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.
