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Forget a gold iPad . Why buy gold when you can buy platinum? The Solid Platinum iPad SUPREME Edition has been created by Stuart Hughes and has 173 flawless diamonds. Only five of these platinum items are available.

Stockerblog recently posted its year end Secret Tax Tips , which includes everything from $20 gold pieces to making anonymous donations with tax deductions. It also covers short selling, Dealing with worthless stocks held in certificate form, and municipal bonds.

In a move that appears to encourage individuals to move their money into banks (from where? mattresses? stocks? bonds? non-US banks?), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has now decided to insure all non-interest bearing accounts, no matter how much money is in the account. However, there are a few limitations: 1. This takes effect only between 12/31/2010 and 12/31/2012. 2. It must be a traditional checking account or demand deposit account on which the insured depository institution pays no interest. 3. Any accounts that pay interest do not qualify. More information can be found HERE about unlimited FDIC coverage .

One more auction item for the day. A toy Lusitania ship, about 37 inches long, which was in the estate of Malcolm Forbes, was sold at Sotheby’s in New York yesterday for $194,500 . The high estimate on the item was $200,000. The oldest surviving Monopoly set, reached $146,500 on a high estimate of $80,000.Total amount raised from the toy collection was $2.4 million.

A 19 inch Nazi field marshal's baton was auctioned off a couple weeks ago at Alex Cooper Auctioneers in Maryland with an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. The baton had originally belonged to Nazi Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. It had been found in a castle by an American soldier in 1945. The item was hammered for an amazing $731,600 !!!

A couple weeks ago, we wrote about the auctioning of Lee Harvey Oswald's coffin by Nate Sanders Auctioneers in Santa Monica, California on December 16. Opening bid was $1,000 and the item was hammered at $87,469. What a great Christmas present that would make for any conspiracy theory fan. The buyer of the item has still not been disclosed yet.

The worlds most expensive book just sold at a Sotheby's auction for $10,270,000. The book, ' Birds of America ,' by John James Audubon, is filled with over 400 hand-colored illustrations of birds. The buyer was not disclosed. The last time one of these books sold at auction, it went for $8.8 million.

If there is any doubt the wealth of the Chinese, the recent Christie's auction in Hong Kong may prove that the Chinese have plenty of money. $409 million worth of lots were sold. Almost half of the buyers came from mainland China. A 14.2 carat diamond called "The Perfect Pink" was hammered at $23 million.

If you want to get that totally unique gift for someone who likes conspiracies, especially the JFK conspiracy, this item might fit the bill. It is Lee Harvey Oswald's coffin (body not included). Nate D. Sanders Auctioneers will be auctioning off the coffin on December 16 at a starting bid of $1,000. The pre-exhumation coffin is being sold by the Baumgardner Funeral Home. It is expected the the item will sell for far more than the starting price.

It's time to create your shopping lists. Here are some great luxury gifts for your friends and relatives. These would also make great gifts for you so give this list to your friends and relatives, showing them what you would like to have for Christmas. Paul Tudor Jones' 14,000 square foot house for only $30 Million. Michael Jordan's 2007 Mercedes McLaren SLR 722 for $430,000. An original Apple I computer. $210,000 . IWC Men's IW504207 Portuguese Tourbillon Mystère Watch Price: $88,800. 12 liter bottle of Vieille Bon Secours beer The most expensive beer in the world for just $1160. Royal Diamond Chess Set This chess set from Charles Hollander is hand made with 9,900 black and white diamonds, in over 1168 grams of 14 carat white gold. Price is $500,000. Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition SUV Includes diamond encrusted speed gauges , gold plated windows, and seats that are made with leather from a male whale's sexual organ. All for only $1,653,800. Elvis Pre

General Motors, the big American automobile manufacturer that went bankrupt, was bailed out by the United States government, and just went public again last week, now has a new part owner. Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal invested $500 million in the company, amounting to a one percent ownership. The Prince bought into the company because of its potential in China and Brazil.

An Apple computer just sold for $210,000 at a Christie's auction in London. The computer was an Apple I and included a letter handsigned by Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Apple. When the computer was first offered in 1976, it sold for $666.66. Only 200 were ever sold. Steve Wozniak, the other co-founder of Apple was at attendance at the auction. The winning bidder was Francesco Boglione, an Italian businessman and collector of antique computers.

The guy behind the largest Ponzi scheme ever, Bernard Madoff, had a Manhattan penthouse and a Long Island beach-house that was confiscated by the Federal government, both of which were filled with his personal items. Now those personal items will be auctioned off and, if you are the high bidder, you will have the great privilege of owning Bernie's used socks, black velveteen slippers, luggage, T-shirts, and of course, his underpants (he wore boxers, not briefs). The auction will be held on Saturday at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers.

Money manager and Forbes columnist, Ken Fisher, who is also a billionaire on the Forbes 400, was interviewed in an extensive interview at the Stockerblog site. He said that in the next couple years, California will suffer major budget issues during the next couple years but will not go bankrupt. But beyond that time frame? Yes, bankruptcy is possible. All his comments about California can be seen at Stockerblog.com.

Hedge fund manager and billionaire Paul Tudor Jones has decided to sell his 14,000 square foot, 11 bedrooms, and 10 bathrooms home for $30 million . The house sits on 6,250 acres of land inhabited by wildlife. The house includes three fire places, library, a basketball court, billiards room, and movie theater.

J. Christopher Reyes, the co-chair of Reyes Holdings, the largest distributor of beer in the United States, has purchased a 15,000 square foot home on 44 acres in Aspen, Colorado for $31.5 million (originally listed for $60 million). The property came with a horse stable and guest house.

A new Barbie Doll recently sold at a New York auction house for an amazing $302,500 . Why so much? Maybe because the Barbie was wearing a choker necklace with a one-carat square-cut pink diamond. The doll also had on a black strapless evening dress. The successful buyer was not disclosed.

A housewarming event is being held at the world's most expensive home which took seven years to construct. The home was built by India billionaire Mukesh Ambani for his family of six. The house is 400,000 square feet on 27 floors, with three helipads, and a view of the ocean. The house also has a 168 space parking lot, a movie theater, heath club, swimming pool, and yoga studio. It cost $1,000,000,000 to build.

Michael Jordan's 2007 Mercedes McLaren SLR 722 is up for sale for only $430,000. It has low mileage, only 962 miles. The car goes from zero to 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds. The car has a 5 1/2-liter V8 with 640 horsepower. It can speed as fast as 209 miles an hour. In addition to all the above features of the car, the buyer will also have the benefit of owning a car that was owned and driven by Michael Jordan. Jordan paid $475,000 for the car a few years ago. Automobile in picture is similar to the one being sold.

Christie's just auctioned off over $1.7 million worth of collectible teddy bears, the largest sale of teddy bear toys ever, formerly owned by hedge fund manager Paul Greenwood, who admitted to embezzling $900 million from investors. The highest priced lot was a Harlequin bear from the 1920's, which was hammered at $74,000. All the bears were made by Steiff of Germany.

In the category of billionaire odd news, billionaire Alki David had offered to pay $1 million to anyone who would streak at a speech given by President Obama. A man from Staten Island New York took him up on his offer but was stopped by police before he could complete his run. Since the streaker made an effort, the billionaire has agreed to pay for the streaker's annual rent, the medical bills of the streaker's sister, and additional funds.

There are over 750 books with the word 'billionaire' in the title. Here is just a small selection. The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal ~ Ben Mezrich The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine ~ Benjamin Wallace 1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire: Expanded Edition ~ Sam Wyly Money Talks, Bullsh*t Walks: Inside the Contrarian Mind of Billionaire Mogul Sam Zell ~ Ben Johnson Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire-- Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do ~ Alan S. Miller, Satoshi Kanazawa Think Like a Billionaire, Become a Billionaire ~ Scot Anderson Billionaire Secrets to Success ~ Bill Bartmann How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth ~ Martin S. Fridson Trump Strategies for Real Estate: Billionaire Lessons for the Sm

Guest Article by John Sileo Facebook is a cigarette, information is the nicotine, and you are the addict. And it is time to stop blaming Facebook if you get privacy cancer. Years ago, after a long and drawn out fight, the tobacco industry was forced to put labels on their cigarette packs warning smokers that these nicotine delivery devices caused cancer, birth defects and premature death. The warnings did little to slow down sales of cigarettes, though they might have helped the tobacco companies avoid some costly lawsuits because, after all, they had clearly warned users about the dangers. With the latest iteration of privacy settings being introduced this week on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (or more likely the brilliant Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg) has discovered a similar truth - you are either too addicted to the information drug, or too indifferent to the privacy consequences, to care. I applaud Facebook for giving users more visibility and a bit more control over how mu

In the state of California, Proposition 19 , if it passes, would legalize the use of marijuana for personal use and taxation. Dustin Moskovitz, one of the co-founders of Facebook and a billionaire, supports the proposition and has donated $70,000 to the cause. His support is based on his opinions that it would reduce overcrowding of non-violent offenders in prisons and improve the California economy. picture courtesy of Wikipedia

A shop in New York City, GOTTA HAVE IT! , was in the process of auctioning off the fingerprints of Beatle John Lennon along with a lot of other celebrity memorabilia, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation confiscated the item. Even Homeland Security got involved. The prints were expected to sell for over $100,000. The fingerprint card was consigned by an unnamed promoter. The FBI was looking into whether the card was illegally retrieved from government files. At least the other 850 celebrity lots were unaffected.

A anonymous American multi-millionaire has left $8 million to the Wombat Awareness Organization in Australia, an organization dedicated to the large scale rescue and rehabilitation of the Southern Hairy Nosed Wombat. The donation will be made in increments of $1 million per year.

A UFO landing pad has been built in a small town in southwest part of France, paid for by the town council. But you won't be able to land your Cessna or Gulfstream there (unless you are a Martian). The UFOport is only available for extraterrestrial spacecraft. I'm assuming that if there was a landing, it would certainly help the local economy.

Here's an auction you can take sitting down. A porcelain toilet owned by Beatle John Lennon while he lived in Berkshire, southern England, was sold at a Beatles memorabilia auction organized by the Beatles Shop in Liverpool. It was hammered for almost $15,000 , around ten times its estimate. It's lucky for the buyer that the toilet didn't end up in the dump. Shipping the object to the owner's home probably involves a big movement with lots of packing, otherwise, option number two would be carrying it on the plane. I guess you could use it as a large flower pot or a stool.

How would you like a $2 million mansion in Marin County, California for only $150? It's possible if your ticket is drawn, in this raffle for the wealthy. For a $150, you have the chance to win a 3600 square foot mansion on over half an acre with four bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, a bonus room, a study, a guest suite, and an office. Included are terraced gardens, a pool and a spa. Marin County is generally considered to be the wealthiest county in California with Santa Clara County giving it a run for its money. This New Age liberal county, although known for its wealth, still has its share of its poor, which is why this raffle is being held. Proceeds will go towards Community Action Marin, which provides support services such as early childhood education, mental health, employment and job training, food programs, housing assistance, HIV and AIDS services, and other types of programs. If you buy your ticket early, you will be automatically entered in the early bird drawings

Billionaire Paul Allen claims that Google, Apple, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, eBay and a bunch of other high tech companies are infringing on the patents held by Interval Licensing LLC, a company that Allen funded. Other companies named in the complaint include Netflix Inc., AOL Inc., Office Depot Inc., OfficeMax Inc., and Staples Inc. The patents relate to web alerts and web browsing. Interval is asking for royalties on the patents or else have the companies stop infringing.

Now you can be just like Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun', flying your own fighter jet . The jet is a bargain at $175,000. A Stockton, California company is offering this Swedish jet at 61,000 feet. It goes through 100,000 gallon of fuel every minute. Who needs a corporate jet when you can fly in a fighter jet.

The children of Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK-A) (BRK-B) Warren Buffett , were interviewed for National Geographic.

You won't be able to get one of these at the ball park, but you can at New York's Serendipity 3 restaurant. This gourmet foot-long all-beef meal is covered in foie gras and black truffles, in a pretzel roll grilled in white truffle butter. It is expected to be awarded the world’s most expensive hot dog by Guinness, as it sells for $69 .

Guernsey's Auction House will be having an interesting auction, a nude photo negative of Marilyn Monroe, the original Yankee Stadium last home run ball, and most exciting, the tip of the nose of the Statue of Liberty, actually a backup replacement piece, one of only three in existence (one is already on Lady Liberty's nose), created back in the 1980's. To give you an idea of how big the Statue of Liberty is, the copper nose tip piece measures two feet long. The auction will be held on September 24.

George Soros, billionaire trader/investor has through his Quantum hedge fund bought a 4% interest in the Bombay Stock Exchange . He paid $35 million to Dubai Financial, a division of state-run Dubai Holdings, for interest in Asia's oldest stock exchange.

Speaking of California real estate, if glass houses aren't to your liking, and you desire a little privacy, you might want to pick up the 5.8 acre Red Rock Island in the San Francisco Bay, near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. The island is at the convergence of three counties, San Francisco, Marin and Contra Costa and is the only privately owned island in the Bay. In the 1980's, there were plans to build a 10-story hotel and casino, and a yacht harbor on the island, but those plans fell through. The island is available for $22 million. More information and pictures are available from Private Islands Online.

This 13,875 square foot house is not for everyone. Called the Glass Pavilion, it was built by architect Steve Hermann on three-and-a-half acres in Montecito, California. What makes it different from other homes in this wealthy enclave near Santa Barbara is that the walls are made of glass . The five bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom house even has a huge glassed-in garage to show off your car collection to the neighbors. Suzanne Perkins of Sotheby's International Realty is the listing agent. It is available for a reasonable $35 million.

Tod's, the famous Italian luxury products firm, has just released its latest line of Apple iPad cases handmade out of genuine alligator skin. The price is a reasonable $4,900 .

Every one has heard about the $100 trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe. But how many people have heard about the United States $100,000 bill? If you have never seen one before, now is your chance to check one out at the World's Fair of Money in Boston. As a matter of fact, you can see a whole sheet of $100 thousand bills. Can you guess whose portrait appears on the bill? (Answer at the bottom of this article.) These $100,000 banknotes were only used for private official transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. They were never released to the public. Also at the show, you can see the United States's first $20 gold coin, and gold nuggets and bars from the Gold Rush era. What's in your wallet? The picture depicts the back of the $100,000 bill. The front has a portrait of Woodrow Wilson

It may be hard to believe but many billionaires started at the very bottom. Here are the first jobs for several billionaires. Charles Schwab picked walnuts T.Boone Pickens paper route Sheldon Adelson paper route Barry Diller mail room David Murdock changed oil at a gas station Andrew Beal sold used TV's

If a billionaire gets his identity stolen , then you are talking about real money. California billionaire Donald Bren, who is one of the top 50 wealthiest people in the world with a net worth of $12 billion, had the unfortunate experience of identity stealing. Some guy set up a bank account in his name, got a hold of his $1.4 million tax refund check, put it in the bank, then took it out.

Individuals with significant wealth face a difficult decision. On one hand, even Warren Buffet recognizes that is wealth really needs to be invested in order to produce further gains, but most wealthy investors are oftentimes not sure where to turn. Of course, financial advisors should always be the first stop. However, there are numberless con artists and fraudulent financial firms that specifically target the wealthy; thus, it is best to be fully aware of this potential threat. By simply following a few practical steps, one can take great strides toward protecting one’s wealth against fraud. The Guaranteed Return In recent years, this investment scam has become increasingly popular in financial circles. Typically, a trader will offer investors a set return each month on any principal investment. Usually, the guaranteed return will be between 1% and 2% per month. The trader solicits funds in this manner, and it usually spreads by word of mouth. Eventually the trader has sever

You can see what the public thinks about almost any topic by just typing it into Google, and seeing the suggested searches. The following screen shots speak for themselves about what Googlers think about the rich and Bill Gates.

Popular actor, Dennis Hopper, passed away in May, and now his mansion in Venice Beach, California is up for sale. The 15,500 square foot lot, includes three two-story townhouse condominiums, a pool, a pool house, and guest cottage. The price of the house is a reasonable $6.245 million .

As a follow-up to our previous article about yard sale bargains, a man in California was lucky enough to buy Frank Sinatra's shirt at a garage sale for only five bucks . This white tuxedo shirt has been authenticated by the manufacturer, Anto Distinctive Shirtmakers in Beverly Hills. When told that the shirt may not bring much at auction, the owner said that he may donate the shirt to the Sinatra family. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

A garage sale aficionado who found a bunch of old photos at a yard sale in Southern California ten years ago has struck it rich. The photos were offered at $70 but he beat them down to $45. It turns out that the purchase was 65 glass negatives created by nature photographer Ansel Adams, and estimated to be worth $200 million .

The Lehman Brothers Corporate Art Collection and Neuberger Berman Corporate Art Collection will be sold at auction by Sotheby’s on Saturday, September 25, 2010 in New York. There will be over 400 works of art, which are expected to sell for $10 million or more. The artists include Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Richard Prince, John Currin and Takashi Murakami, Neo Rauch, Julie Mehretu, Liu Ye and Do Ho Suh. One of the highlights of the collection include Damien Hirst's 'We’ve Got Style (The Vessel Collection – Blue)', painted in 1993 and acquired in 1994. The estimated sale price is $800,000 to $1.2 million.

The End of History' beer, made by BrewDog brewery, has an extremely high alcohol content and sells for about $770 per bottle, making it the most expensive beer in the world. But that doesn't make the 55% alcohol beer unusual. The beer bottle are encased in dead animals prepared by a taxidermist, animals such as squirrels and rabbits. But you better get your order in now, since only 12 bottles will be produced.

How would you like the ultimate entertainment collectible, formerly owned by The King. And if you play the piano, it would make it an even better buy. Heritage Auction Galleries is offering at auction next month Elvis Presley's White Knabe Grand Piano and Bench as featured in his music room at Graceland from 1957 to 1969. The opening bid is $500,000 and has an estimated value of $1,000,000. This white piano with gold trim was manufactured by Wm. Knabe & Co. It comes with several letters of authenticity. The auction, which has many other Elvis items, closes Saturday, August 14, 2010.

Thirty bottles of drinkable champagne were discovered in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea. It is estimated that they are from the 1780's, and made by Clicquot. The bottles are worth about $75,000 each . Unfortunately, one of the discoverers took a sip from one of the bottles on the trip back.

Winston Churchill's gold dentures will be up for sale through Keys Auctioneers in London, at an estimated value of $6,100 to $7,650. This set is one of only three sets of dentures of Churchill known to exist. (One set is in a museum.) The auction will be held in Norwich on July 29.

Julien's auction house recently auctioned off three X-rays of Marilyn Monroe's chest. The pre-sale estimate of $800 to $1,200 each, but all three were hammered for a total of $45,000 . The X-rays were taken at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital when she was 28 years old. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

At an auction in New Zealand's Webb's Auction House in Auckland, a feather from the extinct huia bird was hammered at around $5600 in US dollars, setting a world's record for the sale of a feather. The bird has reportedly been extinct since 1907.

According to Merrill Lynch, the number of millionaires around the world has increased by 17% , increasing from 8.6 million to 10 million in 2009. There was a 26% gain in the Asia-Pacific region. North America now has 3.1 million millionaires.

Le Belvedere, a huge mansion in Bel Air, California, which was previously owned by Mohamed Hadid, former owner of Ritz Carlton Hotels, has sold at an estimated price of $72 million . The buyers were not announced, other than the fact that they are from Europe. The 48,000 square foot home has 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 16 imported Italian marble fireplaces, and a 20 car garage. Maybe the real estate market has turned around.

Designers in Switzerland and Great Britain have worked together to create a replica of a Bugatti Veyron Diamond Limited Edition. The car is made from 24-carat gold, platinum and diamonds and is considered the most expensive car in the world, at $3 million. The model is worth more than the real car itself.

An unidentified Russion billionaire paid $1 million for a bit part in Lady Gaga's latest video. Her new single is called Alejandro .

A chihuahua dog in Miami Beach, Florida named Conchita has just inherited millions of dollars , assuming the court rule in the dogs favor. The dog was owned by Miami socialite Gail Posner, the daughter of financier Victor Posner. The estate is challenged by Gail Posner's son. In the mean time, Conchita gets to wear a Cartier diamond necklace, and live in a Sunset Island mansion.

Dorotheum, one of the oldest auction houses in the world, will be auctioning off the largest coin in the world, a 2007 Canadian $ 1,000.000 Maple Leaf made with extremely pure 999.99/1000 gold. The face value is $1 million but it is worth a lot more, at the gold content weight 100 kilograms or 220.5 pounds. On the obverse is Queen Elisabeth II and on the reverse are three Maple Leafs. The coin, which measures almost 21 inches across, will be sold in Vienna on June 25, 2010. The opening bid will be the conversion price of gold.

An eBay auction of a Power Lunch for Eight People with Warren Buffett ended yesterday, with 77 bids. The high bidder paid $2,626,311 for lunch with this famous investor, trader, and billionaire. The bidding started off slow, with an initial opening bid or $25,000, but really picked up steam on the last day of the auction, with 28 bids coming in starting at $1,000,000. All proceeds of the auction go to the Glide Foundation in San Francisco, California. The Foundation supports people who are suffering from homelessness and poverty.

Billionaire Dan L. Duncan, who made his billions in natural gas plants and pipelines, is the first billionaire to leave all his assets to his heirs free of estate taxes . This year, 2010, Congress allowed the tax to lapse for one year and Duncan, who died in late March of this year, allowed his children and grandchildren to avoid having his estate be subject to any estate tax. His net worth was valuated by Forbes at $9 billion.

If you have ever wanted to have lunch with one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, now is your chance. You can bid on an auction of a lunch with Warren Buffett, which is currently being offered on eBay this week. The high bid at this time is at the minimum $25,000. The auction ends June 11. All proceeds go to the Glide Foundation in San Francisco, California.

The auction house Christies had a sale of Sir Winston Churchill memorabilia and raised around $870,000. One of the prized objects in the sale was an unsmoked Cuban cigar , which was hammered for about $3,000.

Surf's up! Now that June is here, you need to do some shopping for that special female in your life. Probably one of the best deals is a diamond bikini, made with more than 150 carats of D Flawless diamonds set in platinum. The bikini was created by Susan Rosen and Steinmetz Diamonds, and was modeled by supermodel Molly Sims. The outfit is priced at a reasonable $30 million.

For the cigar connoisseur, this might be the ultimate gift. A hand-rolled luxury cigar wrapped with 24 karat gold. This hand-rolled Dominican cigar is called the Golden Fire . The cigars are offered by DeLafée for $94.50 each.

The 1964 Aston Martin DB5 automobile, which was made famous by the James Bond movies, will be auctioned off in October by RM Auctions. The sale will take place in London and the car is estimated to sell for around $5 million . Sean Connery drove the car in "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball." The car has all the bells and whistles including the oil spray and revolving license plates, but the machine guns are fake. The current owner who is selling the car is radio broadcaster Jerry Lee.

For the billionaire who has everything! How about buying a brothel located in Harris County, Texas. The county took it over after the police closed it up a couple years ago. Starting bid is $196,779 . The location, called the Velvet Touch, had advertised "rubdowns" from "models." This news was discovered by James Altucher's Daily Blog Watch .

Plum Island, located at the eastern end of Long Island, may be put up for sale by the General Services Administration. Currently, the island is used for an animal disease laboratory. The island is 840 acres and has a lighthouse and a beach.

Noted rapper and businessman decided to auction off his Audemars Piguet watch , generating $217,800, the highest for any of the 27 watches that were auctioned off. The auction raised money for AIDS and breast cancer research. Early picture courtesy of Wikipedia

For women who like luxury, you should check out the three day GLAM in the City event, located in Glasgow, Scotland on June 18 through 20, 2010. You will have a change to get a GLAM cupcake, adorned with over 25 cts of diamonds, and considered to be the most expensive cupcake in the world , valued at $147,000. It was created by ROX, a Scotland based diamond and jewelry chain, and Cupcake Glasgow.

If you were planning to buy an Apple iPad, you might want to consider the solid Gold ipad SUPREME Edition, which is plated with 2100 grams of 22 ct gold. In adition, the Apple logo is made with 53 flawless diamonds. It was designed and crafted by Katherine Hughes for stuarthughes.com. This unique gadget would make a great gift for your favorite friend or relative.

You can buy your own flying car, the Terrafugia Transition. It is available for only $194,000, with a $10,000 down payment. You can pick up the car/plane in 2011. It can be ordered online at terrafugia.com.

Billionaire George Soros has purchased a large stake in Alibaba.com, becoming one of the biggest shareholders in the company. After the announcement on Friday, the shares increased by 5.3%. Alibaba.com is the world's largest online business-to-business trading platform.

Mikhail Prokhorov, who made his billions in Russian banking and precious metals companies, has completed the purchase of the New Jersey Jets basketball team after approval from the NBA's owners. He is also buying 45 percent of an 18,000 seat arena project in Brooklyn .

If you happen to be in Dubai, you might want to stop in at the Emirates Palace and check out the gold plated vending machine that lets you buy gold in many forms. You can buy gold coins and gold bars.

A blackmailer in France threatened to poison the vineyards of Romanée-Conti, producer's of the world's most expensive wine. Their ine sells for over $19,000 a bottle . The extortionist demanded about 850,000 euros, He was eventually caught by the police.

Warren Buffett is a supporter of Goldman Sachs , and believes that extreme leverage is dangerous for individual investors.. According to Texas oilman, and now windmill man, T. Boone Pickens, the recent oil spill is not a big deal

The Spelling home, formally owned by Bing Crosby, is on sale for $150 million. It is located in Holmby Hills, California, on 4.7 acres. It has seven bedrooms, 27 bathrooms, and a movie theater, with hidden screen and projector.

A 1936 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic automobile was sold by the estate of Dr. Peter D. Williamson. The sale was made in a private transaction with the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, reportedly for between $30 and $40 million, by far the most ever paid for an automobile. In May 2009, a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossawas sold at auction in Italy for $12.2 million, the highest auction price for a car.

Elena Baturina has become Russia's first and only woman billionaire , making her money in real estate and construction. She is also the wife of Yury Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow. The news about her wealth was revealed as she had to make a financial disclosure as the mayor's wife.

The Christie's auction house in New York City just auctioned a Picasso painting, called Nude, Green Leaves and Bust , for $106 million, a record price for a painting sold at auction. The painting, which was created in 1932, was owned by Los Angeles collectors since the 1950's. The painting was estimated to sell for $70 million to $90 million.

Piaget has created the Emperador Temple watch which is covered in over 1200 diamonds, the watch itself along with the strap. It has two hatches that open up, revealing a small watch face and a large watch face with a one second dial. The watch sells for a very affordable price of $3.5 Million .

On April 30, in Monaco, Bonhams will be auctioning off a rusty car that has been sitting in a barn for many years. It happens to be an Aston Martin DB5 two door coupe, one of only 983 manufactured, and it is expected to sell for around $307,000 . This 145 MPH car was made popular by the James Bond movies.

Here is something different for the computer geek, a USB flash drive that changes color based on the content . It is one of the most expensive flash drives out there, but it gives you a lot of information without having to plug it in to your computer. It will show how much space you have left, plus the blue color represents documents, pink represents images, and green means movies. So you could buy three of these, one for each type of file, and just by looking at them, you would know what's on it from the color.

I'm sure Starbucks and Peet's aficionados will be looking forward to tasting this coffee. Kopi luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, and it has a very unusual ingredient, the defecated droppings of a civet, which is a small animal that looks like a cross between a racoon and a cat. This chocolate-tasting coffee sells for as much as $600 a pound.

Having trouble finding good help? Why not buy your own robot, a female very lifelike robot . The price is only $110,000. It, I mean she, was developed by researchers at Osaka University and robot builders Kokoro Co. Ltd.

Wilbur Ross, who became a billionaire investing in steel and oil businesses, has purchased a 21% interest in Virgin Money, created by another billionaire, Richard Branson. Virgin Money was set up to buy the 318 branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland from the British government. He may even invest additional fund, possibly ten times his original investment.

A customer at SunTrust Bank was pleasantly surprised to find the lucky number eight appear in his bank account. Somehow $88,888,888,888.88 inadvertently showed up in his account, but unfortunately, the bank eventually discovered the error and reversed it the next day. Sorry, no interest on the funds, not even for a day.

Here's another perfect gift for your wife or girlfriend, the most expensive bustier . Made by Orra, India’s largest diamond jewelry chain, it is covered with Belgian diamonds. The price is only $1.35 million. The model is Anjali Lavanya.

Billionaire Bill Koch has just filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York accusing auction house Christie’s, accusing them of " counterfeit wine sales .” A Christie’s spokesperson denies the claim. Apparently, he bought four bottles of wine which were supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson for over $300,000 , and he claims they are fakes.

If the wealthy get over-extended, then there are firms such as the International Recovery Group which will repossess jets, yachts, helicopters, boats, racehorses, planes, and recreational vehicles. The repo men for the rich and famous are doing a booming business these days.

It's not just the working class and the middle class that are hurting with their real estate, even the rich and famous have been hit. Britney Spear s had had her house on the market at $7.9 million since 2008, and has finally dropped the price to $5.5 million.

If you have ever thought about buying your own town, why not buy one of historical significance. The town is called Garryowen, in Montana, covering seven acres at the location where the original shots were fired at the Battle of the Little Big Horn . It is where Sitting Bull's camp was located. The town includes the Custer Battlefield Museum, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the Battle, a United States Post Office, and the massive Custer Family Manuscript Archive. The price is just $6,900,000.

It look like the famous billionaire, Warren Buffett, is giving his relative Jimmy Buffett a run for his money. Warren Buffett is appearing in his first rock music video, actually a commercial for Geico. See if you can recognize him. He's not the one in the geico costume, he's got long hair and a bandana.

Bid on the Cit y will hold auctions on March 26 and April 9 for various Hamptons rentals . However, these auctions operate in reverse with the price dropping. The rents cover the time frame of Memorial Day to Labor Day. The way the auction works is that the auction will start at a set price then drop by $500 every 15 seconds, until someone bids. The first bidder wins the auction.

On March 26 and 27, Profiles in History will be auctioning off over 10,000 original vintage glamour photographs, including George Hurrell’s famous photo of Jean Harlow on a white bearskin rug . This picture originally appeared in Vanity Fair magazine, and is expected to sell for over $20,000.

In order to raise additional funds, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has decided to sell off a lot of the items used in the Vancouver Winter Olympics as collectible memorabilia. Many of the items are being sold for through the eBay.ca website, the Canadian site for eBay auctions. The souvenirs include everything from hockey pucks which sold for $6,100 to downhill ski gates to uniforms to General Motors automobiles, and even Olympic Village condos.

The Forbes list of billionaires has just been released. At the top of the list is the Mexican financier, Carlos Slim Helu with a net worth of $53.5 billion, who slightly edged out Bill Gates with a net worth of $53 billion, and ahead of Warren Buffett at $47 billion. Fourth place is Mukesh Ambani at $29 billion, and fifth was Lakshmi Mittal, with a net worth of $28.7 billion.

At the Ten Thousand Waves spa in New Mexico, you can have something very special called the Japanese Nightingale Facial. The facial is made from nightingale bird droppings . You can have the basic facial for $115 for the deluxe facial for $159. Even Victoria Beckham has taken advantage of having this done to her face.

Years ago, people thought it was unusual to purchase a bottle of water, such as Evian or Perrier. They thought 'Why buy something you can get right out of the tap?' Now, bottled water is very common, but not the following bottle of water. This bottle of Acqua di Cristallo sells for $3.3 million. You are actually buying the bottle, not the water, although I'm sure the water tastes good. The bottle is made with gold, silver, platinum, and 6,000 diamonds.

At the auction site TradeMe, a woman based in Christchurch, New Zealand posted two glass vials, each containing a ghost from her house . The auction had very spirited bidding with the event topping out at 5000 New Zealand dollars (approximately $3500 in US dollars).

A Bentley from the 1950's sold for $1.5 million at an auction in Oxford, England, recently. The auction was held by auction house Bonhams. It was the only car in the group that sold for over 100,000 pounds.

The second richest man in Russia, Mikhail Prokhorov, will be losing the $54 million that he put up as a deposit on the Villa La Leopolda in Villefrance-sur-Mer, France, which he agreed to purchase for $540 million . He wanted to back out of the deal, but a court ruled that he would lose his deposit.

Actually it was $82,550 for a lamb with a black face. This amounted to $650 per pound . This was an all time fair auction record for a lamb.

Porsche just revealed its 918 Spyder Concept, a 2-seat automobile . with hybrid and electric drive technology. This luxury green car can reach 198 miles per hour, and can go from zero to over 60mph in less than 3.2 seconds. All this power and it gets 78 miles per gallon .

The winning bidder at an auction of a lunch with Warren Buffett finally collected the prize. The highest bidder was Salida Capital, a Canadian hedge fund. Proceeds from the sale went towards the San Francisco Glide Foundation, which benefits the homeless. No information was released about what was discussed.

First we wrote about how the first Detective Comic to feature Batman had been bid up to $ 350,000 . Then we wrote about how an Action Comic sold for a record breaking $1,000,000 . Now we can report another record breaking event. The Heritage Auction Galleries auction is over, and the Detective Comics #27 comic featuring Batman was hammered at an incredible $1,075,500 .

If you need a new pair of men's dress shoes, you should check out what Louis Vuitton is offering, the handmade Manhattan Richelieu wing-tips made with waxed genuine alligator skin. The shoes even include a metal LV monogram cube embedded in the leather heel. Price for this fine pair of shoes is only $10,000 .