decided I would drive down that street and load my trunk with the discarded boxes. I pulled up to the house and immediately noticed the boxes weren't empty and under the cardboard boxes that I had seen from my street, were rows and rows of those huge clear Rubbermaid storage boxes everyone has in their garage. But since they were clear I could easily make out a familiar design of holly and red berries on the boxes in the containers.

I'm sure you can guess just what I did next. If you guessed that I dove head first in the boxes and began frantically going through each and every one you would be a great guesser and also 100% correct. After I got about halfway through the boxes I glanced over at my car which was already so full that I was going to have to ride the one street over with both back doors slightly ajar, as well as the trunk. I told myself I could definitely fit a couple more in under the lighted curio cabinet that was currently napping on its side in my back seat and turned back towards the treasure pile beside me that had been discarded like worthless garbage and that's when I saw it. Behind the major pile and wedged precariously between containers and scraps of cardboard boxes, a single word in a strangely familiar font jumped out to me. In bold green coloring in a clearly vintage font, was the word "Pom" and I could see the red outline of the rectangular cardboard box. No way, I said out loud. It can't be.

But it was. There on the curb with the trash, just one street over from my own, a rare, silver tinsel, mid-century, aluminum Christmas tree had been laid to rest in its original 1950s-1960s cardboard box. As I snatched the box from its current, sad fate, I noticed the cardboard box underneath was that of an old coffee maker, covered in an almost illegible handwriting. As I brushed it off to pick it, I was able to make it out. It said "two Christmas lamps and stand." With an urgency I didn't even understand myself, I tore the tape off the flaps of the top of the box to reveal its contents. Not one but two color wheel lights sat lifelessly in the box. 'Well these are definitely my two more boxes,' I thought to myself as I squeezed them into the car carefully. I got in the front set of the now cramped car and slowly drove home and pulled into my driveway.

My husband was on the porch when I drove up looking crazy with the doors and trunk open and the whole car looking much too full. I didn't even give him a chance to speculate on my sanity before I told him, almost yelling in excitement, just what I had in this over-stuffed car. My excitement spread to his face too as I pulled the old box from the floorboard and presented to him for examination. I could tell he was happy for me by his quickly widening smile and they way his eyes sparkled as he said, "Wow, babe. Looks like you've done it again."

Next he helped me unload all the treasures I had rescued from the trash that day and surprised me by suggesting the two of us just go check out what was left and make sure I didn't want or need any of it.

Come back next week to see what I found in the rest of the boxes and to have a peek at my newest most prized possession!

Until then, Happy Hunting! And remember to always check out the curb alerts!