Here, a rundown of Neiman’s most outrageous Christmas Book gifts.
1959 Black Angus steer, delivered live, $1,925, or cut into steaks with a silver serving cart, $2,230.
1963 White mink cowboy
chaps, $1,875.
1964 His and hers hot-air balloons,
$6,850 each.
1969 Baby elephant imported from Thailand, $5,000.
1970 Replica of Noah’s Ark, fully stocked with animal pairs, a French chef, Swedish masseur, Italian couturier and others, $588,247. (Full disclosure: Stanley Marcus later admitted this offering was a joke.)
1971 His and hers mummy cases, $6,000 a pair. (The cases were sold after a mummy was discovered inside one of them and donated to a museum.)
1979 His and hers 120-foot-long dirigibles (cruising speed: 25 miles per hour), $50,000 each.
1980 His and hers ostriches. Price $1,500
a pair.
1991 LTV Hummer, $50,000.
1992 Vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycles, $28,000 to $35,000 each.
2000 Luxury 188-foot submarine, $20 million. (Neiman’s got a call from the federal government last fall asking if anyone had purchased one, but none had sold.)
2001 Helicopter, $6.7 million.