1:30 PM -- From The Philter's Just in Time for Christmas file, a helpful shopping hint for anyone who wants to get their Miami Vice Edition Escalade tricked out with some diamond studded twenty-fours that don't stop:

DATELINE: SILVER SPRING, Md. Nov. 14
Online auction marketplace Bid4Assets today announced that it was awarded a new contract by the U.S. Marshals Service to auction property forfeited to the federal government (contract #DJMS-06-AFO-F-0037). Under the terms of the contract, Bid4Assets will provide online auction services to the USMS for the sale of real estate (residential, commercial and unimproved), personal property (e.g., cars, motorcycles, boats, jewelry and artwork) and financial instruments (e.g., investor funds). The one-year contract took effect on October 1, 2006 and includes the option to extend for up to five years via one-year extensions. The estimated total value of the contract (base year plus options) is $4.75 million.

Bid4Assets has provided the USMS with online auction services since 1999. The company has executed the successful sale of hundreds of assets including numerous multi-million dollar estates, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, a 58-foot yacht and a 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle baseball card. Current listings include a 409 acre property in London, Ky.; a Myrtle, S.C. Residential Condominium Unit and a single family home in Moncks Corner, S.C.

The aforementioned 409-acre Kentucky spread, by the way, just sold for less than $300K. Can you imagine how many moonshine stills and meth labs you'll find on 400 acres in the middle of Kentucky?

— Phil Harvey, Deal Editor, Light Reading