The Nostalgic Aluminum Christmas Tree

This tree was popular in the United States from approximately 1959-1969. As its name suggests, the tree was made of aluminum featuring foil needles and illumination from below from a rotating color wheel. This device was used for changing a projection that used different optic filters or color gels within a light beam.  The aluminum Christmas tree was used as a symbol of over-commercialization of Christmas in the 1965 Peanuts holiday television special, A Charlie Brown Christmas.  The program is considered a classic among Christmas specials and its mention of the aluminum tree has allowed them to find their way into museum collections.  The Children's Museum of Indianapolis holds a vintage aluminum Christmas tree and color wheel in its collection.

The common method of illumination was a floor-based "color wheel" which was placed under the tree.  The 9" color wheel featured various color segments on a clear plastic wheel.  When the wheel rotated a light shone through the clear plastic casting an array of colors throughout the tree's metallic branches. 

The aluminum Christmas trees were manufactured by Modern Coatings, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois.  Between 1959 and 1969, the bulk of aluminum Christmas trees were produced in Manitowoc, Wisconsin by the Aluminum Specialty Company.  In that decade, the company produced more than one million aluminum trees!  At the time, the company produced their flagship product called the "evergleam".  It retailed for $25 and wholesaled for $11.25.

At the height of the aluminum tree's popularity, the trees were sold in the Sears catalog.

Whether you decorate with blue or red ornaments or use the tree without ornaments this exquisite tree is sure to be the talk of your neighborhood.  High luster aluminum gives a dazzling brillance.  Shimmering silvery branches are swirled and tapered to a handsome realistic fullness.  It's really durable .. needles are glued and mechanically locked on.  Fireproof .. you can use it year after year.

Sears, 1963 Christmas Book

By 1989, it was not uncommon to find aluminum Christmas trees for sale in yard sales or at estate sales being sold for as little as 25 cents.  In recent years the aluminum  Christmas tree has seen a re-emergence in popularity.  Collectors began buying and selling the trees especially on online auction websites.  A rare 7-foot-tall pink aluminum Christmas tree sold on the internet for $3,600 in 2005!  The re-emerging popularity of aluminum Christmas trees has even allowed them to find their way into museum collections.  

Aluminum Chirstmas tree 

on display 

at

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis 

What Ethel is to Lucy and butter is to bread, the color wheel is to the aluminum Christmas tree.