These Are The Most Expensive Things In The World Right Now

Have you ever wondered what are the most expensive things in the world? It’s a bit herculean trying to decide which are the most expensive among the zillion items on this big Earth. In doing so, therefore, a number of factors come into play. For instance, the prices of items depend on your location. Also, different items are valued differently, which makes you wonder where the expensiveness is to be pegged. Are we measuring the expensiveness based on the price per unit value such as weight or volume for example? Or, are we considering the expensiveness based on the dollar value you must part with at a go? Or are we considering the value derived over time?

Whatever be the case, we have scored through these factors and have come up with this list of the most expensive things in the world right now.

These Are The Most Expensive Things In The World Right Now

History Supreme – The Most Expensive Yacht In The World ($4.8 billion)

History Supreme the most expensive yacht in the world
History Supreme: Image source.

If you are ever lucky enough to step your feet on History Supreme you might as well be counted among the world’s wealthiest. This superyacht made by the famous designer Stuart Hughes has been valued variously with the highest we have found being $4.8 billion. Officially, however, the luxury liner is listed at 3 billion GBP on the Stuart Hughes Website, an amount which translates to 3,642,900,000 USD. However, after adding the tax due to the purchase, the price comes up to the neighborhoods of $4.8 billion depending on the exchange rates at the time of the purchase.

History Supreme measures 100 feet in length and is adorned with 100,000 kg of ornamental metals especially platinum and gold. Just like other luxury liners, this vessel has a deck, base, sleeping areas, dining halls, and recreational facilities. However, one thing that sets it apart from its peers is that its walls are lined with what you would think is ivory (which would have been lavish enough all the same). But Hughes says those super-polished bony structures are genuine dinosaur bones.

Other superyachts that trail far behind History Supreme in cost are Azzam – valued at $650 million, Dubai at $350 million, Serene at $330 million, and Superyacht A at $323 million.

Buckingham Palace – The Most Expensive House ($5 billion)

Buckingham Palace the most expensive house.
Buckingham Palace: Image source.

The official residence of the Queen of England has been valued at $5 billion. The worth differs according to sources, however, all the sources are unanimous on the fact that the royal residence is the most expensive house that the Planet can offer today. Originally constructed for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703, the edifice in its present form occupies a surface area of 828,000 square feet and has a 40-acre garden adjoining it. It contains 775 rooms which include 240 bedrooms, 92 offices, and 78 bathrooms. However, the top dollar-value accorded Buckingham Palace has little to do with its size – after all, it is rated only the 14th largest palatial structure on Earth. So, we think that its high worth is to be traced to its rich historical significance not minding the fact that it has undergone many renovations over the centuries.

La Voiture Noire – $19 million

Bugatti La Voiture Noire the most expensive car in the world
La Voiture Noire: Image source.

La Voiture Noire is the latest product from the foundries of the French high-performance automaker Automobiles Ettore Bugatti. The design of La Voiture Noire (a name that translates as ‘the black car’) was inspired from a rare 1930s product of Bugatti, one of which came to be known simply as ‘the black car’ then. There is no doubt that this historical connection was a part of the marketing that got the price so high. However, the top-grossing make also has many comforts to offer its owner. Its shop price is 11.1 million euros (12.5 million USD). However, after the inclusion of tax, the price of ‘the black car’ comes up to 16.7 million euros or 19 million USD. So far, only one of it has been made.

Until recently, Rolls-Royce’s Sweptail was the most expensive car on Earth. The luxury car which ironically accommodates only two occupants at a go was designed to be a yacht on four wheels. Its current official price is $13 million (tax inclusive).

iPhone 4S Elite Gold ($9.4 million)

iPhone 4S Elite Gold
iPhone 4S Elite Gold: Image source.

These days, smartphones have become an integral part of our lives on Earth and are some of the items with the widest price range. This is especially because as everyone must own a phone, but we can’t all afford the same types. Obviously there has to be a mark of difference between the rich and the not so rich even in the kinds of phone we use.

In light of this, therefore, the most expensive smartphone on our planet is right now is iPhone 4S Elite Gold. Coincidentally and yet, expectedly, this iPhone was designed by the Liverpool-based bling king Stuart Hughes, the same person who designed the most expensive superyacht and the most expensive iPad (iPad 2 Gold History Edition).

Stuart Hughe’s iPhone currently costs a whopping $9.4 million. But what could make a smartphone cost so much? Is it just the software capability or is there more? The high-brow gadget has a back covered with 24-karat gold, and buttons and other parts made of 16-karat pure diamond.

Most Expensive Food Item In The World Right Now

Dried saffron spice
Dried saffron spice: Image source.

The most expensive food item throughout the Earth (irrespective of differences in location) is saffron at an average price of $11 per gram. That does not sound like much does it? Question is what is saffron, and why is it so costly?

Saffron is a spicy substance produced from the crimson red stigma and styles of the autumn crocus plant. It is used mainly as a seasoning and coloring agent in cooking due to its brilliant red color and its fragrance that has been likened to that of carbon tetraiodide. Its costly nature has been traced to the fact that its production is very labor-intensive. It involves collecting series and series of tiny stigma and styles of the plant. The collection is then dried before it undergoes further processing that brings it to its final form.

Most Expensive Parking Lot 

The most expensive parking lots in Manhattan
Parking lots listed for $1 million apiece on 42 Crosby Street in SoHo Manhattan, NY: Image source.

Apparently, there are places where you pay as much as $1 million for a parking space! To start with, everyone knows that parking lots in Manhattan New York are the costliest you can find. As you would expect, the $1-million-worth parking lot (earlier referred to) is said to be in Manhattan. However, a report by Business Insider (referencing Wall Street Journal) shows that the $1 million price tag is for the outright purchase of the spaces which are parts of condominiums developed and listed for sale. They are located on 42 Crosby Street, SoHo and 15 Renwick Street, Hudson Square (both in Lower Manhattan) and what’s more, they are so much more expensive than the actual apartments that people who buy these spaces live in just above it.

Most Expensive Substance (Per gram) – Antimatter

CERN scientists working to develop transport system for antimatter.
CERN scientists working to develop a suitable transport system for Antimatter: Image source.

We expected the most expensive substance produced by mother Earth to be things like diamond or gold. But no, the very costliest that we have found is called Antimatter. So, in case you are thinking of going on a treasure hunt any time soon, just go look for this rare substance that is valued at 62.5 trillion USD per gram.

Antimatter is a substance composed of the opposite-charged particles of the same atomic constituent. Because of this, if it ever comes into contact with the same particles in normal matter, both particles will automatically annihilate each other. As a result of this, one of the major factors militating against the production of Antimatter is a lack of suitable storage facility for it (since every storage medium is made up of particles of matter that will likely get annihilated upon coming in contact with Antimatter).

Extremely rare in its naturally occurring forms, therefore, the lab-production of Antimatter in any substantial amount has been hardly practicable so far because of the extremely enormous amount of work needed to realize its storage and transport facility. However, scientists (particularly CERN scientists) are laboring to find out possible ways to pull off commercial production of the substance. It is hoped that when this is eventually realized, it would be used for powering spacecraft.

See Also: Heads-up Ladies: See The Most Expensive Manicure Ever.

Jade

lumps of jade
Lumps of jade: Image source.

While Antimatter has not been made commercially possible so far, the next most expensive and commercially available substance is jade which is a naturally occurring substance. Valued at $170 million per gram, jade is a greenish silicate substance that is valuable mainly as an ornamental stone. It is found mostly in Southeast Asia (particularly Myanmar where about 70% of the world’s deposit of jade is found). But you also have it in negligible quantities in other places such as China and Canada.

Other expensive substances are Californium (valued at $26 million per gram), Diamond ($55,000 per gram), Tritium ($30,000 per gram), Taaffeite ($20,000 per gram), and Painite ($9000 per gram). These are just some of the very many expensive things in the world that most often, only the rich and super-wealthy enjoy.

Chinedu Nweke
Chinedu Nweke
A graduate of Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, Italy, Chinedu Desmond Nweke is a computer teacher, writer and a humanist.

Recommended

Featured Today

Related Stories