Image courtesy of: Pro Aurum

(Kitco News) - With winter holidays just around the corner, Christmas tree competition is heating up and Germany is taking the lead as it unveils its own solid-gold version worth $2.6 million.

Dubbed by its creators as “the most expensive” Christmas tree in Europe, the festive gold creation is made up of 2,018 solid gold one-ounce Vienna Philharmonic coins, topped by a massive 20-ounce coin, which is placed into a golden star.

It took more than one hour to assemble the tree as all the gold coins had to be placed on an acrylic Christmas tree shape. Once completed, the tree weighed around 63 kilograms in pure gold.

Munich-based gold dealer Pro Aurum is the genius behind the creation of the three-meter-high tree, which will be left up at the dealer’s gold-house until December 15.

Pro Aurum cooperated with the Australian Mint to get the tree up and ready to go.

“The Christmas tree is special because of its value,” Pro Aurum spokesman Benjamin Summa told Reuters. “At the current rate that has a value of about 2.3 million euros [USD $2.6 million].”

The German gold dealer added that it is happy to see gold prices beginning to rise in the second half of the year — ensuring that the value of the Christmas tree will rise into the year-end.

Image courtesy of: Pro Aurum

“We certainly had problems in the first half of the year. The gold rate was flat for months, there was no movement in the market and physical demand was relatively low. That has changed in the second half of the year, as we have seen a clear revival of the market,” Summa said.

Pro Aurum also added that investors took advantage of the summer lull in gold prices. “The gold rate has lost a lot of value in both dollars and euros, so many customers have been buying up gold and getting a good deal,” Summa stated.