Harry Potter

Inside The Great Frog, Jeweler to Harry Potter and Aerosmith

Filed under: Jewelry, Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Great Frog has been making jewelry in London's ever-chic Carnaby area since 1972. They are probably best known for their immaculately gothic, daring bespoke pieces for the fashion and music industry -- as well as creating all the jewelry for the Harry Potter movies. I was lucky enough to visit their legendary Ganton Street location and get a peek into the magic lair where the sometimes sweet, sometimes scary pieces are created (aka the basement).

The Great Frog's showroom is designed to look like a French funeral parlor, a darkly appropriate choice for the originators of The Skull Ring. The workshop, however, is appropriately non-designed, with graffiti on the walls and ceiling, an enormous music closet, and cluttered work desks which look like they belong in the props trailer for the Puppet Master series. We're talking creepy dolls and skulls in beer cases.

It's fun to imagine the legends that have browsed in the shop and dictated their jewelry desires to talented, biker-chic staff. Get a look at the charmingly grungy room where the magic happens below, and check out more of their client list, including Harry Potter, Aerosmith, Metallica and Iron Maiden, (and do a little online shopping) here.

Gallery: Peek Inside The Great Frog

This trip was paid for by VisitBritain, but the ideas and opinions expressed in the article above are 100% my own.

Tags: aerosmith, goth, gothic, harry potter, Iron Maiden, IronMaiden, jewelry, london, Metallica, the great frog

Emma Watson's Spring 2010 Burberry Campaign (and Missing Limb)

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Handbags

Harry Potter star Emma Watson is growing up, and she's doing it in style by aligning herself with the iconic fashion house Burberry. She started last fall and this year for the spring campaign she's as pretty and grown-up looking as ever. She did the shoot with her brother Alex Watson (above) as well as George Craig, Max Hurd, and Matt Gilmour.

The images are pretty much what you'd expect, crisp and classic and showcasing the season's trendy trench coats and iconic checked handbags, but one photo has been getting a lot of news due to a missing limb. In the picture above Emma's right leg seems to go mysteriously missing somewhere near the knee. Photoshopping error or just a weird angle? Who knows, I think it's an odd pose altogether. See more shots in the gallery below.

Gallery: Emma Watson for Burberry's Spring Collection

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Tags: burberry, emma watson, EmmaWatson, harry potter, HarryPotter, spring 2010, Spring2010

Harry Potter Book Sells For Over $19,000

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Books

The Harry Potter economy is alive and well. A softcover copy of the first Harry Potter book sold for a record $19,120 in a rare books auction through Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas Texas on Friday. The 1997 first edition of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone with the original publisher's illustrated softcover wrappers also featured an illustrated card signed by the author, J. K. Rowling. There were only 200 copies in the first printing and the winning bid this time was nearly double the previous record for this book set last October ($10,750). The winning bidder is from Dubai and is said to be a comic book collector whose wife is a Harry Potter fan.

Gallery: Documents At Auction

Tags: auction, book, harry potter, HarryPotter, rare books, RareBooks

$15,000 For A Harry Potter Paperback?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Books

You might want to check your bookshelves for old Harry Potter books. Heritage Auctions has an auction of a a softcover copy of the first Harry Potter book that has already hit $15,000 and the auction isn't over until March 6. The 1997 first edition of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone with the original publisher's illustrated softcover wrapper and an illustrated card signed by the author, J. K. Rowling is one of 200 such copies issued by the London publisher, Bloomsbury. The previous auction record for one of these books was $10,750 according to James Gannon, Director of Rare Books at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas. The seller, a book collector in England is quoted in a press release as saying: "It takes a lot to shock me, but this is probably as shocked as I have ever been regarding auction bidding. Has the world gone mad? We are in the deepest recession for 80 years and a Harry Potter children's paperback book is setting a record price."

Gallery: Documents At Auction

Source

Tags: auction, books, harry potter, HarryPotter

L'Or�al Heiress is the World's Richest Woman

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Liliane Bettencourt (right), daughter of the man who founded cosmetics giant L'Oréal, tops Forbes' just-released list of the richest women in Europe with a fortune of $22.9 billion. That astounding figure also makes her the world's richest woman, the magazine notes. Bettencourt, whose father's reputation has occasionally come under fire, uses her money to fund a charitable foundation which supports medical research, cultural projects and humanitarian relief.

At the No. 2 spot on the Euro list is Swedish citizen Birgit Rausing, a packaging heiress with an estimated fortune of $14 billion, while No. 3 is BMW and pharmaceuticals heiress Susanne Klatten, with $13.2 billion. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling meanwhile is in last place at No. 22, barely making the list with a measly $1 billion. It's worth noting that Germany has the most female billionaires of any European nation, with nine of them living within its borders. You can see a gallery of the loaded ladies here.

Tags: Billionaires, BMW, Forbes, Germany, Harry Potter, HarryPotter, Heiress, j.k. rowling, J.k.Rowling, Liliane Bettencourt, LilianeBettencourt, LOreal, Worlds Richest woman, WorldsRichestWoman

Harry Potter's Shoes Help De-Feet Lung Cancer

by Laura Malesich (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Charity

On September 12th you'll have your chance to bid on celebrity shoes and help stamp out lung cancer through the Roy Castle Centre's event, De-Feet Lung Cancer Campaign. Fancy a pair from Dame Judi Dench or feel like walking a mile in Harry Potter's shoes? Even Spice Girl Melanie C will have shoes on the auction block. Unfortunately it seems you can't view the shoes before the 12th but when the site goes live get on and put your bid in for a great cause across the pond.

[via Ecorazzi]

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Tags: daniel radcliffe, DanielRadcliffe, de feet campaign, de feet lung cancer, DeFeetCampaign, DeFeetLungCancer, harry potter, HarryPotter, Roy Castle Centre, RoyCastleCentre

The JK Rowling Suite At The Balmoral Hotel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The hotel suite where JK Rowling finished the Harry Potter series has become a monument of sorts. Last year, Rowling checked into room 552 of the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now this suite has been named the JK Rowling Suite and it will be available to guests for £965 per night. The room contains a marble bust of the Greek God Hermes that Rowling signed after she finished the final book. The 180-square-foot suite also includes the desk and bed she used during her stay. A brass plaque is now on the front door and the door knocker has been replaced by a brass owl like those in the books.

[via The Telegraph]

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Tags: balmoral, harry potter, hotel, jk rowling, JkRowling, suite

Rent Harry Potter's Apartment

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

A few days ago I mentioned the real estate dealings of Frankie Muniz. Another young star getting his start in the real estate business is Daniel Radcliffe. The Harry Potter star has bought a Manhattan apartment for just under $4.3 million in the 40 Mercer building in SoHo. The property is now listed for rent at $20,000 a month through Halstead. The 1,843 sq ft fifth-floor apartment has two bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and floor to ceiling windows. Amenities in the building include a swimming pool, steam room and concierge services. The purchase was made by Gilmore Jacobs Ltd., the company set up by Radcliffe's parents when he was just 11. The Sun reports that the company is now worth more around $40 million. Now that he is 18, Radcliffe has control of his own funds but hasn't been seen living too much of an extravagant lifestyle yet.

Gallery: Daniel Radcliffe NY Apt

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Tags: 40 mercer, apartment, daniel radcliffe, expire-images:2008-12-17, harry potter, HarryPotter, soho

J.K. Rowling's Book of Fairy Tales Finished: But Only Told to the Rich

by Sarah Gilbert (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity

We have all been waiting eagerly to see what projects J.K. Rowling will embark upon in the post-Harry Potter days. News that she has not only chosen a project, but completed it -- a volume of fairy tales entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard -- is thrilling indeed. Except when you read further. Only seven copies will be ~~printed~~ handwritten. The seventh one (the other six were gifts) will be sold at auction, with a starting price of $62,000. Given that a first-edition Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone sold for $40,000, it seems that this volume will sell for far more.

While the proceeds are headed to charity (surely a laudable goal), something in this news makes me queasy. When J.K. Rowling burst to the scene with her first Harry Potter books, much was made of her struggling, lower-class background: the welfare mom made good. And many pundits have lauded her tales for making reading exciting again for children everywhere. She made literature relevant to even those who were, like she was once, just squeaking by.

So the concept of exclusive literature leaves me cold. If you're interested in the etymology, however, it's more than appropriate: a bard was a poet employed by the wealthy to tell tales of their great deeds. I always thought of J.K. Rowling as something far more free-spirited; but it this bard's tales will only be told to a few.

Update: A commenter pointed out that I was incorrect that these would be printed -- the books are handwritten. However, the commenter says these copies will be available to the public; that is not true according to this source.

Tags: beedle, fairy tales, FairyTales, first edition, FirstEdition, harry potter, HarryPotter, j.k. rowling, J.k.Rowling, jkrowling, limited edition, LimitedEdition, rowling, tales-of-beedle-the-bard, talesofbeedlethebard

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