Vintage View: History's most jaw-droppingly extravagant gifts

Kya deLongchamps looks at some of the most extravagant gifts in history.

Pleading for another hammer-drill for Christmas got me thinking about what I might gift or receive from my loved ones, if I was a demented tycoon relieved of all financial controls. Well, let me tell you, the stakes are high.

In 1534, Queen Anne Boleyn (1501-1536) gave a table fountain to King Henry VIII to celebrate New Year, a tradition more usual to the Tudors than gifts at Christmas.