Money to burn ? If so, this particular luxury product may be of interest. Exhibited at the Baccarat’s exhibition in Tokyo’s Mitsukoshi department store, this masterpiece is up for sale. Price – 63 million yen ($612,000).Measuring 66cm tall and weighing 57kg, this elephant shaped liquor tantalus is a striking creation by French luxury crystal maker Baccarat.
For those of you not familiar with the word tantalus, the origin is from the English word “tantalize”. The idea being that when a person tantalizes someone else, that person is making them like Tantalus: there is something desirable that is always just out of that person’s reach. A more detained explanation of Tantalus’s exploits in Greek mythology is here.
A Tantalus therefore, is the term for a type of drinks decanter stand in which the bottle stoppers are firmly clamped down by a locked metal bar, as a means of preventing servants from stealing the master’s liquor. The decanters themselves, however, remain clearly visible.
Tantalizing even 
Apparently, the original piece of crystal encrusted elephant bathed in pure gold carrying four decanters on its back, was especially designed and developed for the Paris exposition in 1920, and this is a copy.
