My Dreamboat . . . 6 feet tall and pink all over

In my personal treasure hunting, there are two things I would categorize as Holy Grails.  One is a ceramic mermaid by California Potter Hedi Schoop.  The other is a Pink Aluminum Christmas Tree.  I have only seen the Pink Aluminum Tree in person once and that was at a museum.  I have seen them on ebay but always going for big bucks.  So imagine my excitement when I ran across one last weekend.

We went to the big flea market in Elkhorn, WI.  About 10 minutes in, we ran across a couple who was in the beginning stages of selling their aluminum Christmas tree collection.  They said they had collected over 100 trees over many years.  I was digging through the boxes of trees and saw a PINK branch.  I just about fainted.  So I pulled it out and it was in AWESOME shape.  I am not sure it was displayed more than once or twice.  Really it was in mint condition.  So we haggled a little on the price but I knew I just had to have it.  I put it together right after we got home and it is just gorgeous.  I love it!!

It is six feet tall with 54 branches.  I was worried that with that few branches it might not look full.  But because of how the holes in the post are drilled it sort of tapers up and I think it looks full.  It is just 6 feet with the top branch in so a bit shorter looking than I would expect 6 feet to look.  The branches are in fantastic condition.

The foil on the post is immaculate.   I am not crazy about the stand, I wish it had the O ring to attach to like other ones do.

 It has the original box as well.  It was sent to Kachina Displays in NM.  Funny to think they just mailed these around.  You can see the word PINK lightly on the same side of the box directly above the two small tree.

We also picked up some other great Aluminum Tree decorations.  This is a center piece we got.  It is gold and silver and the middle branch sticks straight up.  It came with the original box.  I have never seen one of these.

We also got a door hanger.  It is like a 3-D version you can hang on the wall or on your door.  It is silver and gold as well.

It looks like we are set to have an Atomic Christmas.   I can't wait for Christmas and of course now I am on the hunt for things to decorate the Pink Christmas tree with.

Happy Hunting!

Rebecca 

Have never seen one of these!

There was an estate sale in Madison last weekend. For some reason I didn't really get motivated to get there when it opened or near when it opened. I was out and about that afternoon and saw the Estate Sale sign and decided to go.

Within 2 minutes of being at the sale, I was kicking myself for not getting there sooner. I can only imagine what I missed based on what was left. This was a person that had things from the 50's and 60's that they seemed to just have packed away or kept very nice. Man . . . and the prices were very reasonable. The worst is when you see someone at the checkout buying things you would have scooped up. If I had only gotten there minutes earlier.

Despite my kicking myself all the way into next week, I continued to look around. Down in the basement I saw a box kind of tucked away. So as any good treasure hunter does, I peeked in. My heartbeat quickened and the excitement built as I see very small bullet planters. What could it be? Yikes it is a whole bunch of small bullet planters with a post and some metal rings. What in the world? (These kinds of finds are the ones that keep you coming back.)  I quickly counted the rings and the planters, 18 of each . . . SOLD!

Now my partner in crime was upstairs and I could not wait for him to come downstairs to see my bounty.
Though it was a bit heavy, I lugged that box around as I looked for more treasure and guarded it with my life. I was so excited I could barely stand it. He finally came downstairs (I am sure it was only 2-3 minutes but it felt like a lifetime) and I proudly showed him what I found. As expected, he was impressed. We headed to the check out and I just showed the checker the price on the box as I was sure if they saw what was inside they would charge me double maybe even triple and then we absconded with our find.

We of course had to run home and put it together immediately. Fingers crossed that all of the pieces were there. By golly they were and when we were done we were thrilled with our find. The best part was that there were two of them and we had the original box which we did not even realize.

So that is our big Totem Planter adventure. Nothing beats going out and finding such a cool item. I have never seen this type of planter. There was a hand written note on the box that said planter 1978. That seems late to me for such a planter but perhaps that is when they bought it or maybe when they packed it up. No matter, it is really very cool and will be a great piece to put out. I don't think I will put real plants in it as I don't want to damage the planters so maybe some fake plants will do the trick.

 A great find to keep me motivated to hit those sales and dig around in those basements!

 Rebecca