Platinum, Diamonds, and Ermine for Christmas

Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog, 1961

At the start of the 1960s Neiman-Marcus was just discovering the allure (and publicity value) of fantasy gifts, the kind that made their debut two years before with the offering of a live Angus steer. The outrageously unusual (often outrageously expensive) and the unique “His & Hers” gift ideas have kept the Texas-based department store change in the news every holiday season for nearly half a century

They hadn't quite perfected this formula in 1961. This catalog didn't have His and Hers gifts or a Cessna airplane like the previous year's. But it did have luxury in abundance – an offer to build a floor-to-ceiling wine rack for the dining room, and extravagant gifts on these pages for “her”. The earclips – $9,500. The necklace – $32,000. The ermine bathrobe – $7000. (and they sold one to a customer in Spain!)

Neiman's: always in good taste, right down to the spectacular Ronald Searle front-and-back cover painting (do click to zoom in), which really deserves to be better known.