WHAT THE SUPER-RICH WANT FROM SANTA
... right down to a £4,270 gravy boat!
DIAMOND and sapphire earrings, yachts, private jets and supercars. These are some of the Christmas gifts the super-rich buy.
And their bible for recommendations is the Financial Times’s glossy supplement How To Spend It.
The 144 pages of its Christmas special includes a £177,000 watch, pullovers costing £5,000 and £175 matchboxes made by the Queen’s nephew. How ironic such outrageous spending is championed by a newspaper beloved of the liberal elite whose doom-laden, anti-Brexit editorials warned the economy would go into freefall if we voted to leave the EU.
Here, MATTHEW BELL picks the best from the ultimate gift list for those with more money than sense... A festive staple for fat cats £100 YOU’D think the rich would leave stapling to secretaries. But should a banker urgently need to attach his lunch receipt to his expenses form, he could reach for his Chrome Folle 26 Moma, designed by Henning Andreasen in 1977.
You’d be batty to buy this beach set £190
IF YOU’RE heading down to a Caribbean beach this Christmas, don’t forget your Frescobol Carioca bat set with two wooden bats, two balls and a carry pouch. Somehow, we think JAMs (Just About Managing families) might give this a miss.
Speakers that shout: ‘I’m loaded’ £4,380 a pair
THE FT’s tech critic admits the Devialet Gold Phantom isn’t the best speaker system in the world but recommends his readers buy a pair ‘as a second sound system in a den or garden office’. Sorry — £4k for a shed sound system?
Case costs as much as your phone £500
PART of the point of an iPhone case is to protect your beloved mobile. But you’ll spend your time worrying that the flowers made from costume jewels on this intricate offering from fashion house Dolce and Gabbana will fall off.
Shoe horn this into a stocking £105
IF YOU really need help to slip your silk-stockinged feet into your Gucci loafers, the FT suggests you splurge £105 on a Cedes Milano shoe horn. It is handmade, naturally from the bone of a zebu, a special kind of South Asian cow, and has a leather-grained handle.
A treat for head cases . . . £1,400
DO YOU want your scooter nicked? Why not buy this bespoke leather helmet case by Tinct? It’s a very smart bag for protecting your crash helmet, which most normal people pop under the seat of their bike. Buy this and you’d really need your head examined.
For mad hatters only, a sparkly, fox fur beanie £677
PERFECTLY named the Narcissus Pom Pom beanie because only someone really vain would buy a hat made of cashmere, decorated with Swarovski crystals and with a fox fur pom pom. Designed by Jennifer Behr, who’s ‘inspired by the talismanic power of a good headpiece’, it’s the price of a week in Majorca. I think I’d prefer the holiday.
Who’d shell out for this gravy boat? £4,270
MADE by Lotus Arts de Vivre, this vessel costs more than a week’s stay at The Ritz in London. It’s crafted from a Nautilus Shell and lined with Sterling Indian Silver. But would you really want your staff to serve you from such a pointless dining room ornament?
But can you tell what time it is? £177,000
WE KNOW that expensive watches are a symbol of timeless elegance. But a whimsical Cartier number decorated with a diamond panther, costing the same as a three-bedroom house currently on sale in Cowes on the Isle of Wight? It’s just one of several obscenely expensive timepieces promoted by the FT, including a Jaquet Droz for £118,200.
Chess? You’ll need a very big cheque, mate £4,180
THE Hermes Samarcande chess set is sculpted from the finest mahogany and rosewood, but the pieces still look like Seventies salt and pepper pots. One for movers and shakers only.
Light my fire for £7,200 a pair
BUILDING fires is, says the FT, more popular than ever among rich people who are sick of staring at their phones. Fireside accessories include sculpted fire dogs that hold up the grate by designer Mattia Bonetti, at £7,200. That’s one of the flaming things, above.
A load of bling in a ring £115,000
THERE is nothing subtle about this exploding blob of rubies and diamonds, which is probably why Graff calls it their ‘Bombé’ ring. What this piece of bling achieves is to cram as many rocks onto one finger as a woman could manage without it snapping off. It has almost 12 carats of rubies and 3.5 carats in diamonds.
Love me tender? A toy train £170,800
THE value of working model engines has rocketed, and the FT endorses large-scale models as charming additions to any well-curated interior. These are great big toys, more than 8ft long. One fetched £170,800 at auction in 2012, and it’s not unusual to pay six figures for one today.
Money to burn? Try a matchbox £175
WHAT better way to make your cash go up in flames than with an expensive match? The Great Fire Matchbox, designed by the Queen’s nephew David Linley, is inlaid with walnut, ebony, anigre (African hardwood) and red bolivar wood, just to protect your Vestas.
Put this on your watch list £950
THE Ivar F1 Marquetry watch box isn’t the most versatile of carriers as it’s long and shallow, and only suitable for leather strapped watches, not the metal bracelet sort. But the FT fancies this birchwood box, handmade in Italy and with a geometric design in lacquered marquetry veneer.
A chap’s woolly pully £5,020
NO CHAVVY reindeers here. This Ermenegildo Zegna Couture number strips all the fun out of a Christmas jumper and replaces it with just a very hefty price tag. Made of 100 per cent Italian cashmere, it is probably quite soft, and there are a few bits of embroidery, but judging by the look on the model in the FT’s fashion shoot, you may not warm to it.