Your Old Christmas Tree Might Be Worth A Alot Money (Here's How To Tell)

There's a romance to choosing a Christmas tree. It's a nostalgic and communal experience, going to a tree farm and working with the owner and your family to find a soft-bristled, fresh-smelling pine that can comfortably fit in your home, bear your decorations, and shelter gifts. And for the eco-minded holiday revelers, natural trees may be better for the environment. But there is undeniably a large market for artificial Christmas trees; per the National Wildlife Federation, some 75% of Americans have one, the peak of a long trend going back to the 1950s.

There are all sorts of artificial trees on the market now. You can get plastic trees, aluminum trees, tin trees, carved wood trees, ceramic trees, and even feather trees. Styles of tree and styles of decorating have come and gone. Such things have a way of coming around again, or appealing to niche markets, and those with vintage Christmas trees may be tempted to see what they're worth nowadays.

If you have such a tree, you're probably not looking at a huge windfall if you sell it. Poke around sites like Etsy or eBay and you'll likely not find any trees going for more than a few hundred. Even Martha Stewart, a big fan of 1950s aluminum trees, hasn't found one pricier than that in antique shops. But that is still quite a bit more than the $25 such trees used to go for. And appraiser Gary Germer told KATU Lifestyle that Victorian and even 20th-century pre-war Christmas antiques of all sorts can see prices spike.

Aluminum Christmas trees were the trend of the 1950s and '60s (per Prestige Estate Services), and like many trends fizzled out to an inglorious end. But overlapping and succeeding the aluminum craze was the time of the ceramic tree. Ceramics classes were a popular activity in the '60s and '70s, and during the holidays, making a tree was a favorite project. These trees never shed needles, they were small enough to fit in a variety of spots around the house, and they were often made by someone in the household.

Today, with trends from the mid-to-late 20th century capturing a fair share of the vintage market, ceramic trees from those years can go for a few hundred dollars under the right conditions. As always with vintage items and antiques, it helps a lot to be in good shape; a seamless tree that's kept all its paint will almost certainly sell for more than a cracked and chipped one. But many ceramic trees were made with a few extras that can affect the price too. If they have built-in lights, play music, or spin around, that can significantly increase the value of the tree.

Your vintage Christmas tree might be ceramic, aluminum, or wood. And the value on paper you expect for it might be anywhere between $25 or $250. But whatever it's made of and whatever its price tag, to get the best value, you should wait to sell it until Christmastime is nigh.

Bob Richter wrote the book on vintage Christmas items — literally. It's called "A Very Vintage Christmas: Holiday Collecting, Decorating, and Celebrating." Among the insights from his research for that book that he shared with Today is that vintage Christmas trees aren't going to be worth very much outside the Christmas season. To get a few hundred buck out of them, Richter recommends waiting until December and keeping to a very short selling window. Three days is his number of choice, provided you can also guarantee getting the tree to your customer by Christmas.

That's assuming you want to sell your vintage tree, of course. A ceramic tree made by an older relative, or a carved wooden tree handed down through generations, will hold a lot of sentimental value for a lot of people. However much cash you could get out of such a tree, its real value is in its family history and longevity.