How the market for Magi gifts for baby Jesus has changed
If their trek to visit the baby Jesus had happened this year, the biblical Magi might have been in for a surprise.
The market for the gifts offered by the three kings — gold, frankincense and myrrh — is much changed since the first Christmas long ago.
Frankincense, used in perfumes and incense, especially is becoming more rare. Within 15 years, yield of the fragrant resin from the Boswellia tree species, found in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, is expected be half the amount it is now.
And 50 Christmases from now, frankincense production could be down 90% because of threats from fire, grazing and destructive beetles, according to the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology this week.
For now, beauty aficionados hoping for “a radiant, smoothed and beautifully healthy complexion” can get Ren’s Frankincense Revitalizing Night Cream from Sephora for $55 a jar. The resin is also used as an insect repellent, medicine and even toothpaste, according to the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Myrrh is produced as a resin from the Commiphora tree, native to Yemen, Ethiopia and Somalia.
A pound of granular myrrh for incense sold by a vendor called New Age on Amazon.com runs $13.95.
The cost of gold has been volatile — it was so highly prized during recent uncertain economic times that it neared $1,900 an ounce. It’s currently hovering around $1,600.
