So Expensive Season 6 Marathon

from lotus silk to stone crab claws from eels in japan to leather in tuscany we searched the earth to discover the stories behind some of the most valuable items our first stop is the forests of southeast asia where one of the world's most expensive raw materials grows for thousands of years agarwood has been known as the wood of the gods first grader garwood can cost as much as a hundred thousand dollars per kilogram making it one of the most expensive raw materials in the world but for this tree to produce any agarwood it must first become infected with mold so how does this infection process work what is a garwood used for and what makes it so valuable aquilaria malacensis is a tree native to the rainforests of southeast asia prior to infection the healthy heartwood inside aquilaria trees is pale odorless and worthless however in the wild damage to the tree by external forces such as grazing animals sporadically results in the growth of a specific type of fungal infection inside the tree called phylophora parasitica the aquilaria's defense to this attack is to produce a stress-induced aromatic resin called aloes which is dark and moist over the course of several years the aloes slowly embed into the heartwood foreign is harvested it needs to be separated from the healthy aquilaria wood around it in a painstaking task that often takes hours resin infused chips also known as ood are carved out by hand ood chips are commonly used as incense particularly in the middle east where they're burnt both as tokens of hospitality and infused food is also distilled into an essential oil and in its purest form aged ood oil can cost up to eighty thousand dollars per liter earning the nickname amongst traders of liquid gold as its popularity continues to grow in the west food has become a common ingredient in several high-value fragrances adding a warm musky aroma but due to unsustainable production and poaching all varieties of aquilaria trees are now classified as critically endangered with experts estimating the global population has declined by 80 over the last 150 years even for those surviving aquilaria trees the frequency of natural fungal infection is extremely low some estimates say only two percent of wild aquilaria trees are adequately infected to produce agarwood naturally meaning the hunt to find natural agarwood is extremely arduous on foreign in some forestries like this one managed by truong in vietnam trees are artificially inoculated with a microbial compound to induce the all-important resin agarwood was described as a fragrant product of wealth and luxury in one of the world's oldest written texts the sanskrit vaders dating back as early as 1400 bc the aroma produced from agarwood has been highly valued by many cultures and religions throughout history in the nirvana sutra aloes is mentioned as a heavenly wood used in the cremation of buddha in the new testament jesus body was anointed with a mixture of myrrh and aloes following his crucifixion and in the sahih al-bukhari hadith the description of paradise by allah's messenger includes the burning of agarwood as incense the global market for agarwood is estimated to be worth a staggering 32 billion dollars but where ood was once so common high demand has not only increased the price but also the rate of harvesting and artificial production by the end of 2029 the market is expected to double to 64 billion dollars [Music] so lotus silk is one of the rarest fabrics in the world produced only in small scale across cambodia myanmar and more recently vietnam this natural fibre is only extracted by a few skilled craftspeople across the world but making this silk isn't easy extracting enough lotus silk for one scarf can take two months and the final product can cost 10 times as much as regular silk so just how is it made and what makes it so expensive fanteethwan's family have been making silk for generations growing and harvesting the threads from silkworms themselves to create luxury garments but making lotus silk is different silk usually comes from silkworms they're kept on wide trays and need to be fed almost 24 hours a day with mulberry leaves the caterpillars delicately spin threads to create their cocoons and it can take hundreds of silkworms to make a kilo of silk but while the insects require careful looking after they do most of the hard work themselves the key difference between the bright yellow silk and the paler lotus version is that every single strand of lotus silk must be extracted by hand each thread of lotus silk starts with the stem of the lotus flower the lotus is vietnam's national flower and a plant that's grown across the country while this fabric has been made for years in myanmar fanti tuan only started experimenting with this fiber in 2017 vietnamese once the stem is selected and picked by hand the silk inside can be extracted each stem contains a minuscule amount of thin sticky fibers which must be rolled together and dried the threads need to be processed within 24 hours while they're still wet otherwise they'll break and so harvesting has to be done each day and the lotus plants are only available to harvest between april and october once you've gone through the hard work of extracting these fibers they're incredibly delicate too [Music] [Music] once dried these threads are carefully weighed down and delicately hand spooled then they're put into the loom these fibers are fragile but once woven can be as durable as traditional silk fan has a team of 20 workers creating these fibers each day allowing them to produce 10 to 20 scarves each month but when a 25 centimeter scarf can sell for just over 200 the hard work is worth it the final product is unlike any other fiber it's soft like silk breathable like linen and slightly elastic these luxurious traits have made it popular with tourists searching for rare souvenirs it's also recently been picked up by international fashion brands searching for a new luxury fibre but its scale has been limited as there is still few trained in the making of these silk threads but despite the work involved fantithwan is hoping that this skill could one day grow to become a larger industry [Music] [Music] the unmistakable sound of the gong has held spiritual significance in southeast asia for centuries hand beaten from sheep materials the labour intensive shaping and delicate paintwork result in beautiful percussive instruments souvenir gongs can be bought for just a few dollars but large finely tuned gongs made from the best materials can fetch tens of thousands of dollars so what are gongs actually used for and why are they so expensive this is thailand's gong highway a 21 mile stretch of road that is home to more than 50 family-owned gong companies who collectively produce roughly 7 000 gongs each year in the heart of the gong highway is bunrak has workshop as a third generation gong maker bunlak has been studying and practicing gong making for almost 50 years top time and the process begins by cutting the sheet material into a circle no materials go to waste here even the offcuts are used to make the largest shape possible it's at this early stage where the eventual cost of each gong is determined once the edges have been smoothed a welder attaches the sides this flat dish is then ready to be hammered into shape the gongs made here in thailand are the bost variety where a center knob is surrounded by smaller nipples this design is stenciled on the back of the gong with a homemade compass and bangers begin to hammer out the shape the bangers use templates engraved into tree stumps that allow the knob and nipples to be hammered out fully and evenly then comes the hardest part the tuning tunas observe and train for years to master their skill he strikes the gong in different places and listens for acoustic imperfections using a mallet to make slight alterations he continues this process hoping to reduce dissonance in the sound frequencies emitted from the goal [Music] foreign [Music] once satisfied with the sound the gong is coated in enamel ready for intricate artworks to be hand-painted bunlax workshop produces gongs of all different shapes and designs including specially made gongs which can sell for up to one million baht or around thirty three thousand dollars in ubon ratchatani a major city at one end of the gong highway where the world's largest gong towers stand proudly next to the watam kua sawan temple the use of gongs is deeply ingrained in buddhism and according to the tourism authority of thailand the gong highway is responsible for supplying most of the country's 30 000 buddhist temples with their gongs so what about the rest of the world in the west gongs have become commonplace not only in popular culture but also in meditation studios and symphony orchestras the largest non-asian gong manufacturer is paiste based in germany it's been producing gong since 1906 and its largest gong an 80 inch symphonic model retails for around 27 thousand dollars this type of flat face gong sometimes referred to as a tam tam gives more of a crash sound which is different from the tuned tones of a bossed gong [Music] paiste's method for producing gongs are more scientific than those on the gong highway with acoustic testing equipment used to evaluate the gong's frequency but the quality and traditional craftsmanship at bunlax workshop is clear to see and the historical importance of the gong is felt throughout southeast asia and m this is a dong tao chicken often known as dragon chickens these thick-legged birds can sell for over 2 000 each one can take years of raising and special care and the best are even entered into beauty competitions across vietnam so what does it take to raise a dong-tao chicken and why are they so expensive dong tao is a rare breed exclusive to one small village on the outskirts of hanoi jiang tuan vu is a third generation dongtao chicken farmer he's been looking after these birds for over 20 years [Music] um [Music] the majority of these chickens are still raised in dong tao village while the exact origins of the breed unknown they've been around for hundreds of years and were thought to be bred originally for cockfighting due to their thick and strong legs these days the birds are a more decorative breed that's often eaten for its unique meat nothing here the dramatic look of dongtao chickens means that they've been important gifts for years originally presented to royalty they're now reserved for special occasions such as tet vietnamese new year visited [Music] [Music] that means that from the 500 checks just 15 could qualify to be sold as gifts so what are the criteria that these chickens need to meet to be worth thousands of dollars [Music] um when preparing the chickens for sale or competition a lot of work goes into looking after them and roughly a month before they're fed a special high protein diet and their legs are washed gently in a mixture of tea and salt physical appearance isn't all about the feet either every part of their look is equally important when it comes to grading from symmetrical wattles and earlobes to uniformly covered shiny black feathers you know while many of the birds are sold off around the holidays for their meat the really high value chickens are often kept by the farmers and entered into beauty contests the longer the chickens live the larger their features and so grade a dongtao chicken could live for six or seven years um foreign while the chicken's popularity is mostly still contained to vietnam interest around the world is growing and in april 2018 802 dongtao chicken eggs were seized by police at ataturk airport in istanbul after they were found being smuggled into the country in a custom-made suitcase these eggs were valued by police at two thousand dollars each and show that no matter the price these chickens reach there will always be those willing to pay coconuts have been cultivated in tropical climates for thousands of years and they produce some of the most expensive cooking oil coconut oil can sell for around 12 times the price of canola oil when you compare leading brands the industry is predicted to grow by half a billion dollars worldwide over the next four years but with the hotly contested health benefits some coconut oil companies promote should it be as expensive as it is so what's the truth behind coconut oil and why is it so expensive its supposed versatility is the reason for its high price while coconut has a long tradition of use in food and medicine across asia its oil is the most valuable byproduct here in the philippines where over 44 of the world's coconut oil is produced coconut trees thrive in a long dry season but even with a bounty of coconuts at your fingertips assuming you can climb high enough the process of extracting the oil isn't easy each coconut has a layer of husk surrounding its shell that must be removed by hand only then can it be cleaved in half with a special tool called a bolo knife so after greeting monatong ato nashang using our expeller machine then humans expeller so cream for 12 hours osaka table is for 12 hours in the philippines 14.8 million metric tons of coconuts were harvested in 2019 alone and these were used to make around 1.6 million metric tons of oil much of it exported to the u.s or euro [Music] and by the time the coconut oil reaches the western market the price for the product will have roughly doubled even with the ideal growing conditions for the trees coconut oil has grown so popular that farmers in the philippines struggle to meet the demand in recent years the market for coconut oil has surged in the west alongside a cultural shift towards the search for natural unprocessed products and coconut oil manufacturers were quick to capitalize on the sensation consumption peaked in the u.s in 2009 at 598 000 metric tons and coconut oil quickly became the mascot for a healthy lifestyle as celebrities and bloggers adopted the product proponents of coconut oil as a cure-all remedy say that it can promote weight loss improve blood sugar and even slow the progression of alzheimer's because of its high levels of antioxidants but so far all scientific studies on the health benefits of coconut oil have been inconclusive and nutritionists remain skeptical some nutritionists say coconut oil could actually do more harm than good coconut oil is composed of 80 to 90 saturated fatty acid in 2017 the american heart association issued an advisory against saturated fats and specifically warned that coconut oil increases cholesterol and should be avoided and soon after the wholesale price of coconut oil dropped by more than half but it's a dip that hasn't lasted and coconut oil's price is once again rising rapidly the oil has become a key ingredient in many products perhaps most recently alternative meats both beyond and impossible burgers are reliant on coconut oil and their surging popularity has increased demand but while coconut oil's popularity shows no sign of slowing there's a looming problem for the coconut supply some estimates say as many as 90 percent of all coconut trees in asia are nearing the end of their productive cycle the majority of coconut plantations across the philippines were planted 40 or 50 years ago and many of the trees are now producing as little as 10 coconuts a year rather than the 100 to 150 a healthy tree might so 250 every three months or quarterly and the 10 liters that come from all of these coconuts would only fill up about 21 16 ounce jars of coconut oil that you'd likely find at a supermarket given it takes about 10 years for a new coconut tree to fruit planting new trees is going to be crucial to keep up with this soaring demand but despite these problems the market is poised to grow by 518 million dollars before 2024. senmai is a traditional vietnamese form of lacquer painting created using a toxic lacquer harvested from one region of the country it requires months of application and sandy back layers of paint to build up the image last year a semi painting sold at auction for 972 thousand dollars so what makes these paintings so special and why are they so expensive [Music] [Music] and knows how equally tiring and rewarding the craft can be it is an art form of incredible value in vietnamese culture for both the time and skill it requires and the exclusive natural materials needed to make it the process of making lacquer paint begins in the forests of vietnam where planters collect resin from a toxic wax tree native to southeast asia called the roos succidenia planters must cut into more than 400 trees to retrieve between one and one and a half kilograms of resin salt [Music] foreign after harvesting the lacquer must be removed of any impurities and mixed for several hours before it's suitable for painting one of the principal features of senmai is the depth created by adding several layers of paint and sanding them back these layers aren't always visible in the finished work but are what differentiate lacquer painting from other common painting styles with oil painting artists paint from back to front painting the landscape first and the details later the process of lacquer painting is the opposite of artists mix natural ingredients to create colors like eggshells to make white or cinnabar a toxic ore for red in some cases artists add leaves a silver sometimes even gold to create a gentle sheen these substances can be one of the costliest parts of senmai painting while the raw materials of the painting may be more expensive than many other styles the skill and the work of the artist are what set the vinyl value along with the immense patience sun my requires each work is unique and unpredictable that's because painters are never quite sure how the layers will resurface through sanding this can either increase the value of the work or force an artist to start over foreign foreign painters must be careful to let each layer fully dry before sanding otherwise colors or designs could be ruined there's no set amount of time a layer takes to dry as it largely depends on the weather that day and after weeks of work pieces are polished with coal powder which creates the smooth surface and lasting shine of sen mai artists have used lacquer for its glossy finish for thousands of years one of its best-known applications is japanese lacquerware decorative pieces of furniture boxes and dinnerware but in the early 20th century vietnamese artists developed an interest in lacquer painting and created a style unique to the world impressive as these works can be the process is both costly and arduous and that's why fan ching trung believes the future of this tradition will depend on finding more artists willing to learn it stone crab claws are one of the priciest seafoods you can buy and depending on their size a pound of claws at a restaurant can cost as much as 70 dollars but catching these crabs is hard work strangely enough fishers can only harvest the claws from the crabs while the bodies must be returned to the ocean so what makes these claws so coveted and why are they so expensive you can only fish for stone crab on the southeastern coast of the u.s cuba the bahamas and mexico and it's florida where more stone crabs are caught than anywhere else these crustaceans are markedly more expensive than other popular crabs a pound of claws can cost two times the price of alaskan snow crab legs part of what makes these crabs so costly is the labor-intensive process of catching them there's a nice crab ernie paton jr has been commercially fishing for stone crabs for over 40 years with limited time to harvest each year his crew must start their days early sailing out before the sun rises the process begins with dropping traps down to the ocean floor this is probably the funnest part you know you get to be a little more physical you know what i mean it's a little bit of a rhythm thing going on here like uh dancing mariachi but plucking these claws can be a dangerous process the claws on an adult crab can have as much as 9 000 pounds of pressure per square inch with the enormous pressure that's exerted they could actually pop a finger off at the joint these crabs they have a mind of their own you can easily get bit you know if you're not careful i've only been bit maybe say eight times in my career popped over a million balls in my day the crew leaves the traps in the water for about two weeks before they're pulled in by a rope then each one must be sorted thoroughly we come back in a couple of weeks and then got a couple in the trap we're gonna pull them out we're gonna pop their claws and uh hope for a good day crews break off the claws quickly so they don't keep the crabs out of water for too long but even if a trap is full of crabs kevin can't necessarily take every claw the state requires all harvested claws to be at least 2 and 7 8 inches long crabbers can legally break off both claws if they meet the required size the ones that look smaller we measure them on the gauge like that one crabs are one of few animals that can regenerate when a crab loses a claw or two it can grow each one back in time on average claws can take up to three years to grow large enough to harvest again which is why the state requires that crabbers pay close attention to each claw's size this ensures fishers don't remove one prematurely but despite the claw's ability to regrow some researchers have questioned the sustainability of this system the florida fish and wildlife conservation commission found that 46 to 82 percent of crabs died from the loss of two claws while 23 to 59 died from the removal of one that's compared to just 12.8 percent of crabs that died when no claws were removed crabs can also only regrow a claw if the joint that linked it is left intact otherwise they'll bleed to death this makes the way these claws are broken all the more important for preserving the fisheries future hiring enough people to make the operation run smoothly is another reason for the high price of these claws and then there's one other cost you'd never expect each trip requires 900 pounds of pigs feet for bait and that's just about half of the total cost of fishing for the day normal running cost to go stomach crap in a day is about eleven hundred dollars to leave the dock vape prices have gone up fuel prices have gone up you know the track tag prices have gone up after 10 hours on the boat ernie's crew must boil and ice their catch as soon as they return otherwise the claws won't stay fresh they finish the day by weighing each claw which ultimately sets the final value claws are sold in four sizes at billy stone crab restaurant prices range from 35 to 70 dollars per pound we run about 4 000 pounds of stone crab through the restaurant each week on a busy weekend we we sell seven to eight hundred pounds of stone crab the most expensive order costs a hundred forty dollars the plate is made up of four seven ounce colossal claws which yields just under one pound of crab meat fresh cooked claws sold on ice are less expensive but even then the mediums will cost you 29 dollars per pound years ago stone crabs weren't such valuable food in the 1890s they were nothing more than bycatch in spiny lobster traps fishers began to keep the crabs that fell into those traps and by the late 20th century the stone crab fishery had become one of the most valuable industries in florida today it's worth 30 million dollars and the prices of these claws aren't likely to drop anytime soon data from the fwc show the number of crabs caught each year has declined by 712 000 pounds that's since peak harvest in the late 1990s many commercial harvesters have also started fishing farther offshore pointing to a lesser number of crabs in the area the fwc says both of these changes signify a threat of overfishing and prices have gone up in order to keep the fishery profitable to further protect the species future the fwc instated even stricter regulations last year two changes include an increase in the minimum size of harvestable claws and cutting the fishing season short by two weeks these limitations aren't likely to lower the cost of stone crab claws but the goal is to help preserve them and keep florida fishers busy for years to come sale and cinnamon is native to just one region of the world and producing it requires hours of delicate work even the most skilled workers can make only a few pounds of quills a day one pound of cinnamon quills can cost 27 but not all spices labeled cinnamon are the ceylon variety many in the western market are actually cheaper types of cinnamon called cassia so what makes ceylon cinnamon so favorable and why is it so expensive salon cinnamon is named after the old british name for sri lanka and it is often considered real cinnamon it is made from the dried inner bark of a tree called cinnamom verum growing these trees is an investment farmers must wait four years after a tree is planted before they can begin harvesting at harvest workers break down the branches early in the morning when the bark is still moist again must continuously care for the trees throughout the year otherwise the branches won't be suitable for making cinnamon at all the rigorous nature of this job has only just begun now peelers must do the delicate and essential work of stripping the inner bark of each branch by hand [Music] [Music] this is the most labor intensive part of the process and it's not as easy as simply shaving the outside of the bark as you would the skin from a potato to produce the most valuable cinnamon the bark must be made extremely thin the thinner the quills are the more costly they will be ruanpora has spent 40 years mastering this skill soon after the bark is removed each piece dries under the sun and curls up within a few minutes after drying the small pieces are stuffed inside a straight piece of bark forming one 42-inch quill by the end of a long day workers will have only produced about three pounds of quills those then need to drive for three to four days before they're packed into bales and sent off to a separate facility that's where they'll be graded and officially priced based on their width pd romance and sons buys bales of cinnamon from various peelers at its facility quills are graded over 10 scales the most valuable quills are classified as alba it takes a peeler 4 times longer to produce one kilogram of alba than to produce the same quantity of lower grades the leftovers smaller cuts are turned into ground cinnamon and make up the cheapest form but even the most valuable quills are often confused with a more widely accessible and cheaper variety of cinnamon [Music] comes from another kind of cinnamon tree called cinnamom cassia and it doesn't require as much time or effort to make cassia bark is hard and sturdy so quills are made as one curled piece of bark without the fillings ceiling cinnamon on the other hand is tender and soft and needs those inner layers to prevent the quill from breaking even is very fragrant and brown whereas real cinnamon is paler with a milder flavor cassia also contains on average higher levels of coumarin an organic compound that can cause liver damage if consumed in large amounts this is why researchers say ceylon cinnamon is ultimately the healthier option but if you're buying cinnamon in the u.s it can be hard to tell the difference between them part of the confusion between the two comes from the use of the label cinnamon in the u.s it is legal to label both ceylon and cassia cinnamon as cinnamon while in the uk and other countries cassia must be labeled cassia and cannot be classified simply as cinnamon regardless of what it's called in the u.s consumers worldwide prefer the real thing in 2018 ceylon accounted for more global cinnamon revenue than any other variety but even as demand is expected to grow through 2025 climate change poses a serious threat to cinnamon production in recent years sri lanka has experienced droughts over several months and these long periods of dry weather can kill cinnamon trees which need marshy wet soil to survive there's also a shortage of cinnamon peelers another threat to production that's likely to drive up prices this industry relies on experienced peelers who can practice the difficult work of making these quills over many years is the most expensive cheese in the world produced by only one farm in the world poulet will cost you about 600 for a single pound making it requires more time and effort than most other cheeses you need over six and a half gallons of donkey's milk just to make one kilogram of cheese that's two and a half times more than what you need to make mozzarella so how does poulet compare to other types of cheese and why is it so expensive even in the diverse world of cheese pulae is unique there's only one place in the world that makes it and that's on this farm in the zaza visa special nature reserve slobodan semic founded the reserve 24 years ago in serbia it's one of just three areas in all of former yugoslavia that protects a special endangered breed of balkan donkey pulae is made with 60 donkey milk and 40 goat milk and it requires months there are only about 20 donkeys that produce milk on the farm at a time and even then each one won't produce much each donkey is melt carefully by hand three times a day if the farmers don't empty all the milk the donkeys won't continue making it today farmers care for 250 donkeys but they can't always take milk from all of them similar to cows a female donkey will only produce milk once it's had a baby and each one carries a baby for a year and two weeks then farmers must wait another three months once the baby has taken milk for itself before they can begin gathering their own to make cheese they need 6.6 gallons of milk in total to make just one kilogram of cheese and a donkey produces under one gallon of milk per day that's far less than what comes from a cow which can produce as much as 15 gallons of milk a day each donkey will only produce milk for six months then you must wait another year to collect milk from that same donkey again pulae is only sold on this farm and a few others the reserve partners with another factor that ups the final value the farm can produce between 50 and 70 kilograms of cheese a year but slobodan only ever sells about a third of that and it's not just because of poulet's staggering price you couldn't legally buy poulet cheese in some parts of the world even if you wanted to okay problems with milk from any type of donkey and therefore any farm that raises donkeys but there's one major roadblock just having donkey's milk doesn't mean you have all you need to make this cheese pulae is made in a very specific way using a recipe only slobodan and one other person in the world knows it's because donkey milk contains less fat than the milk of other animals which means it holds less of the protein casein that allows many other cheeses to coagulate on their own the recipe requires goat milk and a secret mix of additives and bacteria this is what allows the milk to form curds an essential stage of any cheese making process without this it wouldn't be possible to make poulet at all the cheese is finally placed into 50 gram molds to age for a few days once removed from the molds it's set in another room to age for at least a month more the final product is crumbly and soft with a rich flavor the cost of preserving the donkey species is another element to keep in mind when considering pulley's huge value slobodan must maintain the land buy food for the donkeys and hire workers to care for them in a year he spends about a hundred thousand dollars just to keep the farm running and unless producing brewery becomes easier or someone else in the world discovers how to make it nothing is likely to bring down the price of this incredibly rare serbian cheese high quality black opal can cost over ten thousand dollars per carat making it one of the world's most expensive gemstones but mining black opal isn't easy after investing tens of thousands of dollars a miner might not find a single gem so what makes black opal so hard to find and why is it so expensive black opal is one of the most enchanting stones in the world sought after for its seemingly infinite display of colors compared to common opal which is usually one color black opal exhibits many different colors contrasted by a dark body tone it's simply the most stunning gemstone on the planet it's just remarkably beautiful you can put the thing away for a week pick it out and look at it and you can still see things inside it that you've never ever seen before opal is found in several parts of the world including ethiopia brazil and mexico but over 90 of the world's opal comes from australia and a lot of the black opal is found here at lightning ridge it's located on the edge of the outback with a population of just over 2 000 people miners have been searching for opal here for over 100 years but even for experts finding black opal isn't easy if you were to start mining tomorrow and once you learned mining skills and i've been mining for 40 years would be an equal chance just because there's nothing really that can tell you oh there is opal in that piece of ground or there's not opal in that piece of ground miners start by drilling a vertical shaft in an area that they think contains opal then they must clear out an underground room large enough to start digging at the rock the basic idea of mining is basically extract the opal clay out from the ground put it onto a truck i take the truck to a puddling site in town and check if there's oval in that the equipment needed to mine and the cost to register your claim can be extremely expensive really if you wanted to rock up here and be serious you'd probably need 150 grand to 100 grand in your pocket to have a go but buying the equipment doesn't guarantee that miners will find black opal some people go oh there's definitely money there because next door they got two hundred thousand dollars and there was a bit of color drilled up here it's got to come over and there's a whole epic story of why there should be opal there and you go and dig there and it's not miners search for areas in the rock with trace amounts of opal they follow these spots called knobbies hoping to find more opal deeper in the rock you'll keep going in a straight line till the trace runs out and then come back where there was trace in the wall go left and right and then if that stops then you come back and do it again and you can come back and do it again so you've always got that in the back of your head you know when do i leave how long do i stay have i stayed too long i'm wasting time i'm wasting money from my next patch an over there when you're in a really good pocket see how these novices are sitting close like that together they can be like a cluster like a bunch of grapes they're all sitting around each other and they've all got color hear that see that sound just like glass so you get that big one out there we go yep doesn't have any value common black opal opal is formed when silica rich groundwater hardens and rock over millions of years large silica spheres within the stone diffract light creating vibrant colors that play of color makes each gem unique but for miners like frederick digging for black opal is a gamble the human factor is the biggest factor in finding opal if you've got a piggy bank of 10 or 20 000 and then all of a sudden in one month or two months you've blown all of that budget because you've had breakdowns and you've had things occur that you didn't think of and then you go well i'm 20 000 down what do i do here i've been full-time mining for about over 45 years and quite often i say to myself how did you do it you know how did you survive that long making it your only job i've done i've done i've done good not great i've done i'm not i haven't been in the millions haven't been up there in in the fantasy pocket you know once rough opal is extracted and processed from the dirt it has to be cut and polished this is when the real value of the gem is determined a black opal can vary from starting at maybe a thousand dollars a carrot for run of your meal and going right up to tens of thousands of dollars for that really exquisite top quality the main stone is 241 carats a few thousand dollars a carrot wouldn't be unreasonable a lot of money the color brightness and patterns can all influence the price of black opal what you're looking for in the best quality opal is a black stone with really bright color and as much red and other colors as possible so the most valuable black opal of all is a really bright red stone on a very black base and it just glows and you don't see them very often at all that lack of supply is a huge driver for the price of black opal we can barely keep up with the demand at the moment as soon as you find a gem quality stone you know you've got a buyer for it between 2005 and 2006 approximately 30 million dollars of opal was mined at lightning ridge and for fans of black opal there's simply nothing else like it it's just a magic stone and when i came to lightning ridge it just the beauty of it captivated me [Music] in 2017 a single violin bow sold at auction for 690 thousand dollars you can buy a beginner's bow for less than 50 but a top rate professional bow can often cost thousands of dollars a bowl like this is completely handcrafted by skilled artisans and just one can take an entire week to make even the most subtle differences in the way a bow is made will change how well it plays [Music] so why would someone pay so much for a bow and what makes it so expensive [Music] violin bows are far more complex than they appear and so much of what sets the value of a bow comes down to the artisan who makes it uh [Music] um sandrine rafan has spent the last 30 years mastering this craft at her family shop [Music] to begin building a bow she needs raw materials from specific regions of the world the most essential are purnum you go wood from brazil and horse hair from mongolia that cost 900 a pound typically horses in cold climates have thicker and stronger hair which won't break as easily while playing [Music] [Music] because of this wear and tear even professional ones must be re-haired every three months which is a large part of a bow maker's restoration work so much of this process relies on the natural instinct of a bow maker [Music] [Music] sundrian refers to bows that are too stiff for a musician to maintain balance they must be sturdy yet flexible enough to move fluidly nervous every small alteration by the bow maker from carving the head of the stick to tweaking the curve of the bow determines how well a bow will play and ultimately sets the final value this [Music] is so even as ideal as this wood is for bows it's up to the bow maker to determine that the shape of the stick is just right then sandrine must consider the age of the wood another time-consuming element of the process this one is actually [Music] sandrine has restored bows made by master artisans from hundreds of years ago these bows only remain playable with routine repairs but because of their rarity in centuries-old wood just one of them can be worth tens even hundreds of thousands of dollars whether a bow is ancient or modern each one appeals to different people and it's up to the musician to decide whether the price and quality of sound are worth it [Music] like sandrine many esteemed artisans have studied this craft in france where prominent french bow makers like francois xavier tort developed the modern bow bow makers don't typically go to school as you would with violin making instead many must train as an apprentice for three years under a master bow maker that tradition continues for sandrine today as she shows the next generation how to make bows by hand [Music] this is standard sea salt but after 30 days it'll become this high quality bamboo salt costs almost a hundred dollars for an eight and a half ounce jar making it the most expensive salt in the world so what is bamboo salt used for and why is it so expensive for hundreds of years koreans have used bamboo salt for cooking and as a form of traditional medicine it's made by placing sea salt inside of bamboo and roasting it at a high temperature the goal is to infuse the salt with minerals from the bamboo and to remove any impurities but the premium compared to other types of salt is steep nine times roasted bamboo salt sometimes referred to as purple bamboo salt can cost over 10 times the price of pink himalayan salt most of that cost comes from the labor intensive process every single step is done by hand tonight the process starts by cutting three-year-old bamboo into uniform trunks leaving one side closed as a container for the salt sea salt from the west coast of korea is densely packed by hand into the bamboo workers load filled bamboo onto a cart and push it into a kiln traditionally only pine logs are used this process takes around 12 to 14 hours baking everything at over 800 degrees celsius burns away the bamboo leaving a column of salt but the process has only just begun because [Music] the ninth and final roast is the hottest at over 1000 degrees celsius it's fired in a special kiln and operated by an expert shintae jun has been making bamboo salt for over 20 years that experience is extremely important because any error at the stage could result in wasting a month of work at this temperature the salt and bamboo completely melt and drain into a mold after a few days of cooling a blackened rock-like structure remains this is nine times roasted bamboo salt workers carefully break this down by hand trying not to waste any material after a month of work it's ready to be packaged and soldered the final price varies depending on where you buy it and what form it's in but nine times roasted bamboo salt doesn't come cheap [Music] without [Music] foreign the health benefits of food have always played an important role in korean culture for centuries bamboo salt baked two to three times has been used in traditional korean medicine but in the 20th century the nine times roasting process was developed manufacturers say this process is the lowest toxicity and highest mineral content today it's used for cooking toothpaste soap and various remedies proponents of bamboo salt say that it can help with everything from digestion to oral health skin care and inflammation that it even has anti-cancer effects the proposed medical benefits have likely helped it maintain its high price but there hasn't been enough scientific study to fully back up all of these claims studies have shown that bamboo salt contains higher levels of iron potassium and calcium compared to regular sea salt and that it could improve your immune system but these beneficial minerals constitute only a small percentage the majority of bamboo salt is sodium chloride even with lower toxicity it's unclear how potent the health benefits are in 2016 the who wrote in a report that the composition of specialty salts poses no toxicological risks but does not offer any relevant nutritional benefits either the full benefits of bamboo salt compared to sea salt have yet to be extensively researched but despite that bamboo salt continues to be popular even in the high-end world of jewelry cuban link chains are a symbol of luxury this 18 carat gold chain is worth 27 000 and some of the most valuable chains will cost 10 times that making a single chain requires the skill of more than 5 experienced jewelers and can take over 12 hours so how exactly are cuban link chains made and is that what makes them so expensive somebody had to literally take 14 hours of their day running hot steel through machinery to then turn it by hand to then file it by hand so then polish it by hand you're not just wearing a chain you're wearing somebody's blood sweat and tears and passion around your neck the origin of the cuban link chain is tough to pinpoint but it likely didn't start in cuba it was a quintessential part of hip-hop style in the 70s and 80s and grew in popularity as hip-hop became more mainstream in the us but not all cuban link chains are created equal many cuban link chains are made by machines in countries like the us italy and china but the authentic and most expensive ones are made by hand at just a few shops in miami when you move into the higher end of cuban link chains which we get into the fifty thousand eighty thousand hundred thousand dollar chains those have to be handmade one because of the attention to detail the file the tight links it's like going to a ferrari dealer you could buy a ferrari off the lot or you could have it made to how you want this is a custom build a chain like this goes through 30 manual and time-consuming stages the skills come from your ability and practice and knowledge worldwide i can't tell you an exact number within south florida there's a handful of people literally a handful of people that could do this not only is this process incredibly labor intensive it's also dangerous tino and his crew work with 1 000 degree flames to melt down the gold and form it into a bar you definitely got to be paying attention to what you're doing in this job one mess up you're going to hurt yourself there has been people that have lost fingers in this in this business that bar passes through a rolling machine as many as 12 times just to make it thinner each of the nine jewelers at gold fever miami has a specific job at the stretch bench one jeweler can spend over an hour just stretching the wire to length this isn't dirt it's actual gold if you look at my hands you'll see the place of gold on them this wire then gets curled around a copper rod to form the shape for the links for smaller chains a drill gets the job done but thicker ones need the strength of two jewelers [Music] the most crucial stage of the process comes next it also requires the most skill the soldering is the most intricate part of what you're doing essentially what you're doing is you're heating up gold and right before it begins to break down and melt you're introducing solder solder is another type of metal that's used to permanently close each link so it's the balance of applying the right amount of flame with the right amount of technique to when those two metals meet that solder melts and fuses into the gold so if you left too long the whole thing is just liquid gold if done way too early the solder won't melt properly and you won't get that fusion between the legs you can't mess that up or you're going to create gaps in the chain and you can't be scared to stop and just do it all over again it's no secret the price of gold plays a part in determining the cost of these chains an ounce of gold costs seventeen hundred dollars today but even the most high-end cuban links are mixed with something else gold itself is a very soft material typically too soft to be made into jewelry on its own it has to be alloyed with other metals white gold for example is an alloy of gold made of white metals like silver zinc and nickel those metals made the gold more pliable allowing it to be stretched and twisted during the jewelry making process but they can be especially difficult to work with one small movement can make all the difference in rare cases with white gold this can happen this is the reason why it costs so much if any one of these links break you then have to take it back to the soldering table re-solder it and bring it back here and turn it again once the links are properly turned and tightened the chain will lie flat a jeweler must then file down the chain so that each side is level and looks exactly the same and here is where the passion of the jeweler comes into hand to how beautiful he can make that shape but these cuban links in particular didn't become so sought after or so valuable until recently google trends shows that searches for cuban link chains began taking off in 2012 and in the last two years gold fever miami sales have grown 100 times over the shop used to sell two thousand dollars worth of cuban links a month that number is now over two hundred thousand dollars whether you're the most famous or you're just starting off to legitimize yourself as a rapper you have to have jewelry and if you have jewelry you have a miami cuban link chain in 2012 jay-z wore one of the priciest cuban links made at the time worth two hundred thousand dollars a year later daddy yankee debuted his 10 kilo cuban link chain in a music video and there's even more traction in the music industry now they're so intertwined with pop culture more specifically hip hop and reggaeton just about every song that has a music video will have a rapper with a miami cuban link chain it's become in a way like a status symbol we have customers that want to match their rolexes to their chains these versions are often decked out with diamonds which naturally makes them pricier but gus doesn't see demand slowing for chains like this or the more modest ones right now as of march of 2021 we are pumping anywhere from 10 to 15 kilos in five days so per five weeks and we still can't keep up with the demand we still have a wait time of five to seven weeks this coupled with the steep price of gold means prices likely won't drop anytime soon this is the most expensive fish in japan in january 2018 a kilogram of these baby eels cost around 35 thousand dollars that's more than blue fin tuna and almost as much as the price of gold at the time but catching these eels is just the beginning it can take a year of work until they're large enough to be sold so what makes these eels so popular and why are they so expensive people in japan have eaten eel for thousands of years restaurants like this can sell 40 to 50 tons of eel each year japanese eel or anguilla japonica can be found across east asia but overfishing and changing habitats have caused a huge decline in eel populations since 1980 the global catch of eel has declined by more than 75 percent which has had a huge effect on price [Music] unlike other types of fishing the majority of eels are raised not caught as adults young eels called glass eels are caught in the wild and raised on farms like this no farms have been able to efficiently breed the eels in captivity so farmers depend on the catch of young eels to make a profit raising this many eels requires constant attention michio has been working as an eel farmer for almost 40 years after the cost of the eels themselves feeding them is the most expensive part two to three times a day workers feed eels this it's a mixture of fish meal wheat soybean meal and fish oil [Music] after six to 12 months of work eels are big enough to be sold workers unload the eels and sort them by size to determine where they'll be sold experienced workers can quickly tell the difference just by feel some of these eels will end up at restaurants like serugaya which has been serving eel for over 150 years that high demand is part of the reason young eels are so expensive the final dish is called kabayaki it may look simple but preparing it takes years to master yogurt [Music] workers prepare eel live to maintain freshness but this makes handling much more difficult workers remove the bones and cut eels to the proper size for the skewers eel has to be constantly monitored while it's cooking to achieve even grilling chef steam then grill each eel three times dipping it into sauce between each grilling hey presented in a lacquer box with rice is called unaju it can cost up to 91 depending on the price of adult eel if prices are too high restaurants struggle to make a profit [Music] in japan eels are eaten year round but consumption peaks in the summer and it's become a big part of some local economies but the high demand has caused concern in 2014 japanese eels were classified as endangered and because of low domestic catch the majority of eels eaten in japan are imported from china and taiwan [Music] there have been efforts to improve the eel population like regulating fishing releasing adult eels back into the water and researching how to hatch eels in farms but the future of japanese eels remains unclear japanese chef's knives are world renowned for their unique design and durability and just one can cost you over nine hundred dollars from heating and hammering the metal [Music] to sharpening the knife's edge and polishing the final blade these are only a few of the skills a japanese artisan spends a lifetime learning to master so what makes these knives so coveted and why are they so expensive [Applause] has spent 37 years crafting chef's knives at his family's factory in echizen each one goes through 100 production stages it's a process that requires over 10 years of practice yes compared to popular european chef's knives japanese blades are lighter and sharper allowing for more precise cuts on the low end most takamura blades cost a couple hundred dollars but custom made pieces can sell for fifteen times that one of the most expensive knives produced by the shop sold for sixty nine hundred dollars um was one of the first knife makers to use a certain kind of stainless steel called high speed powdered steel it was originally designed for power tools like saws and drills because of its durability and strength two qualities japanese chef's knives are known for today [Music] once the metal is cut it's heated in an electric oven to harden and strengthen the blade then the hammering begins at this point the artisan relies on experience and instinct to guide them in producing a blade of ideal strength and thinness hammering leaves behind circular indents something knife makers in the past typically polished away but 60 years ago terokazu's father and his colleagues discovered the benefit of knives with a textured surface like this [Music] [Music] this hammered finish called tuchime allowed chefs to chop ingredients quickly and more efficiently it also added a beautiful aesthetic to each blade another element highly valued in japanese knives but a japanese chef's knife wouldn't be nearly as valuable without a supremely sharp edge an artisan presses the blade against a rough grindstone made of natural rock a sharpening material you'll only see used in japan this step distinguishes an artisan's skill and ultimately sets a knife's final value [Music] [Music] [Music] it takes one full day to sharpen the blade and another full day to secure and polish the handle the final knife is totally unique each with its own distinct balance thickness and design [Music] for several of the world's best chefs use takamura's knives from rene redzepi at noma to masimo bhotora at austeria francescana another one of those chefs is masakazu fuji he uses takamota's knives to prepare fish at his restaurant foreign has been the center of high quality knife making since blacksmiths began crafting chef's knives here 700 years ago and today the city is internationally recognized for its cutlery production but before knives artisans made swords another valuable trade in japanese [Music] culture [Music] despite dedicating decades to this craft and his brothers weren't always set on becoming master knife makers look professional chef or not getting your hands on one of takamoto's knives could take years with that kind of wait time coupled with the decades of training required to master this craft it's likely these pieces will remain costly [Music] cashews grow in select tropical climates around the world from the bottom of a hanging fruit like this just one kilogram of cashews can cost ten dollars wholesale that's over seven times as much as peanuts and in the u.s retail prices for whole cashews can reach fifteen dollars per pound but without intensive precise processing these nuts wouldn't be edible at all so how exactly are cashews processed and is this what makes them so expensive in 2017 the world ate 770 000 metric tons of cashews they're one of the most popular and valuable nuts in the world worth over six billion dollars today cashews grow in tropical locations like india vietnam ivory coast and here in sri lanka the trees are a member of the same family as poison ivy and like poison ivy cashew plants contain a toxin called urushiol it's found in the plant itself and the brown oil inside a nut's shell it can cause burns itches and blisters which is why unprocessed cashews are considered dangerous to eat or touch it's also why they require more rigorous processing than other nuts each fruit grows just one shelled nut called a droop which workers separate by hand the nuts must then dry under the sun to help draw out some of the shell's caustic liquid the most difficult and dangerous step is splitting open the nut since toxic oil still coats the droops cashews are brittle so factories used to do this step manually to ensure machines wouldn't break the nuts but doing this by hand has frequently raised issues within the industry ngos have called out some factories for overworking employees and putting workers at risk of burning themselves if they can't afford to buy gloves for protection today machines are advanced enough to crack the shells cleanly keeping the majority of nuts intact and helping minimize risks to workers the next two crucial stages totally depend on workers who have to do them by hand the nuts are roasted to ensure again that the toxic liquid inside is destroyed the next stage is particularly tedious as it relies entirely on handiwork workers must peel off the husk or the dry outer covering that surrounds each nut because it's high in tannins and could irritate your throat removing it is a skill one masters with practice experienced workers de-skin only about two and a half kilograms of cashews each night this step is not only difficult but also has the biggest impact cashews are graded by several features like color weight and condition large hole nuts are most valuable because cashews can only be harvested once a year growers like laharu save a portion of the nuts in stock so that they can continue making a profit in the months ahead but it comes at a steep cost just stocking the nuts costs laharu more than 65 thousand dollars each year again this causes prices to fluctuate a bit year-round in december laharu's supply has decreased so prices typically increase but it also depends on each country's supply chain while sri lanka processes and sells many of its own cashews domestically other countries export much of what they grow it's likely that many of the cashews you buy in the u.s or europe were grown in africa processed in vietnam or india and finally exported to the western market africa produces half of the world's supply of cashews ivory coast for example produced about 730 000 metric tons of raw cashews in 2019 but it exported over 90 percent of that this is because ivory coast and other african countries still don't have a robust processing industry ivory coast plans to expand domestic processing by 2024 but without it cashews are significantly less valuable in 2018 the export price of cashews processed in india and exported to europe was 250 higher than the price paid to ivory coast farmers vietnam on the other hand was one of the first countries to invest in automation making it a key location for processing cash use today vietnam is the largest cashew exporter in the world in just the first three months of 2021 the country exported over 108 000 tons of cashews automation has also lessened the need to hire workers which is a reason many factories in india and sri lanka still process manually [Music] by hand or machine processing cashews is no easy task and the world's climate crisis could make it even harder a 2013 report on the climate's impact on cashews shows unseasonable rains and heavy dew can impact the quality and quantity of the nuts just this year laharu's harvest came late because of it amidst climate challenges cashews continue to be popular healthy eating trends are key to driving demand along with the versatility of the cashew itself another reason the nut remains so valuable whether used as a snack cooking paste or an alternative to milk or butter cashews have many applications around the world researchers predict the market will grow to 7 billion dollars by 2025 and although cashews are currently cheaper than they've been in recent years demand is likely to drive prices higher in the future [Music] this is said to be the world's oldest leather-making tradition it's called vegetable tanning and it's a process that has been perfected over generations here in tuscany artisans spend four to six weeks perfecting each piece that they touch vegetable tanned leather is considered higher quality and will last longer than synthetically treated leather it takes at least 28 times longer to make which is part of the reason why vegetable tanned leather only makes up roughly ten percent of all leather available today it can also cost around three times more than the cheaper version so how exactly is vegetable tanned leather made and why is it so expensive [Music] vegetable tanning is said to date back to roughly 6000 bce when people living in early civilizations sought a way to make animal skins resistant to weather and decay genuine vegetable tanned leather uses these natural tanning agents from sources like cabracho chestnut or mimosa trees [Music] the substances known as tannins will naturally bind to the collagen proteins in a hide turning it into leather as we know it just as they do for trees the tannins protect hides being turned into leather from bacteria and other substances which gives leather the longevity and versatility that it's known for until the 19th century vegetable tanning was the only way to make leather but today ninety percent of all leather goods are made using chrome or mineral tanning a leather making process that uses synthetic tannins on first glance consumers may think this softer leather is of higher quality but it won't have the same life span [Music] when the hides arrive at the tannery they soak in water for 24 hours to remove the salt that kept them preserved on their journey [Music] then they are de-haired and limed a process that prepares the skins to receive the tanning substances leather makers add the hides along with the tannins to this large wooden rotating vessel known as a drum the hides stay here for three to seven weeks to tan here is where you can begin to see the differences between vegetable tanned leather and its modern day alternative chrome tanning where hides sit in a drum with water and synthetic extracts for only a single day just this difference in production time adds to the price of vegetable tanned leather once the hides have been removed from the drums skilled artisans inspect each piece depending on the final product the leather can be re-tanned dyed or greased this process is known as fat lickering these three procedures can be done to adjust the elasticity softness or color of the leather whether they happen depends on the vision of the artisanal [Music] the tanned hides dry on hooks for several days in a special environment controlled room the humidity and temperature in the room have to be just right this is something that can't be learned quickly and shows the skill of these leather makers the time of the year the weather and the humidity in the factory itself can all play a part in adjusting for this perfect temperature if any hide is over dried it must be taken back to the drums and reconditioned you can tell vegetable tan leather apart from mineral tanned leather by its two defining qualities first it changes color in the light and develops a rich patina a patina is the shine that develops over time on a leather product that makes it unique second vegetable tanned leather will become more supple with age these qualities are made possible by the natural properties of the leather vegetable tanning leaves the hides in an organic state that lets them age like skin with synthetically treated leather each piece is the same that's by design leather produced with vegetable tanning however will garner the most beautiful patina as it is worn or used no two pieces will age the same [Music] after it's dry the hide goes to the staking machine where small hammers repeatedly pound the leather to make it softer sometimes the leather mills for several hours in a dry drum giving it a special natural grain [Music] in the end the leather is trimmed measured and packaged finished products are valued for their variations which can add to the price artisans take pride in the natural markings and differences that prove the leather's authenticity [Music] microscopy all vegetable tanned leather from tuscany must meet a set of specific standards for the consortium to verify it as authentic tanneries must use all-natural raw materials and ensure that no animal is killed for its skin and in the end the most important mission of vegetable tanneries in tuscany is to keep a cultural craft alive no matter the cost [Music] with every shaving and small incision master artisans turn these trunks of wood into 32 hand carved chess pieces you can pick up a plastic set for twenty dollars but a wooden set certified for the world chess championship costs five hundred dollars much of the value of a high quality set comes down to how well just one piece is made the knight there are less than 10 people who are trusted to carve the knights for the official world chess championship sets so how are these chessmen made and why are they so expensive at this factory in omrisar india artisans carved the pieces for the official world chess championship sets and the factory produces only 250 of them each year artisans train over four to five months learning to masterfully shape each figure these small blocks of boxwood were once large trunks dried for three to six months cut down and shaped to the necessary size each block is attached to a lathe which turns the block rapidly before artisans begin to carve artisans use particular steel tools called cutters designed to make the proper cuts and overall shape of a chessmen once the cutter makes contact it immediately changes the wood and any slight misstep could ruin the final shape of the piece no piece is more difficult to produce than the night while other pieces are carved in just a few minutes a single night takes two hours to produce less than 10 people are trained to craft knights for these championship sets hello compare that to the four to five months it takes an artisan to learn how to carve the other chess pieces but unlike these other chessmen the knight isn't an abstract representation of a medieval figure it's designed to look like a realistic horse head it's the most detailed of all the pieces each carving is intentional from the hair on a knight's tail to the curve of its neck the quality of the final piece largely depends on the skill of the artisan a top quality night must be completely symmetrical but it's just as important that all four nights in the set look totally uniform otherwise the set altogether won't be nearly as valuable according to the house of staunton a large manufacturer of chess sets a set of finely carved knights can represent up to 50 percent of the total cost of the chessmen the other chessmen have specific height and width requirements designed by architect daniel whale the king must be the tallest at 95 millimeters and have a base that's 39 millimeters wide the largest of them all the pieces have defining characteristics like the king's crown or the refined jewel at the top of the queen's coronet these distinct features require more time and effort for the carver the king's crown in a championship set should have eight small cuts and be slightly rounded along the edges compare this king to the king of a regular set which has a much simpler straight edge design pieces with even simpler designs than that like a rook take these artisans seven times longer to produce compared to regular chess sets if the chessmen is like of a championship set then we are only able to make 25 to 30 kings in a day because it's a very special design if we are talking about making chessmen for tournament players which are used in vast quantities then a cover is even able to make 200 to 250 chess kings in a day but the design of these chess pieces isn't solely aesthetic it can actually affect the outcome of a game each piece must be the correct height the king being the tallest followed by the queen bishop knight rook and pawn the detailed features are also essential by lowering the chances a player will make a mistake if you see in medieval ages the chessmen were not really in a good form the chessmen were round some of them were spiral the knives were not even carved in the shape of a knight in this form you can see the kings properly the night very distinguished the bishop has a mitre cut the queen's is very sharp so you can easily distinguish between all the six pieces this is known as the staunton design the only style allowed in international competition today [Music] pieces used in the championship match have an electronic coil making it possible to track and broadcast each player's move a full set with this tracking component costs about seven hundred dollars more the weight of each piece along with the felt bottom are two more significant factors that affect the game both make the chessmen easier to use effectively upping their value if the pieces are properly awaited then they do not fall while you are moving the pieces on the boats and also it gives a very nice and a special feel to a chess men some chessmen must be dyed black and dried for 10 days all of the pieces are buffed and polished three times before they're assessed for quality chess has been played for over 1 000 years with some form of the game first appearing in india around the sixth century over the past two centuries high-level competitions have drawn international interest in the game today tournaments continue to keep the game popular as do displays of these competitions in the media the release of the limited series the queen's gambit on netflix sent sales of chess sets skyrocketing in november 2020 and although this demand is a positive for the industry it also poses a challenge to chess producers like aditya it is very difficult to find good quality skilled carvers for manufacturing chessmen and even after four to five months six months we don't know if the carver would be good enough to carve a nice chessmen so nobody wants to spend so much of time and realize that he was not able to carve the desired quality of chessmen without enough experienced carvers these sets could become more difficult to produce and it's fair to expect that 500 sets like these and similarly hand carved ones could get even pricier in the future [Music] you

Channel: Business Insider

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Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, so expensive, marathon

Id: aUMFZvVwx5o

Length: 120min 46sec (7246 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 17 2021