Pounds 55,000 gold-plated stocking filler

(First Edition)

FOR THE spoilt brat who has everything the perfect Christmas present may well be a Gameboy computer game from Harrods that is a snip at pounds 55,000.

Plated in gold and encrusted in diamonds, the toy, a standard Gameboy - pounds 49.99 plus pounds 25 for additional cartridges - has been commissioned for a Christmas stocking from one of Harrods' jewellers by a foreign client. The price is, however, thought to include batteries.

Not quite expensive enough? Then try a jelly bean dispenser. This one also happens to be a bit on the fancy side, sculpted from two kilos of 18 carat solid gold embedded with 82 carats of diamonds - all for a tooth-crunching pounds 220,000. That does include the gold sovereign needed to get the beans out.

'We're not 100 per cent sure someone will buy the jelly bean machine in time for Christmas, but we do believe it will sell,' said a spokeswoman. Harrods' Christmas list makes it only too obvious that for some people, hard times are what happen to others.

There is life-sized cuddly rhinoceros for pounds 2,500, while - obviously keeping this year's 'Dino-mania' in mind - the store is offering a 5ft 8in Tyrannosaurus Rex at pounds 1,500.

Then there are the hampers. The top one - The 'Supreme' - costs pounds 1,000. Last year the store sold 1,000 of them.

It may be reassuring to learn that the top-selling presents at Marks & Spencer are a man's denim overshirt at pounds 35 and a chiffon slip at pounds 15, while in the M&S gift range, 'musical character socks' are vying for top spot with the 'socks-in-a-frog-mug', both under pounds 5.

The Oxfam catalogue's top seller is its cream-coloured ikat - a cotton blanket to throw over upholstery - at pounds 26.95.