Category: Shopping
Trekkies flocked far and wide from across the galaxy to New York City for a 3-day sale of over 1,000 items of Star Trek costumes, sets and memorabilia spanning the 40 years run of the cult television series and movie franchise.
The highly-sucessful and energetic auction entitled “40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection”, which took place at Christies‘ auction house sold out completely, with some items, such as a model of the starship Enterprise selling for an unprecedented $576,000 to an online bidder, which was over ten times its estimate of $8,000 – 10,000. Most of the key items also went way over their estimated prices.
Other highly coveted Trekkie memorabilia included:
30-square-inch Borg Cube from “Star Trek:First Contact” – $96,000
Captain Jean Luc Picard’s Chair – $ 62,000
Worf’s Rifle – $19,000
Voyager Replica – $132,000
The overall takings reached $7,107,040, much more than the organizers expected. Money aside, the auction was said to be one of the most fun ever held, with bidders and Christie’s staff dressing like Trekkies.
When a bidder dressed as Picard won Ron Perlman’s jumpsuit costume from “Star Trek: Nemesis” for $6,000, the auctioneer exclaimed:
“It’s with Picard then……….A sentence I never thought I’d say.”?
With Christmas edging closer and closer, the dreaded task of finding that perfect present for the person in your life who “has it all” could now be solved (if you have an astronomic budget, that is).
Luxury retailers Neiman Marcus are now offering some pretty “ultra presents” in their 2006 holiday catalogue – one being a personal space tour where your loved ones can enjoy the feeling of zero-gravity and take in amazing views of earth from the Virgin Galactic Space Ship.
For a cool $1.6 M, this space trip will accomodate 6 people and includes a slew of perks like medical assessments, training, and to cap off the unforgettable experience, an after-flight party at Richard Branson’s privale isle.
If a trip to outer space is out of your league, there are still some stylish options like $25 crystal bells, $350 cashmere sweaters and a $100,000 water park for your garden (the kids will make you a god for that one). And for Fido? How about a $7,000 hancrafted luxury Italian pet home complete with leather armchair?
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If you find yourself drooling at the latest iPod models everywhere and wondering if you should give in and trade in your older model, think again. In about 5 months, these slick players could very well be dinosaurs.
The Microsoft giants are hot on the heels of Apple in the digital music market, with the buzz being that their new MP3 player in the works may finally give the iPod some serious competition. With the Xbox the only product Microsoft actually makes themselves (the company licenses its technology to hardware and service creators, nurturing an ecosystem of developers), this is a major change in the company?s strategic model.
Not to be one to willingly relinquish a slice of their juicy pie, Apple is rumoured to be developing a savvy new product, the Wi-Fi-enabled iPod due to hit stores in time for the holiday season. More Apple patents are also in the works, with text-to-speech and speech-recognition capabilities that would enable the iPod to “speak” song titles and allow users to give voice navigation commands. Additionally, there’s the “real” video iPod featuring a touch-screen display, plus the long-rumored iPhone.
Looking for good wine at rock-bottom prices? Well, look no further than the land down under, where the price of wine today is actually even cheaper than water. Yes, a bottle of wine in Australia nowadays can actually be purchased at less than $2 a bottle, compared to a litre of water which sells at around $3. Good news for wine-drinkers, who can now pick up a bottle of some of Australia?s best wines at a fraction of the price, but obviously bad news for the winemakers. Places like Dan Murphy?s offer 2005 Cabernet Merlot for just AU$1.95 dollars a bottle, and six-bottle packs of Chardonnay can go for AU$11.93.
For the past three years, Australia has had massive grape harvests, resulting in billions of litres of wine sitting unsold in wine barrels across the country. Now, its easy to come by ?clearskins?, or wine producer?s excess stock in unlabeled bottles at even lower prices. Wine bargains are everywhere, and while these ?clearskins? were once known for their questionable quality, some of the top winemakers have now put this to practice , joining the fierce competition in getting their stock off the shelves. Share prices of winemaking companies have obviously tumbled, and danger is very real for many vineyards who may be put out of business.
The experts are saying however that this glut of incredible wine prices wont last. So their advice is to stock up your cellars while you can.
Barbie Doll collectors will be very excited. On September 26, 4,000 Barbie dolls will go up for auction.
This impressive collection comes courtesy of Letje Raebel, a Dutch housewife. She bought her first Barbie as a gift for her daughter, Marina. Her daughter scorned the doll but Letje loved it and continued to buy more pieces.
Her collection is very impressive. She has collected not only the dolls but Barbie’s many outfits and accessories. She loved the many fashions created for Barbie, having been a bit of a seamstress herself.
The collection is valued at around 100,000 pounds. The value is very high because Letje Raebel kept all of the various items of Barbie in their respective boxes. All of them are unopened and have never been played with. Truly it is a collector’s dream.
Barbie Millicent Roberts (better known as simply Barbie) has been around since 1959. Invented by Ruth Handler, co-founder of US Toy giant company Mattel, the doll is named after her daughter Barbara. Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, is also named for one of her children.
Barbie has become the top selling doll all over the world. She has been dressed by such high fashion designers as Christian Dior and Calvin Klein. For many little girls, she has been the symbol of glitz, glamour and possibility. She has been an astronaut, a teacher, a model, even a policeman.
This collection is not just about a doll, it is also a showcase of history and the changing fashions. Truly it is a very valuable piece of history.
