Your favourite author was not the star, but his dog, rather his dog’s collar was, at an auction that just went by. An inscribed collar once worn by Charles Dickens’ dogs got auctioned on Tuesday, and raked in dollars to the tune of $11,590. The dog collar is incidentally not the only unusual piece owned by Dickens that went under the hammer recently.

The auction happened at Bonhams in New York. Call that an entirely different way to remember one of English language’s greatest writers! The 23 inches long and one and half inches wide collar was interestingly expected to fetch only between $4,000 and $6,000. Its final auction price was obviously a bonus!

Why is a dog collar of all things, so special? This collar, is inscribed with Dickens’ name, estate and town on it.
The collar’s origin has no doubt associated with it, but mystery surrounds about which of Dickens’ dogs actually wore it.  Going by its size though, it is thought to have belonged to one of his Newfoundlands, or a St Bernard. A collectible as little as a historic ivory toothpick once owned by Dickens went to a collector last year, for $9,150.

Besides, three strands from the author’s head are on the market and available to collectors, priced £1,750, which is, $2,890.
Another unusual example of Charles Dickens memorabilia is a cheque signed by the author for £21, not an insignificant sum in 1861, valued at £2,250 which translates to $3,710.

Via: LuxuryHub / Paul Fraser Collectibles

Before the sale of poker.org, the highest .org sale had been for a whopping $198,000 for the website www.engineering.org, followed by sexe.org which sold for $151,400.  As such, the sale of poker.org may not be considered dramatic in times of dot.com fixation. It is in fact smaller than some of the largest .com sales. For instance, Toys.com sold for a royal sum of $5.1 million for Toys.com, and $3 million changed hands for the candy.com sale. Domain name registrations for .org’s have gone up a great deal recently.

They have been up by 11 per cent in the first half of 2009 as compared to the same period its previous year. The internet has over seven million .org domain registrations. In effect, it is the third largest of sought after domain extensions.

Via: techcrunch, poker.org, engineering.org

When fashion designer Carolina Herrera says it, you got to believe it. She says luxury is back, and that her customers are beginning to spend once again. Carolina Herrera said so in an interview to the Wall Street Journal. Her statement comes at a time when one hears of whole garment chain stores vanishing in the recession air, fashion designers and jewelers going bankrupt, and elitist homes going up for sale.

Herrera is known for her stately ladylike gowns and dresses which cost not less than $10,000, meant for rich women. Her new designs were on the runway at her fall 2010 fashion show this week in New York City. Herrera lowered her prices about 10 per cent, and notes that while her customers buy fewer clothes than before, they have not stopped buying luxury clothing entirely. She is hinting at the older version of luxury.

With recession at its peak through the last couple of years, Herrera catered to cost conscious consumers without damaging quality or image. Her company laid off five per cent of its employees. Its longtime president, Mario Grauso, departed in September to run Vera Wang. Herrera plans to expand her lower-priced CH Carolina Herrera line, adding 17 shops this year. Herrera heads a global firm with 153 points of distribution.

Via: wsj

You may have to sip a few pegs to fathom this! For those you have the money in the world to splurge, here is a starry Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur Bottle – an ultimate sign of luxurious spending. International jeweler Donald Edge has designed this $3 million spirits container. The liquor holder was unveiled by iconic fashion designer Betsey Johnson amid tight security at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.

At three million dollars, one may not be surprised that it is the world’s most expensive container for spirits. The Chambord bottle is decorated with over 60 carats’ diamonds including 1,100 round brilliant cut diamonds, pear cut diamonds, a square cut emerald diamond, the finest round pearls and hand-wrought 18 carat yellow gold.
Obviously, the idea behind this, is to admire those jewels while you enjoy your cocktail.

Take heart, for all that is ale is not sin. Proceeds from this three million designer piece’s sale will help raise funds towards awareness of breast cancer.
One may note that Johnson who unveiled the champagne bottle is herself a breast cancer survivor and advocate. And Chambord was only too happy to have her as part of its `Pink your Drink’ campaign to fight breast cancer. Besides directing proceeds from the campaign towards breast cancer awareness, Chambord will also contribute to Johnson’s charity – the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Via: PRNewsWire

The response by collectors at the auction of works by Jean- Michel Basquiat and Donald Judd at Phillips de Pury & Co has shown that contemporary artists who are well known, are in stronger demand. At the latest auction, Phillips sold 6.1 million pounds ($9.6 million) of art, its mid-estimate figure.

While bidders were more cautious in particularly after their purchases at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, the verdict was clearly in favour of established contemporary artists at this one, compared to the other two auctions where older works were preferred. Collectors have a thing or two to cheer about as the market, they feel, is a lot better, and geared towards strong names.

This comes as a feel good factor even as the global financial crisis that witnessed a steep fall in the prices of works by contemporary artists fall, buyers and sellers alike prefer established names like Judd. Of the 43 offered works under the hammer, five sold through telephone bids for more than 500,000 pounds. Before the auction, there was some speculation that the Phillips auction that sells pieces of living artists, may not attract buyers after all. But the figures show all is well.

Via: Bloomberg, Phillips de Pury

Anniversaries and their celebrations are good. It works well for the brand to show of the number of years it has been creating the luxury goods but also spells out a real treat for the loyalists in terms of a special product that’s most of the time exclusive too. The excitement is further heightened when the year’s Baselworld marks the watch makers 275 glorious years in the industry.

We are talking about Blancpain that has just launced its new Villeret Collection to mark the occasion. The first one of the series goes by the name Phase de Lune Demi-Savonnette and is based on the lunar calendar. It even has under-lug correctors that are fitted pretty well into a half0hunter rose gold case.

The innards hold the automatic Blancpain in-house caliber 6654 movement with dimensions 32mm x 5.32mm along with 28 jewels. A 72-hour power reserve keeps it ticking all the time with an occasional recharge. The watch face features a 40mm by 11.7 mm 18 carat  rose gold case and 22mm lugs. Both the case and the back display are made of sapphire with an assured water resistance of up to 30 meters.

Via forums.timezone

It takes many of us to work extra hard to make those bucks required to buy a Bentley. The passion really does get you ambitious. But then there are some who look for more. We are thinking on the lines of ‘unique’. And catering to the likes of those, the famous British luxury marque has collaborated with some of the most promising coachbuilders in the world to create some spectacular auto treats of their own.

Some time back, Bentley had joined hands with Zagato. Their marriage resulted in the Continental GTZ as shown in the picture above. The car was gorgeous as it borrowed the best from both worlds, just the way kids do in great marriages.

And now we hear that Bentley is gearing up to attach itself to yet another coachbuilder. There is a strong chance it could be Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. Reports suggest that the new unique car will be based on the Continental GTC convertible. The two companies are hoping to unveil it amidst a proper pomp and show at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show. The Zagato car bore a price tag of $1.7 milliom. That does give you an idea how much the next beauty is gonna cost.

Via luxist

The Haiti earthquake has been like a waking call for the fallibility of human life. The way things change drastically when nature shows its wrath for less than 60 seconds. Nope. We do not see it as pessimism, but more like realism. People all over the world has been closely following the resuce reports and are also doing their but by contributing money and sending silent prayers to the dude up there. Famous celebs are no exception.

We have seen how former U.S president Bill Clinton has been tirelessly working to help the disaster struck Haitians. Hollywood stars like George Clooney are also helping raise funds. Then there are the likes of P. Diddy’s son who went ahead and shared his birthday money with the people in Haiti.

Now, it is Scarlett Johansson turn to do her bit. The gorgeous lady has shown us all that she has a heart of gold as she has gone ahead to design a solidarity handbag for the Spanish retailer Mango to rasise funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The bag has a cartographical representation of Haitin with words incribed that say “supporting the people of Haiti, designed by Scarlett Johansson.” You can get this handbag across 1,390 Mago stores all over the world from March onwards. The price is $29.90. Come do your bit.

Via news.mango

It’s always the same. The current generation feels that the younger next generation has it easy. Well, such are the ways of evolution that life only gets better (we are optimistic about the global warming solutions). Take the kiddie circuit today, for instance. When we were little, we were quite thrilled with our fair share of Barbie and G.I Joe dolls. If daddy felt too generous you would even have a baby three wheeled cycle. Circa 2010, the young turks are not just taken seriously by their parents and the markets but they also get their own toy fairs.

The German Toy Fair has the likes of big brands like Audi who will be exhibiting exclusive model cars, remote controlled cars, stuffed cars and even an adorable  Audi motorsports teddy bear. Among other highlights of the show, you can also get a look at the 1:2 version of the Auto Union Silver Arrow Type C versions that come wth a chain drive. And if it could only get better, you also have the option of test riding it too.

The body of the scaled car has an aluminum space-frame and it also features a hydraulic dual-disc brake that can be speed controlled by a 7-speed hub gear with back pedaling brake function. The mini car also gets leather upholstered seats and a steering wheel that can easily be removed to create a much easier entry-exit passage. Dunno if any parent would let the kid drive this on his/her own. Hmmm….that settles it we guess!

Via autoevolution

The Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week is symbolic this year. Apart from making strong fashion statements, it is also showing us how it is time to put the financial hard times behind us. Yes darlings, as the world bounces off from one of the worst economic crises of the world, the fashionistas in the French capital unveil their biggest and best in rare high-end jewelry.

Can Cleef & Arpels boutique is one that has garnered a lot of attention this February thanks to its diamond and pink sapphire necklace that will remind you of a Japanese garden. From what we hear, it took more than 3,000 hours to craft this gorgeous piece. It has a selling price of 430,000 Euros.

Even Mellerio dits is showing a lot of enthusiasm with its vintage range that dates back to 1613. The price is high ranging between $5,000 and $500,000 Euros. In other words, the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week is a happy place for all the fashion houses as they show their optimistic side in all the gorgeous jewelry pieces. By the way, they make for great investment options.

Via france24