Remember the white or silver "fake" Christmas trees of the 1960s with the rotating light wheel directing rainbow colors to reflect off of the tree? Well, a hundred years earlier, an artificial Christmas tree was introduced with all the bells and whistles of the "modern" age.

In 1868, Harper’s Bazar describes a new style of Christmas tree -- an artificial Christmas tree that was made of “metal tubes, trunk, branches, and all in one, imitating so accurately the Christmas pines that when placed beside real trees it is difficult to distinguish the metal tree from the natural one.” The artificial Christmas tree was decorated with “reflectors of polished tin and gay-colored paper” to reflect the light. Then ornaments in the shape of “name-colored animals in miniature, elephants, tigers, lobsters, etc.” were suspended by elastic cords.

One would think that the safety of the household displaying such an artificial Christmas tree would be in question!