Friday, December 3, 2010

Ceramic Christmas tree


Here is a photo of my Christmas tree. I received it from Grandma Parker a few years ago, prior to her death in 2009. It's pretty much the only Christmas decoration I have on display. It is labeled "Parker '80" on the bottom along with "Atlantic Mold 74" so I'm under the assumption that she made it 30 years ago. It was a familiar fixture in the Parker home around Christmas time. From an electrical standpoint, it was probably one of the safest decorations they had, no fire hazard and only one plug on it.

To try to learn more about it, I googled Atlantic Mold Christmas Tree and found a similar looking "Vintage Lighted Ceramic Christmas Tree 16" Large Lites" selling for $175 on E-bay. I don't know if they will sell it for that price, but I do know that mine is worth way more than that to me.

All that I could find out about the mold is that it looks like a model 74 or A74 mold made by Atlantic Mold of Trenton, New Jersey. According to their website from 2001, they made their first ceramic tree mold in 1958. They closed their doors in March 2001. Some of the molds are still around, but I have no idea about model 74. Maybe they broke the mold on these.