No Harry Potter collection is complete without the infamous sorting hat.

From leather maker SteelDragonCustoms, comes a stunning example of the hat in a supple leather for the luxurious Harry Potter fan.  $165 gets you this hat, and we think they sell to muggles and wizards alike.

Mercedes-Benz has just revealed their 2009 Christmas Collection and we’re loving every piece of it.

From real nappa leather gloves at $120 to a $35 SLR card wallet, this year’s collection lives up to its name.

Touring the French countryside — in car, walking tour, bicycles.  It’s all be done time and again.

But now with Columbus International, you can truly embrace the sexy asphalt curves around Provence on a Ducati.  You can

Tour France in style on a Ducati motorcycle.

choose from a Streetfighter, Monster S2R 1000, Hypermotard 1100, and Supersport 848.

Based in Cannes, the company also offers varieties on their programs including the Gourmet Tour which takes you to starred Michelin restaurants, High Octane which will have you driving an F1 on a racetrack, the Nature Tour which features natural parks, restaurants, and a private yacht, and the Offshore Ride tour which includes yachting and barracuda fishing.

If you aren’t up for the summer heat, get brisk with their winter tours which will have you riding in the morning and skiing in the afternoon!

Tours begin at $7500.

You might think the diamond-covered phone market had dried up in this economy but companies are still creating them.

Luxury designer and jeweler Knalihs Athem has come out with their latest diamond-covered phones: The Diamond Blackberry Bold (BlackBeauty) and The Diamond Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte (SnowWhite).

The custom phones can be decorated with pink, yellow, black, champagne and white diamonds and personalized with initials, lucky number, logos and anything else your heart and back account desire.

Each one is a custom creation although the Nokia clearly offers more room for stones to be inlaid. The Knalihs Athem Blackberry Bold looks almost modest by comparison with its small rim of diamonds.

Included in the June 11th Antiquorum watch auction is this Cartier Pasha watch model that was a gift from Rat Packer Frank Sinatra to other fellow Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr. The watch auction comes with news photos of Davis Jr. wearing the watch, while the rear of the watch still bears the engraving by Sinatra that reads, “Sammy, I Luv Ya, F.A.S.” A highly collectible item for Cartier fans and Rat Pack devotees alike.

The 18k gold Pasha watch is printed with its manufacture date of 1987, and bears a quartz movement, being the “in” thing of the time. Today this would lead you to believe that Sinatra might have been miserly with his gift, but this was not the case in the late 80’s when quartz movement based watches were much more popular than mechanical ones. The watch complications include the time, date with day, moon phase, and second time zone. The watch is very rare, and is estimated to go for a likely lower than actual auction price of $10,000 – $20,000.

If you are into speed and have the bank balance, this is a MUST purchase.

There’s been a show-stopping addition to RM Auctions‘ annual Leggenda e Passione event at the Ferrari factory in Maranello on May 17.  Regarded as one of the greatest sports-racing prototypes ever designed by Ferrari, the fiercely competitive 330 P4 is one of only three P4s ever built.

The example on offer has a distinguished racing pedigree including a win at the 1000-kilometre Trofeo Filippo Caracciolo in Monza and a third overall finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967. The car has been driven by such legendary names as Lorenzo Bandini and Willy Mairesse, while Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon famously took the car to second place in the British BOAC International 500, clinching the World Championship for Ferrari in the process. The May 17 event marks the first time the car has come to market in 38 years.

The modern version of Cuervo Y Sobrinos was started in the late 1990s, but is based on a Cuban watch brand that started, and was popular, in the pre-communism days of Cuba. In the late 1950s when Cuba’s government changed and Fidel Castro entered power, the original Cuervo Y Sobrinos watch brand was no longer. With the name, comes the taste and style of old Havana in all new Cuervo Y Sobrinos watches – each watch even comes in a humidor. Regardless, today Cuervo Y Sobrinos has no actual presence in Cuba – but that is about to change.

The new Cuba, while still communist, is opening up its doors again slowly. Havana might never be the play city for the rich and famous as it used to be, but signs of new life can be seen. In a few months, now Swiss watch maker Cuervo Y Sobrinos will open up a new boutique store in Havana. Finally the original Cuban watch brand returns to Cuba in the city that helped make it famous. Pictured above is a Cuervo Y Sobrinos Esplendidos Monopulsante watch. Prices for the brand range from about $2,500 and way, way up.

Christian Dior is known for posh more so than Gothic so the Dior Two-Textured Leather Satchel is a rare find indeed.

Sporting a unique shape, gothic-inspired buckles and an innovative texture, this purse is catering to a younger and more vibrant Dior audience.  At a room 20″ x 11″ x 4″, the purse is lovingly crafted from pebble leather.  This stylish bag is available at Saks Fifth Avenue and sells for $2,950.

Tired of the same old home wine bar?   Well, sulk no longer because this unique piece of furniture is an environmentally friendly wine tasting bar by Claire Danthois (working in partnership with Newton Vineyard). 

Measuring a generous six-feet, it is constructed of 100% reclaimed materials from sources such as wooden barrels used to age wines and 300-year-0ld oak barrels that were commandered from a merchant in the U.K.

There is a method to the madness as the 112 segments of oak symbolize Newton estate’s 112 distinct vineyard blocks.  Additionally, the glass shelving and steel cables which hold everything together has been from a construction site.

Only five of these bars have been built so you will be in rarefied company should you secure one.

If you have some vintage coins lying around, for heaven sakes grab them up and stash them somewhere secure!  You certainly don’t want them to wind up in a CoinStar machine or being cashed in at their face value to pay for groceries?

Think I jest?  You won’t after reading this tale of woe:

A woman in St. George, Utah went to the Zions Bank and handed over 14 gold $20 Double Eagle coins, saying she had groceries waiting at Wal-Mart, which would not accept the coins as payment.

The bank teller gave the woman $280 but the coins were worth far more. The oldest coin was minted in 1875 and the most recent was 1927. Now the search is on for the woman because she could be getting a lot more money. Double Eagles can fetch thousands of dollars or even up to $1 million depending on the date.

Even melted down the coins would fetch around $900 each at today’s gold prices. One can only assume that the lady had no idea what the coins were valued at the woman did not know the treasure that she surrendered but she’s in for a big payday now.