The Euromillions Lottery has rolled over once more, creating the possibility of a £167m jackpot win.
Whilst we don't particularly recommend buying lottery tickets (unless they are, say, signed by George Washington), this got us thinking. What would you spend the money on, if you matched five numbers with a couple of Lucky Stars and were a keen collector of all things?
Taking for granted a fair sized house and garden, the most obvious collectibles to stock in a room would a high quality fine wine and whisky collection in the cellar.
Perhaps that could be a case of Chateau Lafite 1986, Petrus 1982 and Romanee Conti 1990 alongside a few Macallans and Bowmores with decades of maturity. Oh, and a bottle of Smirnoff vodka. The one owned by Bernie Madoff when he was arrested.
 A Qianlong period vase - or an umbrella stand, if you like |
Other rooms would depend much more on personal taste. Even outside the house in the garage. Perhaps you could have an ex-celebrity car - Elvis's Mercedes ($129,700), for instance - and maybe a classic motorbike, such as an Indian Chief.
(Perhaps you could even keep a plane handy, such as the one remaining airworthy Hawker Demon. The neighbours won't complain - not whilst you've got that Gatling gun ($280,000) on the front lawn.)
There'd be a fair amount of art inside, of course; perhaps something relatively contemporary on the way in, such as a vibrant Miro. The hat stand carries bowler hats used by Charlie Chaplin ($139,250) and Oddjob ($104,000) in the movies, naturally enough - but should that vase really be used for holding umbrellas?
 Imposing... the fine set of ivory Japanese armour |
Continuing with the art, some Old Masters will naturally be on the walls in a dining hall. But not all decoration is in the form of paintings: there's a suit of ivory Japanese armour ($192,900) in the corner, as well as Imari vases dotted around.
Up on the walls you might like some swords - perhaps an Ottoman presentation piece decorated with diamonds and emeralds.
A fine dining room is all very well, but of course you'd need a place for entertainment and to let your hair down in. Down a corridor lined with classic movie and music posters is a room with some guitars owned by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton - with pieces like Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket to capture the mood.
 'Blackie' - Clapton's signature guitar throughout the 70s |
Alternatively, for a more chilled out time, there's the library, filled with first edition books. Perhaps a complete set of the works of Shakespeare or signed Ian Fleming and maybe even a Gutenberg Bible, or the remains of a famous person's Bible such as that of Robert Burns.
A library would be a good place to keep something a little sneakier - George IV's bookcase. The then future monarch carried out an affair and used a secret passageway to reach his lover's room without being observed. The entrance was hidden in the bookcase.
Moving upstairs (via some steps from the Eiffel tower at $152,600? maybe that's going too far), there are the bedrooms and bathroom.
The bedrooms have their own wardrobes and cabinets of course. One includes a set of suits worn by James Bond, the other a set of dresses worn by Audrey Hepburn.
Likewise one cabinet will contain a selection of watches, by Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet or Grieb & Benzinger - maybe one which was flown into space by Ron Evans on Apollo 17 ($131,000). The other would contain fine jewellery, including the panther bracelet ($7m) owned by Wallis Simpson.
Finally the bathroom; this would contain Marilyn Monroe's bathrobe ($120,000), obviously. Churchill's dentures would help remind you to brush properly. Then of course there'd be John Lennon's loo seat … hung on the wall of course. What were you thinking?
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