Recently, Kaboodle asked me to write a weekly post for the Fab Finds column of the Kaboodle Blog. I was, of course, ecstatic at the chance to work for one of my favorite shopping sites. So when Kaboodle approached me, I decided that I wanted to write an extra-special, over-the-top weekly column which I will call Ultraluxe. Ultraluxe, to me, is the craziest, gaudiest, most Jackie Onassis luxury goods I can find. My personal style is somewhat more subdued, modern, and spartan, but what I intend to give you is the most expensive, most ludicrously opulent items from my most favorite super-secret sources. So, without any further jabbering, on to the Ultraluxe.

I begin with a modest question: How rich would one have to be before one bought the Versailles Lighter by S.T. Dupont? A successful sucker would at least have to have $4,400 to acquire this little piece of yellow gold gaudiness inspired by the master of opulence himself, Louis XIV. I, personally, would need a net worth of one hundred million before I got talked into one of these lighters. Still, the lighter would be the perfect gift for that pesky dictator who needs a little bribe now and then.