In a world built upon trade and commerce, we assign value to the items, locations, and
experiences in our lives via their monetary cost—which can be affected in any number
of ways.
Supply and demand, for instance, not to mention rarity.
In other words, the more valuable we consider something to be, the more we are willing to
pay for it.
And if you have a lot of money to throw around, there are plenty of ways to flex your wealth
for yourself or for others if you just know where to look.
To get you started, let’s check out nine of the most expensive things in the world.
We start with the world’s most expensive car: the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO; a classic car
enthusiast’s dream come true.
A gorgeous two-seater, with plenty of horsepower thanks to the 3.0-litre V12 engine rumbling
beneath the hood, it’s going to get you where you’re going with all the style and
poise that’s made Ferrari famous before you can say “speeding ticket”.
Though it makes a bold statement on the motorways, its origins lie in secrecy—behind closed
doors.
In 1961, after learning of the shiny new GT that Jaguar had introduced to the racing world,
Enzo Ferrari tasked one of his top engineers with Ferrari’s response.
The engineer, Giotto Bizzarrini, assembled a small group of dependable men and set to
work—drawing up schematics for what would become the 250 GTO after several months of
grueling work.
It was to be faster, lighter, and more powerful than the flagship Ferraris of the time—and
much to Enzo’s relief, early tests showed that Bizzarrini’s design passed with flying
colors.
One model, custom made for the famous British racecar driver Stirling Moss, recently sold
for just over $38 million US dollars at auction, setting a world record for the most money
ever to change hands in the sale of a car.
Though this particular car has seen a great deal of wear and tear—having been raced,
crashed, and repaired many times over its lifetime—this firecracker of a Ferrari saw
bidding begin at no less than $11 million dollars before reaching the historic record.
For true car enthusiasts, every car has a story—age and dents included.
Holding the keys to your own little portion of car racing history is certainly a priceless
experience.
When it comes to jewelry, diamonds are the gem of choice to set in rings, necklaces,
and earrings.
Of the diamond family, the type best known by the public is the relatively common white
diamond.
But diamonds actually come in a wide variety of colours, and not all the colours are synthetically
produced.
Among the crowd favorite gemstones, authentic pink diamonds are the rarest and most valuable
of them all.
So it should come as no surprise that the monstrous 59.6 carat “Pink Star” diamond
is currently the most expensive gemstone in the world.
The “Pink Star” went to auction in 2014, prompting diamond cutter Isaac Wolf to place
a bid for a remarkable $83.2 million USD—shutting out all rival bidders in the process.
He even renamed the gem to the “Pink Dream” while the bid was in progress, seemingly ready
to make his own dreams come true.
But in the end, it seems he may have only been interested in the prestige that comes
with making such an offer, as he never actually finalized payment for the gem.
Of course, dealing in such vast amounts of money is often a grand dance between would-be
buyers and the investors backing them.
Perhaps there was a bit of a mix-up at the bank—you’ve got to be careful counting
so many zeroes.
After Isaac defaulted on payment for the gem, it was placed back in the care of Sotheby’s—the
world leader in luxury items and auctions.
For now, it remains in their possession, revalued at a more affordable $72 million dollars,
though that is hardly the upper limit due to the rarity and unusual size of the gem.
At that price, it’s simply a steal.
Best to purchase it before it goes back to auction.
Our homes serve many purposes.
They are our castles, our sanctums, our refuges from the hustle and bustle of the outside
world.
So it’s no small wonder that our homes say a lot about who we are, and what we value
most.
For billionaire Mukesh Ambani, the wealthiest man in India, his home represents his vast
wealth —and it’s appropriately awesome in execution.
He named the towering spire Antilia after a mysterious and possibly mythological island
in the Atlantic Ocean.
Clearly, Mukesh is not one for subtlety—the $1 billion home looks every bit as legendary
as its namesake, and bears the unique honor of being the most expensive home in the world.
Amtilia has a total of 27 stories, six of which comprise a subterranean parking garage,
one floor which is devoted entirely to health and wellness, four floors of lavish open-air
gardens, one for a cinema, six residential floors for guests and family, and three floors
set aside strictly for maintenance purposes to keep everything running smoothly.
And of course, no billionaire chateau would be complete without its very own dedicated
staff; nearly 600 people see to every nook and cranny of this monolithic dream home.
The expenses might seem staggering—just imagine his monthly utility bills—but for
a man with a net worth of over $27 billion dollars, the effect such a home has on his
finances are likely little more than a drop in the ocean.
The whole building is reinforced against a variety of disasters, both natural and potentially
malicious in nature.
Antilia is built to stand tall in the face of magnitude 8 earthquakes, and can even withstand
military grade explosions.
But all things considered, Mr. Ambani’s magnificent domicile only cost an estimated
$77 million to build.
Yes, that’s a $923 million dollar return on investment—though he shows no indication
that he would be interested in selling.
For now, it looks like if you want your very own tower of extravagance, you’ll have to
rustle up $77 million and build your own.
Hollywood is no stranger to multimillion dollar productions, but every few years, a special
sort of film comes along that ups the ante.
The Pirates of the Caribbean films were smash hits at the box office, so for the ongoing
adventures of the swashbuckling Captain Jack Sparrow it’s hardly a surprise that Disney
spared no expense.
The fourth film in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, managed
to rack up an impressive $410.6 million in costs before adjustment for tax credits and
other assistance—making it the most expensive production in cinema to date.
Cameras rolled in exotic locales across the globe to set all manner of piratical excitement
to celluloid film, even filming some scenes in jolly olde England.
In addition to being a fantastic country all around, it’s likely that the producers were
interested in the British tax credit offered to films costing more than $34.1 million dollars—just
one of many ways Disney executives sought to soften the blow of the bottom line.
Disney banked a lot on the captain and his crew, and luckily for the House of Mouse their
gamble paid off.
Worldwide takes for the film sailed straight past the $1 billion mark, as the captain and
his crew made their way to greener waters.
I’m no mathematician, but that sounds like a resounding financial success to me.
With a fifth film on the horizon, will the pirates be able to plunder the box office
again?
I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.
Occasionally, we put our collective funds toward the betterment of all mankind.
The International Space Station, sitting in low Earth orbit 330 kilometers above the surface
of our planet, represents the combined resources and ingenuity of five major space agencies
across the world.
The total cost of $100 billion dollars has been shared among all nations contributing
to the project since its inception, making it the most expensive manmade object we have
today.
The purpose of the ISS is to provide a semi-permanent orbital lab, where humankind can perform scientific
experiments that take advantage of the unique interactions of gravity, temperature, and
pressure in space, performing many tests which would be simply impossible otherwise.
Astronauts also have the privilege of testing cutting-edge industrial materials and innovative
communications technology, as well as gathering data for medical research on the side.
Despite what you might think, it isn’t all floaty fun and games in space—there’s
actually an awful lot of work that gets done.
The ISS was granted a recent extension of its life cycle, now projected to last through
2024, it pays to look to the future when dealing with space.
Long term, the Russian Roscosmos and US based NASA are drawing up plans for a new station,
to be constructed after the ISS reaches its end-of-life.
What comes after that is anyone’s guess; but if Star Trek has taught us anything, it’s
that one of humanity’s noblest aspirations is to boldly go where no one has gone before.
And then make friends with aliens.
Regardless of the cost we assigned to them, books are one of the most valuable commodities
we have.
They provide the opportunity to reach across time and space, sharing information, concepts,
and ideas with others of our time and generations yet to come.
And of all the influential figures throughout history whose thoughts might be worth reading,
the great Leonardo Da Vinci would doubtlessly rank quite highly.
One of his compiled manuscripts, the Codex Leicester, sold at auction in 1994 to Microsoft
cofounder Bill Gates for over $30 million—the greatest amount of money to ever change hands
in the sale of a book.
Also known as the “Codex Hammer” after the previous owner of the manuscript, the
Codex Leicester was written by Da Vinci over a period of time between 1506 and 1513.
It is an unusual work for the renowned inventor and artist due to the compilation’s laser
focus on a single topic: the study of water.
Among the pages are sheets of calculations and musings on everything from water currents
and whirlpools—to practical uses for water in structures like canals, locks, and dams.
Admittedly a bit of a fanboy, Mr. Gates finds value in the works of Da Vinci “because
he personally worked out science on his own”, also noting that “every one of Da Vinci’s
notebooks are amazing documents—they’re kind of his rough-draft notes of texts that
he eventually wanted to put together”.
So save your doodles and scraps, because someday a billionaire might be willing to pay top
dollar for them!
When you consider that water is essential for human life, it seems rather difficult
to put a price on it.
Of course, water is a common paid utility in many countries, where people can also enjoy
it by the bottle for convenience—but the existential question remains.
The California based Beverly Hills Drink Company seems to have made peace with the issue—going
so far as to offer the self-proclaimed “most expensive bottle of water in the world”
for an affordable $100 thousand dollars.
Only nine bottles of their Luxury Collection, Diamond Edition bottles were made, rendering
the experience as exclusive as you might expect.
The bottles were designed by jeweler Mario Padilla to be the perfect complement to the
unique thirst quenching experience, each one sealed with a cap made of white gold, set
with over 600 white diamonds and 250 black diamonds for a total of 14 carats worth of
gems.
A special case filled with four engraved Baccarat crystal tumblers completes the package, and
its all accompanied by a personal private water tasting presentation anywhere in the
world by water sommelier (yes that’s actually a job) Martin Riese.
Whatever you have a passion for, there’s a way to make a living doing it.
Even if that passion is water tasting.
Truly inspirational.
After a taste test of the $100 thousand water by American musicians 2 Chainz and Diplo,
they reported that the water “tastes like fruit”.
Despite their “acquired expensive taste”, after the tasting 2 Chainz sagely noted that
“if you put a diamond on something, they’re gonna run up the tab on you” and that “neither
one of us believe that we should pay $100 thousand for a bottle of water”.
But if you choose to investigate the Diamond Collection for yourself, be sure to take advantage
of the one year supply of free water refills.
Make the most of that diamond encrusted bottle.
Very few artists are lucky enough to see their work appreciated on a grand scale, and 19th
century painter Paul Gauguin is no exception.
It would certainly come as a surprise to him that one of his works would eventually become
the priciest painting in the world, fetching $300 million in a secretive auction over a
century after he first set color to canvas.
The painting—titled When Will You Marry?—depicts a snapshot of Tahitian life in the late 1800s,
and was the result of Gauguin’s sabbatical on the Polynesian island in search of “an
edenic paradise” to inspire “pure, ‘primitive’ art”.
It was sold by a Swiss private collection in February of 2015 to an enigmatic buyer
who chose not to reveal their identity publically during the sale.
Rudolf Staechelin, a former executive with the luxury auction house Sotheby’s, confirmed
the sale which was made via his family trust, with the Gauguin being only one of at least
twenty other magnificent works of art in his possession from the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist
era.
He seemingly suffered from a rare case of having so much priceless artwork that he truly
didn’t know what to do with it all.
Before the auction, Staechelin had been loaning “When Will You Marry?”
to the Kunstmuseum in Switzerland along with other pieces of art from his private collection.
When asked what prompted the sale he replied, quite simply, that “we got a good offer”.
Unfortunately for the Swiss museum curators, they will have to hope for another philanthropic
donation to fill the newly emptied exhibit.
Smartphones have become an integral part of our cultural identity.
Equal parts tools and status symbols—the brands we choose and the accessories we decorate
them with can reveal quite a lot about a person.
One Chinese businessman decided that the options available at his local electronics store simply
didn’t cut it for him.
So what did he do?
Why, customize an iPhone 5 with a 26-carat black diamond and a body made of gold, of
course!
And all told, it costs a staggering $15.3 million dollars—the most expensive smartphone
out there today.
The phone was the result of a request sent to UK based craftsman Stuart Hughes, who specializes
in high-end luxury smartphones.
It took nine weeks to assemble, and includes 135 grams of 24-carat gold and 653 diamonds
in the design.
The giant black diamond at the heart of it all—seated where the Home button normally
resides—was a family heirloom passed down through the anonymous businessman’s family
for generations.
Rather than build a display case for it to set upon the mantle, he chose to have use
it as his everyday phone, giving him the opportunity to show it off at every corporate meeting
and business lunch.
Before the black diamond iPhone crossed his desk, Hughes had worked up an iPhone 4S made
of gold that was valued at six million GBP.
It held the world record for most expensive smartphone only briefly, before this one came
along and smashed that record to pieces.
Whether the black diamond iPhone will be a decision that the businessman comes to regret,
who can say—but if there’s one thing for certain, it’s that a good smartphone is
indeed worth its weight in gold.