HO CHI MINH CITY – The coconut is plated with 24K gold, decorated with dragons, phoenixes, flowers, and leaves, and priced at 350,000 VND, the seller had to cancel the order because he could not make it in time.
For more than 4 years now, every Tet holiday, the production facility of Mr. Nguyen Anh Vu, 35 years old, Thu Duc City has been busy making gilded coconuts. Golden coconuts, decorated with images of flowers, bows, dragons, phoenixes, and fortune, are sold for between 350,000 and 1 million VND per pair.
According to the factory owner, the number of customers ordering coconuts increased by more than 30%, but due to not enough workers, they had to stop accepting orders a month before Tet. This Tet holiday, the factory plans to make 700 gold-plated fruits, equivalent to last year.
Before being gilded, the coconut is washed, then coated with glue and dried for 40 minutes. The type used for plating is the coconut variety we imported from Tien Giang. The fruit must be big and mature so it doesn’t break its stem or leak juice, be sturdy and can be boiled for a long time.
Before
Click to flip the image back/before
After
24K gold leaf pieces are meticulously hand-plated onto the surface of the coconut, then used with a brush to smooth it. Workers must protect themselves when plating so that gold dust does not fly around. On average, one coconut uses about 40 gold leaves.
Outside, a group of workers are busy making decorative accessories for coconuts. According to the owner, the peak time is 10 days before Tet, making 40 fruits a day to meet the market.
Decorative accessories such as animal shapes, letters, flowers… are mostly made of plastic glue poured into molds. “This year the factory crafted 5 types of dragon molds to have more designs and products,” Mr. Vu said.
Accessories, after being painted with colorful decorations, will be attached to the coconut.
The most expensive is a pair of coconuts decorated with dragon shapes stylized with the word “fortune”, with many types of flowers, peacock feathers, pearls… priced at one million VND. “This sample has the largest fruit and the most elaborate processing time, so it has that price,” Mr. Vu explained.
Coconuts with red inlaid leaves priced from 350,000 are the cheapest and are ordered by many customers.
Mr. Vu’s facility also makes gold-plated grapefruits. This year, he plans to make nearly 100 grapefruits, with an average price of 400,000 VND per pair.
At Ms. Le Thi Hai Hau’s facility, Hai Duong, red grapefruit is shaped like Phuc – Loc – Tho with 24K gold. Small fruits cost from about 350,000 VND, large ones sell for 750,000 VND.
($1~24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet