Mattel and the the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) are auctioning off Barbie dolls wearing little black dresses that have been designed by top fashion designers. The designers include Issac Mizrahi, Betsey Johnson, Rachel Roy, Justin Giunta, Lorraine Schwartz, Alex Bittar, Monica Botkier, Deborah Lloyd of Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Albertus Swanepoei, Philip Crangi and Devi Kroell. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the CFDA Foundation, Inc., a separate, not-for-profit company which was organized to raise funds for charitable initiatives and campaigns on behalf of the American fashion industry's designers.
The doll with the highest bid so far is the Lorraine Schwartz Barbie (pictured below), which has a high bid of $4,100. The Lorraine Schwartz Barbie contains real diamonds valued at $25,000. You can find all the designer Barbies here. The auction runs until February 7th.
The U.S. Postal Service has issued a stamp featuring an illustration of a snowboarder to commemorate the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The stamp goes on sale today in Park City, UT, and in Post Offices across the United States. The XXI Olympic Winter Games will be held Feb. 12-28, 2010, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
The U.S. Post Office says stamps featuring Olympic themes have been popular since the first modern Olympiad in 1896, when Greece issued 12 Olympic-themed commemorative stamps. Beginning in 1932, when the Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, CA, numerous U.S. stamps have honored the Games.
CNN reports that what could be John F. Kennedy's final autograph sold for $39,000 at an auction. JFK signed the front page of the Dallas Morning News for a Dallas woman on the morning of the day he was assassinated.
Kennedy reportedly signed the front page of the Dallas Morning News, which contained a photo of him and the first lady and a preview of their arrival that day in Dallas.
A Dallas woman handed the president the newspaper and he signed it for her, according to Heritage Auctions, the company that sold the item. The date of his assassination, which came about two hours later, was on the front page of that paper near his signature.
"It's chillingly historic because it documents the day, documents the location and it's certainly one of the last signatures of John Kennedy," Doug Norwine, a director at Heritage Auctions told CNN affiliate KDAF.
CNN says the person who bought the autograph immediately insured it for millions.
The U.S. Postal Service announced a new stamp to honor 100 years of the U.S. scouting movement. The Celebrate Scouting stamp will be sold in the summer of 2010, which coincides with the Boy Scouts of America's 100th anniversary.
The new stamp design was unveiled Thursday during an event at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. The design, created by illustrator Craig Frazier of Mill Valley, CA, depicts the spirit and outdoor adventure of scouting through a backpacking scout and a large silhouette of a scout surveying the landscape.
"I'm very proud to represent the United States Postal Service as we unveil the artwork for the scouting commemorative stamp to be released in 2010 and to recognize what scouting has done for boys and girls alike for more than 100 years," said USPS Sustainability Vice President, Samuel M. Pulcrano. "I learned a great many things from scouting when I was a boy, and many of those lessons came from my father who served as my assistant scoutmaster. The experience made such an impression on me that I now serve as assistant scoutmaster for my sons' troop."
A Chicago auction house is putting a clump of what it claims is Elvis Presley's hair up for auction. The auction listing for the hair from Leslie Hindman Auctioneers can be found here. John Reznikoff, an expert in celebrity hair authentication, said, "the hair appears to match the hair in my collection [from same U.S. Army haircut] in coarseness and color . . . this is more than likely a genuine lock of Elvis' hair short of a DNA test (often inconclusive) proving otherwise."
The value of the hair is said to be between $8,000 and $12,000. Celebrity hair has been used to make diamonds in the past. You can see a diamond created from Beethoven's hair here.
The Elvis hair clump with be auctioned with other Elvis memorabilia on Sunday, October 18th.
The United States Mint announced that it will honor 56 national sites through the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The first quarters will launch in 2010. They will include quarters honoring the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Yosemite National Park in California, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon. Five new coins will be launched each year, through 2021.
A list of all 56 sites that are going to be honored in the program can be found here. The quarters will be issued sequentially each year, in the order in which the featured site was first established as a national park or site.
"These new quarters will honor some of our most revered, treasured and beautiful national sites – majestic and historic places located throughout the United States and its territories that truly make us 'America the Beautiful,'" said United States Mint Director Ed Moy. "The designs will help reinvigorate interest in our national parks, forests, fish and wildlife refuges, and other national sites, as well as educate the public about their importance to us and our history."
Dark Horse Comics and Toy2R have partnered for the creation of a line of collectible Domo Qee toys. The toys are based on the Domo-kun creature, which is popular in Japan. More details about the collectible toys can be found here on darkhorse.com. There also a few photos here from the Toy Fair. An entire case of them can be purchased here on Amazon.com for $137.49. A single mystery box containing one Domo can also purchased for $8.99 on here.
The Upper Deck Company will soon be releasing illustrated "Icons" insert cards honoring Michael Jackson's 1993 Super Bowl XXVII halftime performance.
On Sunday, January 31, 1993, the sporting world tuned in to watch Dallas battle Buffalo for football's biggest title game. Adding to the excitement of the annual event, the halftime show stirred up the kind of buzz that only one performer could ever generate: Michael Jackson took center stage and with a set that featured some of his most memorable hits and trademark dance moves, he rocked the house of 98,374. Dallas won the game, 52-17, and Jackson won over a new generation of fans with what many consider the most spectacular halftime show in history.
"Michael Jackson was a unique entertainer whose performances routinely exceeded expectations as he continually tested the boundaries with his music and dance," said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck's director of Sports Brands. "After witnessing the outpouring of love at his memorial, we knew the public would appreciate this commemorative collection to celebrate his larger-than-life persona. Both sports and music fans alike will no doubt reminisce about the memorable halftime performance."
The cards will be available in the August 4th on-sale launch of Upper Deck's 2009 UDx Baseball series. The cards are a good idea but the characatures of Michael Jackson are a little on the creepy side. The bottom card is the better of the two cards pictured.
Fisher Space Pen Co. has made 1,000 limited edition AG7-40LE Space Pens to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The pen is designed as a replica of the anti-gravity model pen that was invented by company founder, Paul C. Fisher, in 1966 and flew aboard the Apollo missions.
The 40th anniversary pen features a piece of "Kapton" foil, used as protective thermal insulation on the Apollo 11 Command module, Columbia, which carried the astronauts to the moon and back. The artifact floats in a water-clear acrylic dome sealed into the pen's cap.
The pen is finished with black titanium nitride. The engravings are inlayed with 24-karat gold include the pen's sequential serial number, the names of the Apollo 11 crew and the image of an astronaut planting the American flag into the lunar surface.
The Fisher AG7 Space Pen and display case retails for $800. You can find more details at spacepen.com.
NASA released a newly restored video of the July 20, 1969, live television broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk today. You can watch it here.
Theriault's, a specialty auction house for antique childhood items, set a record auction for a 1914 French art doll by sculptor Albert Marque. The doll sol for $263,000.00 beating the previous record for a similar model sold in 2003 for $215,000.00. The doll by Albert Marque, dressed in its period clothing to honor the Ballets Russes of Paris, was first introduced to international acclaim in 1909.
Theriault's President, Stuart Holbrook, said, "While the perception may be that antiques would be subject to a stronger pricing scrutiny in uncertain economic times, these times, in fact, actually have an opposite effect of inspiring people to appreciate quality even more."
The annual National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention was held in Washington D.C. this year. This year was special because Barbie's 50th anniversary was celebrated. The convention included four days of Barbie-inspired events including new doll unveilings, Barbie doll designer signings, a fashion show, and a wall-to-wall display of Barbie dolls and specialty items. Here's a new report on the convention. Take a look:
The 2010 National Barbie Doll Collectors Convention will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Renaissance Hotel from July 21, 2010, through July 24, 2010.
E Onlinereports that Al Sharpton wants a Michael Jackson stamp and a national day of mourning. The U.S. Postal Service has a five-year post-death waiting period that Sharpton wants changed for Michael Jackson. Al Sharpton also wants the media to treat Michael Jackson with more respect.
In advance of Tuesday's memorial, Sharpton appeared Sunday as a guest speaker at Los Angeles' First AME church. He announced to parishioners that he would push for a commemorative Jackson stamp and a waiver of the U.S. Postal Service's five-year waiting period, post-death. (The only exception so far has been for late presidents.)
Sharpton also took issue with how certain press outlets have covered Jackson's death, saying there was a "disrespectful double standard" between the "Thriller" singer and other fallen icons such as Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley.
"I'm here because of the disgraceful and the despicable way [the media] is trying to destroy the legacy [of Jackson]," Sharpton said.
"You have had other entertainers that have had issues in their life; you [the media] did not degrade and denigrate them."
A Michael Jackson stamp is the only one of Al Sharpton's three wishes that is likely to come true. But it it may not happen right away like Al Sharpton wants. The British Virgin Islands once issued Michael Jackson stamps but they were canceled after a few hundred sets were printed.
Barney's New York is selling a leather and chrome version of the famous Rubik's Cube puzzle. The specialty Rubik's Cube can be purchased here from Barney's for $195.
A collector discovered a rare German stamp that shows Audrey Hepburn smoking. He has set a bid of nearly $42,000 for the stamp. It is only the fifth of the Audrey Hepburn stamps that have been found. All of the stamps except for some proof copies sent to Deutsche Post for approval were destroyed when Hepburn's son objected to the stamp.
In 2001, the government printed 14 million Audrey Hepburn stamps as part of a series featuring movie stars including Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo. The print run was destroyed after Hepburn's son, Sean Ferrer, objected to the cigarette holder dangling from the actress' mouth and refused to grant copyright.
But the Finance Ministry had already delivered advance copies of the Hepburn stamps to Deutsche Post for approval. Thirty of these proof copies escaped destruction when an unknown employee pocketed them and used them to send letters postmarked from Berlin
The rare stamp will be auctioned Tuesday at Berlin's Kempinski Hotel Bristol.
We've already mentioned several of the many new Star Trek toys and merchandise launching, including the Tribbles, Captain's chair, Star Trek toys, Star Trek Barbie dolls and fragrances. TV Guide discusses several more Star Trek products in this clip, including cool new Star Trek shirts and costumes based on the Star Trek outfits from the new movie. Amazon carries some of these new shirts and costumes. The Command Gold Uniform shirt, pictured on the right, can be found here on Amazon.com.
TV Guide also discusses phasers, communicators and a Star Trek lava lamp from Rabbit Tanaka. Take a look:
E Online 
A collector 
We've already mentioned several of the many new Star Trek toys and merchandise launching, including the 
