A New Present from the Magi

Of the three precious gifts-gold, frankincense and myrrh-the Magi carried to Bethlehem, only gold has remained on elite Yuletide shopping lists. This year, however, all three are combined in a perfume for sale in such exclusive stores as Harrods in London and Asprey in New York City. Frankincense and myrrh are key ingredients of Amouage, a new fragrance created by French Perfumer Guy Robert.

At $525 for a 24-karat gold-plated flask containing one-third of an ounce, Amouage, which means "waves of emotion" in Arabic, may be the world's most expensive fragrance gift. Even so, the list of shoppers who simply must have it threatens to stretch well past Christmas. Joanne Rose of Asprey, the sole U.S. distributor, says the store has been besieged with orders from as far away as Beverly Hills.

Sayyid Sami Bin Hamad Hamood, a businessman in Oman whose family had long traded in frankincense and myrrh, asked Robert to create Amouage. The two substances are resins that slowly ooze out of several varieties of trees and shrubs growing in the deserts of Oman. By combining them, Sayyid Sami is reaping the third fabled gift: gold.