a stamp from tonga
Tuesday 29 March 2011
World’s Most Expensive Beds
A person typically spends a third of their life sleeping, so why not make the most of that time by spending a ridiculous amount of money on an extravagant bed? Each supremely expensive bed is luxurious in its own way, and we’re certain almost anyone will find one of these beds most desirable.
Parnian Furniture bed – over $210,000
Furniture designer Abdolhay Parnian treats his furniture like works of art and it shows in the final product. It’s taken him two years to design this bed and I think you’ll agree that it was well worth the wait. It’s not only visually striking, with the eyelike headboard that will surely dominate any bedroom, but also equipped with features sure to intrigue even the most jaded of millionaires. The purchaser may choose from a variety of materials, including the ebony, sapele and curly maple in the pictured display model, as well as technological features such as iPad holders and charging stations, hidden compartments and pop-up swiveling televisions and computer monitors.
Jado Steel Style Gold Bed – $676,550
If you want to go all out with a bed that conveys wealth like no other, you can’t go wrong with the Gold Bed. As its name suggests, the luxurious waterbed is coated in 24k gold and features Swarovski crystals along the sideboard. It’s equipped with a DVD player and Bose sound system, Blu-ray player, Playstation 3, a foldaway plasma television coated in gold and can even be connected to the internet.
Magnetic Floating Bed – $1.6 million
The 2006 Millionaire Fair in Kortrijk, Belgium saw the debut of a magnetic floating bed that pretty much takes the cake for the coolest bed in the world—and the most expensive. Conventional beds and mattresses haven’t changed much over the years, and that’s where Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars comes in. The goal in his project was to make a usable piece of furniture that wasn’t constrained by the laws of gravity.
Ruijssenaars reportedly worked on the technology for six years in collaboration with Bakker Magnetics. Permanent opposing industrial-strength magnets allow the bed to float around 1.3 feet off the floor while holding almost 2,000 lbs. This aesthetically pleasing technology could also be applied to other areas in home furnishings like coffee tables, sofas, and Japanese dining tables. How cool would it be to eat sushi and drink sake off a floating table?
While the expensive bed will run you €1,200,000 (US $1.6 million), a smaller unit, one fifth of the full size, costs €115,000 (US $153,000). If you are a millionaire and simply must have this eye-catching bed, the people at Universe Architecture would be happy to make it happen for you.
Baldacchino Supreme – $6.3 million
After four years on the top, the magnetic floating bed has been unseated by luxury designer Stuart Hughes. whose collaboration with Italy’s Fratelli Basile has created nothing short of the most expensive bed in the world–the Baldacchino Supreme.
Fratelli Basile’s Hebanon furniture evokes the timeless qualities of 18th century furniture while making use of modern craftsmanship. This bed, with its chestnut structure and ash wood canopy, is no exception. The exterior is lacquered, patinated and decorated with 107 kg of 24k gold. The bed also features the finest Italian silk and cotton.
World’s Most Expensive Conditioner
If you’re already using a luxury shampoo, it would be a shame to treat your hair with an inferior conditioner. With that in mind, we present what may just be the most expensive conditioner in the world—Russian Amber Imperial Conditioning Crème by Phillip B.
The conditioner promises to revitalize even the most damaged hair—coarse or fine—with 11 L-amino acids, leaving it lustrous and lush. The conditioner’s rejuvenative qualities come from a Romanov-inspired blend of nettle, chamomile, rosemary, sage, burdock and grape seed, as well as a touch of amber oil.
The expensive conditioner can be purchased in a 2-oz travel-sized tube for $52 or a 6-oz tube for $120.
Most Expensive Dress Shirt
They say the clothes make the man. That’s probably less true today than when you could tell a man’s occupation by the hat he wore, but if it’s true of anything then it’s true of the world’s most expensive shirt.
Swedish shirt-making company Eton, celebrating their 80th birthday, created this shirt out of the finest Egyptian cotton. Of course, it couldn’t be the most expensive shirt in the world without a few diamonds. Both the studs and the cufflinks are encrusted with diamonds—white diamonds on the cufflinks and colored diamonds on the studs.
As if that isn’t enough, the dress shirt will be touring the world before it’s sold at auction next year. The luxurious shirt will make stops in Milan, LA, Stockholm and a few other places with Eton stores.
The most expensive shirt is valued at £23,000 (over $45,000). Proceeds from its sale will go to charity.
Most Expensive Wedding Dress
A wedding is an expensive occasion for even the most humble bride and groom. Imagine, then, the wedding that includes the most expensive wedding dress in the world. The Diamond Wedding Gown is a collaboration of Renee Strauss, owner of a highly successful bridal salon in Beverly Hills, and Martin Katz, who deals in rare jewels. Featuring 150 carats of diamonds, the dress is valued at US $12 million.
Most Expensive Purses
Expensive purses have long been status symbols in upper-class culture. For years women routinely shelled out hundreds, sometimes thousands for the “it” bag, but the major price shift to the five figure handbag occurred nearly five years ago when bag makers started offering “signature items”. With this shift came a willingness to spend way more than necessary and the idea that these handbags are not just accessories, but investments and collectibles too. Check out the most expensive purses in the world.
Louis Vuitton’s Tribute Patchwork Bag – $45,000
Louis Vuitton’s Tribute Patchwork Bag, LV’s most expensive handbag, has an even higher retail price. This hideous bag, made in 2007 from fifteen other bags exhumed from LV’s fashion graveyard—their spring/summer and cruise lines, to be exact—actually sold out fairly quickly.
One can only hope that the supply, limited to only twenty-four numbered bags, had more to do with that than high demand.
Hermès “Birkin” – $64,800
While a Hermès “Birkin” bag retails at $37,000 USD, the highest amount paid for one of these bags was $64,800 USD, sold at a Doyle New York auction in April of 2005. This black crocodile-skin features silver hardware, 14-karat white gold closure plates paved with 174 diamonds and an additional 310 diamonds on the lock. The 484 diamonds weigh in at 14.11 carats.
Leiber Precious Rose – $92,000
Without a doubt, the most remarkable thing about Judith Leiber’s most expensive handbag is its unique rose shape. There’s a lot more going on with this purse than that, however. It’s lined with metallic kidskin and features 1,016 diamonds (42.56 carats), 1,169 pink sapphires and 800 pink tourmalines. For the purse’s metal components, Leiber used 18-karat white gold. Only one was ever made and it’s no longer available from Leiber’s boutique.
Lana Marks’ Cleopatra Clutch – $100,000
Lana Marks releases just one of these limited edition bags per year. Pictured here is the 2007 bag, made with metallic silver alligator skin and 1,500 fully cut, faceted black and white diamonds set in an 18-karat white gold frame. Each year’s bag is signed and numbered.
Chanel “Diamond Forever” Classic Bag – $261,000
Only thirteen of these pricey Chanel bags were created with only five available stateside. The alligator-skin bags featured clasps set with 334 diamond (3.56 carats) in the shape of Chanel’s trademark double-C logo. Eighteen-karat white gold was used to fashion both the clasp and the bag’s long shoulder straps.
Ginza Tanaka’s purse – $1.9 million
The most expensive purse in the world is a unique bag created by Japanese jewelry house Ginza Tanaka. It shouldn’t surprise you that the most expensive purse is covered in diamonds—over 2,000 diamonds totaling 208 carats, in fact—but the bag’s other features make it truly special. For one thing, the rest of the bag is made of platinum, a very difficult metal to work for such a project. For another, the strap and clasp can be detached and worn as a necklace and brooch. It’s almost as if they expect someone to actually use this bag!
The luxurious handbag will be on display in several stores across London during the first ever London Jewellery Week. It’s being offered by jewelry shop Nicholas James for the phenomenal price of £1 million (nearly US $2 million).
World’s Top Ten Most Expensive Foods
If you’re looking to expand your horizons into the world of excess culinary expense, then you could do worse than starting with a few items on the list below. We’ve collected some of the most outlandish, outrageous and, above all, the most expensive foods in the world.
The matsutake, or mattake, mushroom is expensive because of its rarity. While its historical prevalence meant it was nearly synonymous with autumn in Japan, the introduction of an insect that kills the trees under which the mushroom grows has caused a dramatic decrease in the number of matsutake mushrooms. A method for farming the matsutake has yet to be developed, which means the lack of trees from which to harvest these mushrooms naturally is a serious problem for the species.
This bagel, created by Executive Chef Frank Tujague for New York’s Westin Hotel, is topped with white truffle cream cheese and goji berry infused Riesling jelly with golden leaves. The bagel’s price is justified when you consider that white truffles happen to be the second most expensive food by weight, eclipsed only by caviar. The underground fungus grows only under specific oak trees in Alba, Italy. Their pheromone-like odor is considered to be an aphrodisiac and is the reason dogs and female pigs are used to hunt the precious truffle.
This absurdly expensive breakfast item consists of a mixture of eggs, lobster and 10 ounces of sevruga caviar (which costs the restaurant $65 per ounce). On the menu next to the expensive omelet there is a challenge that reads, “Norma dares you to expense this.”
While Wagyu cattle are raised both in and outside Japan, the Kobe varietal which is raised specifically in the Hyogo prefecture is the most elite. Employing the most traditional production methods, Kobe beef comes from cows that are allegedly fed only beer and massaged by hand to ensure a tenderness and marbling beyond compare. These dishes can be out of range for the average restaurateur, carrying an unhealthy load of fat and a price tag to match. For your next after-work social, you might try taking your associates to New York City’s Craftsteak, where a full Wagyu rib eye was served up to a private party for $2800.
To celebrate the DVD release of Slumdog Millionaire, Bombay Brassiere packed this curry platter full of the most expensive ingredients they could find. Devon crab and white truffle and a half tomato filled with Beluga caviar and dressed with gold leaf are just the start of this lavish dish. A Scottish lobster, also coated with gold, four abalone and four shelled and hollowed quails’ eggs filled with even more caviar round out the dish.
The 12 inch pizza pie is densely packed with an assortment of some of the world’s most expensive food ingredients, such as lobster marinated in cognac, caviar soaked in champagne, sunblush tomato sauce, Scottish smoked salmon, venison medallions, prosciutto, and vintage balsamic vinegar. In addition to all these fine ingredients, it’s topped with a significant amount of edible 24-carat gold flakes.
In a country where watermelons are rare game, they can be a costly commodity. That’s how a 17-pound Japanese watermelon became the most expensive watermelon in the world. Densuke watermelons, a type of black watermelon grown only on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, are usually given as gifts due to their extraordinary rarity. There were only sixty-five of the fruits among the first harvest this season. They are harder and crisper than the watermelons we Americans are used to and, according to Tohma Agricultural Cooperative’s spokesman, they “have a different level of sweetness.”
Another type of expensive melon, the world’s most expensive cantaloupes are a pair of Yubari melons and were the first auction of the 2008 season. They had previously been judged the best pair and were purchased by the owner of a nearby seafood lunchbox and souvenir business. It had some competition—100 melons grown by farmers from Yubari were also judged.
Almas caviar comes from Iran making it extremely rare and extremely expensive. The only known outlet is the Caviar House & Prunier in London England’s Picadilly that sells a kilo of the expensive Almas caviar in a 24-karat gold tin for £16,000, or about $25,000. Coincidentally, it is also where you can find the most expensive meal in Britain. The Caviar House also sells a £800 tin for those on a smaller budget.
Expensive truffles are notoriously pricey because they are difficult to cultivate. This makes them a true delicacy which some have called the king of all fungi. The Associate Press reported that a real estate investor and his wife from Hong Kong have paid €125,000 ($160,406 USD) for a gigantic Italian White Alba truffle which is reportedly the world’s most expensive ever. The most expensive truffle weighs in 1.51 kilograms (3.3 lbs).
World’s Most Expensive Stamps
Since the turn of the twentieth century, collectors have swooned over rare and unusual stamps. In fact, there’s even a field of research, called philately, devoted to the study of valuable stamps. You might ask why someone would spend so much time and/or money on a small piece of sticky paper that once graced the top corner of an envelope.The reason is that, like similarly expensive collectibles such as comic books and baseball cards, many stamps rise in value phenomenally compared to other stamps.
The late Alfred H. Caspary is one of the best examples of a person who successfully profited from stamp collecting. Almost a century ago, Caspary started collecting stamps–but not just any stamps! Caspary only purchased the most valuable ones he could find. He did this with the intention of investing for his family’s future, a goal many stamp collectors still hold. His stamp collection went on to fetch world record setting prices upon his death with his heirs reaping all of the benefits.
The Treskilling Yellow – $2.3 million or more
The world’s most expensive stamp was printed in Sweden in 1855 and was the result of a printing error. Instead of printing the three-skilling stamp on green stock, it was printed on yellow/orange stock paper. In 1970, the authenticity of this misprinted stamp was questioned by the Swedish Postal Museum, but it was found to be genuine. Similar printing errors have resulted in many other expensive collectibles such as misprinted coins and baseball cards.
Only one copy of the “Treskilling Yellow” postage stamp is known to exist. The most expensive stamp in the world was part of the first Swedish stamp series in the years 1855 and, in 1886, a young collector named George William Backman discovered this stamp in his grandmother’s attic.
The stamp has changed hands numerous times since then. One of the stamp’s first owners since Backman’s discovery was Philipp von Ferrary, who acquired it in 1894 as an addition to his then unequaled stamp collection.
Ferrary’s collection was auctioned in the 1920s and made its way into the hands of such notables as Baron Eric Leijonhufvud of Sweden and eventually King Carol II of Romania.
It first achieved a million US dollar price tag when it was sold in 1990. Six years later, it was sold for 2.5 million Swiss francs–around US $2.3 million.
In 2010, the stamp made headlines again with a record-breaking sale to an international consortium. While the exact figure is unknown, auctioneer David Feldman–who sold the stamp from his own collection in 1984 and oversaw this most recent sale–revealed that it at least maintained the $2.3 million price achieved in 1996.
Andi Herzog Lenticular Stamp – $8.42
Old stamps aren’t the only expensive stamps, though. While it isn’t likely that anyone will ever pay millions of dollars for a new stamp, Austrians were recently given the option of buying the most expensive stamp in print.
This revolutionary stamp isn’t any ordinary stamp, of course. It’s a lenticular stamp featuring approximately three minutes of footage of Austria’s legendary football player, Andi Herzog. The footage shows the goal that allowed Austria to compete in the World Championships in 1998. It’s even shown from three different angles.
The most expensive stamp in print is also the largest one. It measures in at 6.5 by 4.7 cm (or around 2.5 by 1.8 inches). It can be purchased for €5.45 (around $8.42).
World’s Most Expensive Watches
Watch collecting may be one of the most expensive hobbies in the world, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. Many antique timepieces are a testament to the brilliance of early and modern innovators.
Vacherin Constantin’s Tour de l’Ile – $1.5 million
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin marked its 250th anniversary in 2005 with the world’s most complicated wrist watch—the Tour de l’Ile. The watch is so complicated that it required over 10,000 hours of research to create. Its name refers to one of the historical sites of the venerable company, located next to the current Maison Vacheron Constantin on the Quai de l’Ile.
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin marked its 250th anniversary in 2005 with the world’s most complicated wrist watch—the Tour de l’Ile. The watch is so complicated that it required over 10,000 hours of research to create. Its name refers to one of the historical sites of the venerable company, located next to the current Maison Vacheron Constantin on the Quai de l’Ile.
Only produced in a limited edition of seven pieces, this expensive watch is also the most complicated double-face watch. Tour de l’Ile is made with a totally original combination of horological complications (that is, features beyond the simple telling of the time of day) and astronomical indications composing a list of sixteen different points including a minute repeater, sunset time, perpetual calendar, second time zone, a tourbillion device, the equation of time and a representation of the night sky.
At $1.5 million, this is one of the world’s most expensive watch produced in recent years.
Patek Philippe’s Platinum World Time – over $4 million
The Platinum World Time created by Patek Philippe was sold at auction for over $4 million USD in 2002. It is believed that only one was created and, at the time, it was the most expensive wristwatch in the world.
In fact, Patek Philippe had produced all of the ten most expensive watches in the world. The company, headquartered in Geneva, made their first wristwatch in 1868. They had already made a name for themselves prior to that, however, by providing watches to Queen Victoria herself in 1851. Other notable customers include Pope Pius IX, a king and queen of Denmark, an Italian king and Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law. If millions of dollars for a watch is too much for you, don’t worry you can find a Patek Philippestarting around $20,000 USD.
Patek Phillipe’s Supercomplication- $11 million
Patek Philippe’s most expensive watch was a yellow-gold pocket watch created in 1932 for New York banker Henry Graves, Jr. The watch, Supercomplication, was created as part of a vain competition Graves had with Ohio automobile engineer James Ward Packard to have commissioned a watch with the most complications in the world. This watch, of course, guaranteed that Graves won the contest. Supercomplication wasn’t surpassed until over fifty years later, when Patek Philippe created the 18k gold Caliber 89 which had a total of thirty-three different functions.
Graves’ watch became the most expensive watch in the world when it was sold at auction in 1999 for over $11 million USD. Caliber 89 went for a mere $6 million.
Chopard’s $25 million watch
Yes, you read that right: twenty-five million dollars. This gaudy timepiece by Chopard is adorned with three heart-shaped diamonds—a 15-carat pink diamond, a 12-carat blue diamond and an 11-carat white diamond. For good measure, they threw in 163 carats of white and yellow diamonds to bring the total to 201 carats of diamonds. The result is something that looks rather like a geode that’s been turned inside out and dipped in lemon Kool-Aid. Add to that the fact that the size of the watch’s face must make telling time into a fun game of Where’s Waldo and you’ll see that Chopard has truly created a recipe for success.
Of course, its $25 million price tag guarantees its place as the world’s most expensive watch for years to come.
Most Expensive Phone Number
The expensive phone number 666 6666 reportedly sold for 10m Qatari riyals or £1.5m, or around $2,750,000 US. In the West some consider 6 the imperfect number, but this is apparently not the consensus in Qatar.
The Register reports that the Chinese number 8888 8888 was previously the most expensive phone number, selling for £270,000 to Sichuan Airlines.
Most Expensive Coffee in the World
The most expensive coffee in the world does not hail from Jamaica or Hawaii, but instead from Indonesia.
Kopi Luwak the most expensive coffee in the world does exist, and those who drink the expensive coffee insist that it is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the Common palm civet, a weasel-like animal.
“Kopi” the Indonesian word for coffee along with “luwak” is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee beans. The civet digests the soft outer part of the coffee cherry, but does not digest the inner beans and excretes them.
Apparently the internal digestion ends up adds a unique flavor to the beans, removing the bitter flavor, and then beans are then picked up by locals and sold. The most expensive coffee beans can cost up to $600 a pound, and up to $50 per cup, if you can get over the fact that you are drinking such a strange brew.
You would know if you drank the most expensive coffee in the world, because the quantities of it are tiny amounts.
Most Expensive Guitar in the World
“Blackie”, Eric Clapton’s favorite mid-career modified Strat has been surpassed in value and is no longer the most expensive guitar ever, despite that it was bought for $950,000 USD in 2004 by a guitar archaeologist.
The latest most expensive electric guitar in the world dethroned its predecessor at an auction in Doha, Qatar on November 16th, 2005. The Strat was signed by several rock musicians to benefit a tsunami charity, ‘Reach out to Asia’. It was bought one year ago by Qatar’s royal family for a million dollars and donated back to the Asia Program, bringing in $2.7 million USD at the more recent auction, whose attendees included Former President Bill Clinton. Technically, the guitar has generated a total of $3.7 million USD, making it the most expensive guitar yet.
Signees of this expensive electric guitar included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray Davis, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus & Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams, the coordinator of the project.
World’s Most Expensive Hello Kitty Item
Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, that adorable cartoon cat that comes to us from Japanese popular culture, has appeared on a host of commercial products from credit cards to the Hello Kitty Jet (an Airbus A330-220). The character, designed by Yuko Shimizu, debuted in 1974 as a decoration on a vinyl coin purse.
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Hello Kitty in 2009, Sanrio partnered with crystal maker Swarovski and Japanese jeweler I.K. to create the Super Hello Kitty Jewel Doll. This 4-inch “doll” is made of solid platinum studded with thousands of precious gems, including 1,939 pieces of white topaz, 403 pink sapphires, a pair of black spinels for her eyes, a citrine for her nose and a 1.027-carat diamond on her signature bow.
The ultimate Hello Kitty doll was unveiled at Switzerland’s Baselworld watch and jewelry show and is valued at 15 million yen—about US $167,000!
World’s Most Expensive Scotch Whiskies
Scotch whisky is produced and aged, as the name suggest, in Scotland. By law, Scotch must be made from malted grain, must be matured in oak casks for at least three years and must have an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume. The age statement on a bottle of Scotch is determined by the youngest stock used in its production. The most expensive scotch whiskies in the world were each produced in one of the regions traditionally considered part of the Highlands region.
The Macallan 1926 – $54,000
This whisky, bottled in 1986 and rebottled in 2002, was auctioned in 2007 at Christie’s in New York. The auction was the first liquor auction allowed in New York state since the prohibition in 1920, and the Macallan was only expected to sell for between $20,000 and $30,000. The Macallan was produced in Speyside, formerly considered part of the Highlands region.
Dalmore 62 – $58,000
This single Highland malt Scotch whisky from the Dalmore Distillery in Inverness, Scotland, was one of only twelve bottles produced in 1943 from four single malts dating from 1868, 1876, 1926 and 1939. Each was labeled with its own unique name, this one being called Matheson after the Dalmore Estate’s owner, Alexander Matheson. It was purchased for £32,000 at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey, where the anonymous buyer reportedly shared it with five of his friends. It has been speculated that the buyer and his friends are the only people to have actually enjoyed a bottle of the expensive vintage.
Dalmore 64 Trinitas – $160,100
Yet another product of the Dalmore Distillery, Trinitas is so named because only three bottles of this expensive whisky have been made. The whisky is a blend of rare stocks, including some that have been maturing at the distillery for more than 140 years. Two bottles were sold in Glasgow in 2010, one to a US-based collector and one to a UK-based investor. It is the first Scotch to sell for six figures.
The Macallan 64 Year Old in Lalique – $460,000
A bottle of 64-year-old Macallan, the oldest whisky ever bottled by the Macallan distillery, became the most expensive whisky in the world when it sold at a charity auction in November, 2010. The catch, however, is that the auction also included a one-of-a-kind crystal decanter.
The decanter was created by Lalique using lost-wax casting, called “cire perdue” in French. The decanter was created to celebrate the anniversary of master glassmaker René Lalique’s birth. It is based on a decanter from the 1920s, when The Macallan distillery was founded. The crystal decanter and its expensive cargo have toured twelve cities to raise awareness for charity: water, including Paris, London, Hong Kong and its final stop at Sotheby’s in New York.
The entirety of the sale price of this expensive whisky was donated to charity: water. In addition, US $145,000 were raised for charity: water during the Macallan’s “tour du monde“.
EXPENSIVE RING
Most Expensive Ring
If you’re an aging bachelor and billionaire looking to wed someone half your age, you may want to look into expensive engagement rings. One such individual’s proposal to an ex-model involved a $1.5 million engagement ring. That may seem way out there, but it’s not even close to the most expensive ring in the world.
The Chopard Blue Diamond Ring is the ring that makes any other diamond ring look bad. Set with an enormous, oval-shaped blue diamond, the expensive ring also has diamond shoulders and an 18k white gold band paved with diamonds.
Blue diamond is among the most expensive diamonds in the world. It is found among boron deposits, from whence it derives its shade. This particular gem weighs in at nine carats.
The world’s most expensive ring is valued at $16.26 million, enough to put a dent in the wallets of even the wealthiest individuals.
EXPENSIVE POOL
City of Stars
Crystal Lagoons, the builders behind the mega-pool at San Alfonso del Mar, are using their patented filtering technology to construct increasingly large pools across the world. Their latest venture is located in Sharm el Sheikh , Egypt Stars
But Crystal Lagoons isn't stopping there. When City of Stars is complete, the company will move on to a new pool project in Soma Bay , just south of Cairo Soma Bay
EXPENSIVE TOILET
Luxe Bathroom Fixtures
Even though you can't buy the Hang Fung gold toilet for your master bath, there are plenty of other fancy fixtures available to accent this room. But you're going to have to shell out big bucks for them.
The Neorest 600 certainly falls into this category. The Neorest takes the cake as the most expensive commode available for purchase in the home. Produced by bathroom fixture manufacturer Toto, the Neorest 600 is a tankless, one-piece toilet. It may not be gold, but you could call it green: It's a low-flow toilet, conserving water by sending only 1.6 gallons down the drain per flush. But you'll be too busy sitting in awe of the Neorest to yearn for the water-frivolous days of the full-flow toilet. It's also a bathroom dynamo, doing all of the work your old toilet used to make you do.
Image courtesy Toto USA
The tankless Neorest 600 toilet offers hands-free bathroom experience. A remote control adjusts the features for
each user.
When the Neorest senses your approach, the toilet lifts its lid, inviting you to have a seat. Once you do your thing, a gentle blast of warm water cleans your bottom. This is followed by the toilet's air-dry function. And after you get up, the toilet flushes the ionized, self-cleaning bowl and deodorizes the air . With all of these features, maybe the $5,800 retail price for the Neorest 600 isn't so much, relatively speaking .Plus, you can find them for sale as low as $3,159 . Of course, you can get a regular residential toilet in the U.S. for around $150, but these certainly don't come with the bells and whistles the Neorest offers.
If you're going to remodel, why not go all the way? How about some gold leaf inlay in the counter's backsplash? And what about Italian marble tile for the bathroom's floor?
Be sure to install the big fixtures first. There's the Idrolux "L" shower, which retails for around $24,000. This freestanding shower includes UV panels, designed to give you a healthy, tanned glow while you bath. If you don't like standing when you scrub down, you can opt to rest easy in 21 inches of warm water in Kohler's Kallista Archeo bathtub. Before you sink into the tub, check the price tag: This freestanding copper bathtub goes for more than $66,000 .
How about a nice sink, too? The Italbrass Mezz'aria dual basin sink might look nice reflecting the blue UV glow of your tanning shower -- the wall-mounted floating sink is stainless steel. The nearly $7,500 price tag doesn't include the complementary mirror to go above it, but you'll want a mirror from another company anyway [source: Quality Bath]. Seura offers wall-mounted, over-the-sink mirrors as large as 45 inches wide that feature an LCD television embedded inside. You can get ready and watch the news at the same time. When turned off, the TV disappears, and the fixture looks like a normal mirror [source: Seura]. The mirrors and their frames can be customized per order, and they fetch around $5,000 for the 45-inch model .
Still, starting your day off in a bathroom with all of these luxury features would probably put a pretty good spin on things. And who can put a price on that feeling?
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Tuesday 29 March 2011
World’s Most Expensive Beds
A person typically spends a third of their life sleeping, so why not make the most of that time by spending a ridiculous amount of money on an extravagant bed? Each supremely expensive bed is luxurious in its own way, and we’re certain almost anyone will find one of these beds most desirable.
Parnian Furniture bed – over $210,000
Furniture designer Abdolhay Parnian treats his furniture like works of art and it shows in the final product. It’s taken him two years to design this bed and I think you’ll agree that it was well worth the wait. It’s not only visually striking, with the eyelike headboard that will surely dominate any bedroom, but also equipped with features sure to intrigue even the most jaded of millionaires. The purchaser may choose from a variety of materials, including the ebony, sapele and curly maple in the pictured display model, as well as technological features such as iPad holders and charging stations, hidden compartments and pop-up swiveling televisions and computer monitors.
Jado Steel Style Gold Bed – $676,550
If you want to go all out with a bed that conveys wealth like no other, you can’t go wrong with the Gold Bed. As its name suggests, the luxurious waterbed is coated in 24k gold and features Swarovski crystals along the sideboard. It’s equipped with a DVD player and Bose sound system, Blu-ray player, Playstation 3, a foldaway plasma television coated in gold and can even be connected to the internet.
Magnetic Floating Bed – $1.6 million
The 2006 Millionaire Fair in Kortrijk, Belgium saw the debut of a magnetic floating bed that pretty much takes the cake for the coolest bed in the world—and the most expensive. Conventional beds and mattresses haven’t changed much over the years, and that’s where Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars comes in. The goal in his project was to make a usable piece of furniture that wasn’t constrained by the laws of gravity.
Ruijssenaars reportedly worked on the technology for six years in collaboration with Bakker Magnetics. Permanent opposing industrial-strength magnets allow the bed to float around 1.3 feet off the floor while holding almost 2,000 lbs. This aesthetically pleasing technology could also be applied to other areas in home furnishings like coffee tables, sofas, and Japanese dining tables. How cool would it be to eat sushi and drink sake off a floating table?
While the expensive bed will run you €1,200,000 (US $1.6 million), a smaller unit, one fifth of the full size, costs €115,000 (US $153,000). If you are a millionaire and simply must have this eye-catching bed, the people at Universe Architecture would be happy to make it happen for you.
Baldacchino Supreme – $6.3 million
After four years on the top, the magnetic floating bed has been unseated by luxury designer Stuart Hughes. whose collaboration with Italy’s Fratelli Basile has created nothing short of the most expensive bed in the world–the Baldacchino Supreme.
Fratelli Basile’s Hebanon furniture evokes the timeless qualities of 18th century furniture while making use of modern craftsmanship. This bed, with its chestnut structure and ash wood canopy, is no exception. The exterior is lacquered, patinated and decorated with 107 kg of 24k gold. The bed also features the finest Italian silk and cotton.
World’s Most Expensive Conditioner
If you’re already using a luxury shampoo, it would be a shame to treat your hair with an inferior conditioner. With that in mind, we present what may just be the most expensive conditioner in the world—Russian Amber Imperial Conditioning Crème by Phillip B.
The conditioner promises to revitalize even the most damaged hair—coarse or fine—with 11 L-amino acids, leaving it lustrous and lush. The conditioner’s rejuvenative qualities come from a Romanov-inspired blend of nettle, chamomile, rosemary, sage, burdock and grape seed, as well as a touch of amber oil.
The expensive conditioner can be purchased in a 2-oz travel-sized tube for $52 or a 6-oz tube for $120.
Most Expensive Dress Shirt
They say the clothes make the man. That’s probably less true today than when you could tell a man’s occupation by the hat he wore, but if it’s true of anything then it’s true of the world’s most expensive shirt.
Swedish shirt-making company Eton, celebrating their 80th birthday, created this shirt out of the finest Egyptian cotton. Of course, it couldn’t be the most expensive shirt in the world without a few diamonds. Both the studs and the cufflinks are encrusted with diamonds—white diamonds on the cufflinks and colored diamonds on the studs.
As if that isn’t enough, the dress shirt will be touring the world before it’s sold at auction next year. The luxurious shirt will make stops in Milan, LA, Stockholm and a few other places with Eton stores.
The most expensive shirt is valued at £23,000 (over $45,000). Proceeds from its sale will go to charity.
Most Expensive Wedding Dress
A wedding is an expensive occasion for even the most humble bride and groom. Imagine, then, the wedding that includes the most expensive wedding dress in the world. The Diamond Wedding Gown is a collaboration of Renee Strauss, owner of a highly successful bridal salon in Beverly Hills, and Martin Katz, who deals in rare jewels. Featuring 150 carats of diamonds, the dress is valued at US $12 million.
Most Expensive Purses
Expensive purses have long been status symbols in upper-class culture. For years women routinely shelled out hundreds, sometimes thousands for the “it” bag, but the major price shift to the five figure handbag occurred nearly five years ago when bag makers started offering “signature items”. With this shift came a willingness to spend way more than necessary and the idea that these handbags are not just accessories, but investments and collectibles too. Check out the most expensive purses in the world.
Louis Vuitton’s Tribute Patchwork Bag – $45,000
Louis Vuitton’s Tribute Patchwork Bag, LV’s most expensive handbag, has an even higher retail price. This hideous bag, made in 2007 from fifteen other bags exhumed from LV’s fashion graveyard—their spring/summer and cruise lines, to be exact—actually sold out fairly quickly.
One can only hope that the supply, limited to only twenty-four numbered bags, had more to do with that than high demand.
Hermès “Birkin” – $64,800
While a Hermès “Birkin” bag retails at $37,000 USD, the highest amount paid for one of these bags was $64,800 USD, sold at a Doyle New York auction in April of 2005. This black crocodile-skin features silver hardware, 14-karat white gold closure plates paved with 174 diamonds and an additional 310 diamonds on the lock. The 484 diamonds weigh in at 14.11 carats.
Leiber Precious Rose – $92,000
Without a doubt, the most remarkable thing about Judith Leiber’s most expensive handbag is its unique rose shape. There’s a lot more going on with this purse than that, however. It’s lined with metallic kidskin and features 1,016 diamonds (42.56 carats), 1,169 pink sapphires and 800 pink tourmalines. For the purse’s metal components, Leiber used 18-karat white gold. Only one was ever made and it’s no longer available from Leiber’s boutique.
Lana Marks’ Cleopatra Clutch – $100,000
Lana Marks releases just one of these limited edition bags per year. Pictured here is the 2007 bag, made with metallic silver alligator skin and 1,500 fully cut, faceted black and white diamonds set in an 18-karat white gold frame. Each year’s bag is signed and numbered.
Chanel “Diamond Forever” Classic Bag – $261,000
Only thirteen of these pricey Chanel bags were created with only five available stateside. The alligator-skin bags featured clasps set with 334 diamond (3.56 carats) in the shape of Chanel’s trademark double-C logo. Eighteen-karat white gold was used to fashion both the clasp and the bag’s long shoulder straps.
Ginza Tanaka’s purse – $1.9 million
The most expensive purse in the world is a unique bag created by Japanese jewelry house Ginza Tanaka. It shouldn’t surprise you that the most expensive purse is covered in diamonds—over 2,000 diamonds totaling 208 carats, in fact—but the bag’s other features make it truly special. For one thing, the rest of the bag is made of platinum, a very difficult metal to work for such a project. For another, the strap and clasp can be detached and worn as a necklace and brooch. It’s almost as if they expect someone to actually use this bag!
The luxurious handbag will be on display in several stores across London during the first ever London Jewellery Week. It’s being offered by jewelry shop Nicholas James for the phenomenal price of £1 million (nearly US $2 million).
World’s Top Ten Most Expensive Foods
If you’re looking to expand your horizons into the world of excess culinary expense, then you could do worse than starting with a few items on the list below. We’ve collected some of the most outlandish, outrageous and, above all, the most expensive foods in the world.
The matsutake, or mattake, mushroom is expensive because of its rarity. While its historical prevalence meant it was nearly synonymous with autumn in Japan, the introduction of an insect that kills the trees under which the mushroom grows has caused a dramatic decrease in the number of matsutake mushrooms. A method for farming the matsutake has yet to be developed, which means the lack of trees from which to harvest these mushrooms naturally is a serious problem for the species.
This bagel, created by Executive Chef Frank Tujague for New York’s Westin Hotel, is topped with white truffle cream cheese and goji berry infused Riesling jelly with golden leaves. The bagel’s price is justified when you consider that white truffles happen to be the second most expensive food by weight, eclipsed only by caviar. The underground fungus grows only under specific oak trees in Alba, Italy. Their pheromone-like odor is considered to be an aphrodisiac and is the reason dogs and female pigs are used to hunt the precious truffle.
This absurdly expensive breakfast item consists of a mixture of eggs, lobster and 10 ounces of sevruga caviar (which costs the restaurant $65 per ounce). On the menu next to the expensive omelet there is a challenge that reads, “Norma dares you to expense this.”
While Wagyu cattle are raised both in and outside Japan, the Kobe varietal which is raised specifically in the Hyogo prefecture is the most elite. Employing the most traditional production methods, Kobe beef comes from cows that are allegedly fed only beer and massaged by hand to ensure a tenderness and marbling beyond compare. These dishes can be out of range for the average restaurateur, carrying an unhealthy load of fat and a price tag to match. For your next after-work social, you might try taking your associates to New York City’s Craftsteak, where a full Wagyu rib eye was served up to a private party for $2800.
To celebrate the DVD release of Slumdog Millionaire, Bombay Brassiere packed this curry platter full of the most expensive ingredients they could find. Devon crab and white truffle and a half tomato filled with Beluga caviar and dressed with gold leaf are just the start of this lavish dish. A Scottish lobster, also coated with gold, four abalone and four shelled and hollowed quails’ eggs filled with even more caviar round out the dish.
The 12 inch pizza pie is densely packed with an assortment of some of the world’s most expensive food ingredients, such as lobster marinated in cognac, caviar soaked in champagne, sunblush tomato sauce, Scottish smoked salmon, venison medallions, prosciutto, and vintage balsamic vinegar. In addition to all these fine ingredients, it’s topped with a significant amount of edible 24-carat gold flakes.
In a country where watermelons are rare game, they can be a costly commodity. That’s how a 17-pound Japanese watermelon became the most expensive watermelon in the world. Densuke watermelons, a type of black watermelon grown only on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, are usually given as gifts due to their extraordinary rarity. There were only sixty-five of the fruits among the first harvest this season. They are harder and crisper than the watermelons we Americans are used to and, according to Tohma Agricultural Cooperative’s spokesman, they “have a different level of sweetness.”
Another type of expensive melon, the world’s most expensive cantaloupes are a pair of Yubari melons and were the first auction of the 2008 season. They had previously been judged the best pair and were purchased by the owner of a nearby seafood lunchbox and souvenir business. It had some competition—100 melons grown by farmers from Yubari were also judged.
Almas caviar comes from Iran making it extremely rare and extremely expensive. The only known outlet is the Caviar House & Prunier in London England’s Picadilly that sells a kilo of the expensive Almas caviar in a 24-karat gold tin for £16,000, or about $25,000. Coincidentally, it is also where you can find the most expensive meal in Britain. The Caviar House also sells a £800 tin for those on a smaller budget.
Expensive truffles are notoriously pricey because they are difficult to cultivate. This makes them a true delicacy which some have called the king of all fungi. The Associate Press reported that a real estate investor and his wife from Hong Kong have paid €125,000 ($160,406 USD) for a gigantic Italian White Alba truffle which is reportedly the world’s most expensive ever. The most expensive truffle weighs in 1.51 kilograms (3.3 lbs).
World’s Most Expensive Stamps
Since the turn of the twentieth century, collectors have swooned over rare and unusual stamps. In fact, there’s even a field of research, called philately, devoted to the study of valuable stamps. You might ask why someone would spend so much time and/or money on a small piece of sticky paper that once graced the top corner of an envelope.The reason is that, like similarly expensive collectibles such as comic books and baseball cards, many stamps rise in value phenomenally compared to other stamps.
The late Alfred H. Caspary is one of the best examples of a person who successfully profited from stamp collecting. Almost a century ago, Caspary started collecting stamps–but not just any stamps! Caspary only purchased the most valuable ones he could find. He did this with the intention of investing for his family’s future, a goal many stamp collectors still hold. His stamp collection went on to fetch world record setting prices upon his death with his heirs reaping all of the benefits.
The Treskilling Yellow – $2.3 million or more
The world’s most expensive stamp was printed in Sweden in 1855 and was the result of a printing error. Instead of printing the three-skilling stamp on green stock, it was printed on yellow/orange stock paper. In 1970, the authenticity of this misprinted stamp was questioned by the Swedish Postal Museum, but it was found to be genuine. Similar printing errors have resulted in many other expensive collectibles such as misprinted coins and baseball cards.
Only one copy of the “Treskilling Yellow” postage stamp is known to exist. The most expensive stamp in the world was part of the first Swedish stamp series in the years 1855 and, in 1886, a young collector named George William Backman discovered this stamp in his grandmother’s attic.
The stamp has changed hands numerous times since then. One of the stamp’s first owners since Backman’s discovery was Philipp von Ferrary, who acquired it in 1894 as an addition to his then unequaled stamp collection.
Ferrary’s collection was auctioned in the 1920s and made its way into the hands of such notables as Baron Eric Leijonhufvud of Sweden and eventually King Carol II of Romania.
It first achieved a million US dollar price tag when it was sold in 1990. Six years later, it was sold for 2.5 million Swiss francs–around US $2.3 million.
In 2010, the stamp made headlines again with a record-breaking sale to an international consortium. While the exact figure is unknown, auctioneer David Feldman–who sold the stamp from his own collection in 1984 and oversaw this most recent sale–revealed that it at least maintained the $2.3 million price achieved in 1996.
Andi Herzog Lenticular Stamp – $8.42
Old stamps aren’t the only expensive stamps, though. While it isn’t likely that anyone will ever pay millions of dollars for a new stamp, Austrians were recently given the option of buying the most expensive stamp in print.
This revolutionary stamp isn’t any ordinary stamp, of course. It’s a lenticular stamp featuring approximately three minutes of footage of Austria’s legendary football player, Andi Herzog. The footage shows the goal that allowed Austria to compete in the World Championships in 1998. It’s even shown from three different angles.
The most expensive stamp in print is also the largest one. It measures in at 6.5 by 4.7 cm (or around 2.5 by 1.8 inches). It can be purchased for €5.45 (around $8.42).
World’s Most Expensive Watches
Watch collecting may be one of the most expensive hobbies in the world, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. Many antique timepieces are a testament to the brilliance of early and modern innovators.
Vacherin Constantin’s Tour de l’Ile – $1.5 million
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin marked its 250th anniversary in 2005 with the world’s most complicated wrist watch—the Tour de l’Ile. The watch is so complicated that it required over 10,000 hours of research to create. Its name refers to one of the historical sites of the venerable company, located next to the current Maison Vacheron Constantin on the Quai de l’Ile.
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin marked its 250th anniversary in 2005 with the world’s most complicated wrist watch—the Tour de l’Ile. The watch is so complicated that it required over 10,000 hours of research to create. Its name refers to one of the historical sites of the venerable company, located next to the current Maison Vacheron Constantin on the Quai de l’Ile.
Only produced in a limited edition of seven pieces, this expensive watch is also the most complicated double-face watch. Tour de l’Ile is made with a totally original combination of horological complications (that is, features beyond the simple telling of the time of day) and astronomical indications composing a list of sixteen different points including a minute repeater, sunset time, perpetual calendar, second time zone, a tourbillion device, the equation of time and a representation of the night sky.
At $1.5 million, this is one of the world’s most expensive watch produced in recent years.
Patek Philippe’s Platinum World Time – over $4 million
The Platinum World Time created by Patek Philippe was sold at auction for over $4 million USD in 2002. It is believed that only one was created and, at the time, it was the most expensive wristwatch in the world.
In fact, Patek Philippe had produced all of the ten most expensive watches in the world. The company, headquartered in Geneva, made their first wristwatch in 1868. They had already made a name for themselves prior to that, however, by providing watches to Queen Victoria herself in 1851. Other notable customers include Pope Pius IX, a king and queen of Denmark, an Italian king and Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law. If millions of dollars for a watch is too much for you, don’t worry you can find a Patek Philippestarting around $20,000 USD.
Patek Phillipe’s Supercomplication- $11 million
Patek Philippe’s most expensive watch was a yellow-gold pocket watch created in 1932 for New York banker Henry Graves, Jr. The watch, Supercomplication, was created as part of a vain competition Graves had with Ohio automobile engineer James Ward Packard to have commissioned a watch with the most complications in the world. This watch, of course, guaranteed that Graves won the contest. Supercomplication wasn’t surpassed until over fifty years later, when Patek Philippe created the 18k gold Caliber 89 which had a total of thirty-three different functions.
Graves’ watch became the most expensive watch in the world when it was sold at auction in 1999 for over $11 million USD. Caliber 89 went for a mere $6 million.
Chopard’s $25 million watch
Yes, you read that right: twenty-five million dollars. This gaudy timepiece by Chopard is adorned with three heart-shaped diamonds—a 15-carat pink diamond, a 12-carat blue diamond and an 11-carat white diamond. For good measure, they threw in 163 carats of white and yellow diamonds to bring the total to 201 carats of diamonds. The result is something that looks rather like a geode that’s been turned inside out and dipped in lemon Kool-Aid. Add to that the fact that the size of the watch’s face must make telling time into a fun game of Where’s Waldo and you’ll see that Chopard has truly created a recipe for success.
Of course, its $25 million price tag guarantees its place as the world’s most expensive watch for years to come.
Most Expensive Phone Number
The expensive phone number 666 6666 reportedly sold for 10m Qatari riyals or £1.5m, or around $2,750,000 US. In the West some consider 6 the imperfect number, but this is apparently not the consensus in Qatar.
The Register reports that the Chinese number 8888 8888 was previously the most expensive phone number, selling for £270,000 to Sichuan Airlines.
Most Expensive Coffee in the World
The most expensive coffee in the world does not hail from Jamaica or Hawaii, but instead from Indonesia.
Kopi Luwak the most expensive coffee in the world does exist, and those who drink the expensive coffee insist that it is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the Common palm civet, a weasel-like animal.
“Kopi” the Indonesian word for coffee along with “luwak” is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee beans. The civet digests the soft outer part of the coffee cherry, but does not digest the inner beans and excretes them.
Apparently the internal digestion ends up adds a unique flavor to the beans, removing the bitter flavor, and then beans are then picked up by locals and sold. The most expensive coffee beans can cost up to $600 a pound, and up to $50 per cup, if you can get over the fact that you are drinking such a strange brew.
You would know if you drank the most expensive coffee in the world, because the quantities of it are tiny amounts.
Most Expensive Guitar in the World
“Blackie”, Eric Clapton’s favorite mid-career modified Strat has been surpassed in value and is no longer the most expensive guitar ever, despite that it was bought for $950,000 USD in 2004 by a guitar archaeologist.
The latest most expensive electric guitar in the world dethroned its predecessor at an auction in Doha, Qatar on November 16th, 2005. The Strat was signed by several rock musicians to benefit a tsunami charity, ‘Reach out to Asia’. It was bought one year ago by Qatar’s royal family for a million dollars and donated back to the Asia Program, bringing in $2.7 million USD at the more recent auction, whose attendees included Former President Bill Clinton. Technically, the guitar has generated a total of $3.7 million USD, making it the most expensive guitar yet.
Signees of this expensive electric guitar included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray Davis, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus & Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams, the coordinator of the project.
World’s Most Expensive Hello Kitty Item
Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, that adorable cartoon cat that comes to us from Japanese popular culture, has appeared on a host of commercial products from credit cards to the Hello Kitty Jet (an Airbus A330-220). The character, designed by Yuko Shimizu, debuted in 1974 as a decoration on a vinyl coin purse.
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Hello Kitty in 2009, Sanrio partnered with crystal maker Swarovski and Japanese jeweler I.K. to create the Super Hello Kitty Jewel Doll. This 4-inch “doll” is made of solid platinum studded with thousands of precious gems, including 1,939 pieces of white topaz, 403 pink sapphires, a pair of black spinels for her eyes, a citrine for her nose and a 1.027-carat diamond on her signature bow.
The ultimate Hello Kitty doll was unveiled at Switzerland’s Baselworld watch and jewelry show and is valued at 15 million yen—about US $167,000!
World’s Most Expensive Scotch Whiskies
Scotch whisky is produced and aged, as the name suggest, in Scotland. By law, Scotch must be made from malted grain, must be matured in oak casks for at least three years and must have an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume. The age statement on a bottle of Scotch is determined by the youngest stock used in its production. The most expensive scotch whiskies in the world were each produced in one of the regions traditionally considered part of the Highlands region.
The Macallan 1926 – $54,000
This whisky, bottled in 1986 and rebottled in 2002, was auctioned in 2007 at Christie’s in New York. The auction was the first liquor auction allowed in New York state since the prohibition in 1920, and the Macallan was only expected to sell for between $20,000 and $30,000. The Macallan was produced in Speyside, formerly considered part of the Highlands region.
Dalmore 62 – $58,000
This single Highland malt Scotch whisky from the Dalmore Distillery in Inverness, Scotland, was one of only twelve bottles produced in 1943 from four single malts dating from 1868, 1876, 1926 and 1939. Each was labeled with its own unique name, this one being called Matheson after the Dalmore Estate’s owner, Alexander Matheson. It was purchased for £32,000 at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey, where the anonymous buyer reportedly shared it with five of his friends. It has been speculated that the buyer and his friends are the only people to have actually enjoyed a bottle of the expensive vintage.
Dalmore 64 Trinitas – $160,100
Yet another product of the Dalmore Distillery, Trinitas is so named because only three bottles of this expensive whisky have been made. The whisky is a blend of rare stocks, including some that have been maturing at the distillery for more than 140 years. Two bottles were sold in Glasgow in 2010, one to a US-based collector and one to a UK-based investor. It is the first Scotch to sell for six figures.
The Macallan 64 Year Old in Lalique – $460,000
A bottle of 64-year-old Macallan, the oldest whisky ever bottled by the Macallan distillery, became the most expensive whisky in the world when it sold at a charity auction in November, 2010. The catch, however, is that the auction also included a one-of-a-kind crystal decanter.
The decanter was created by Lalique using lost-wax casting, called “cire perdue” in French. The decanter was created to celebrate the anniversary of master glassmaker René Lalique’s birth. It is based on a decanter from the 1920s, when The Macallan distillery was founded. The crystal decanter and its expensive cargo have toured twelve cities to raise awareness for charity: water, including Paris, London, Hong Kong and its final stop at Sotheby’s in New York.
The entirety of the sale price of this expensive whisky was donated to charity: water. In addition, US $145,000 were raised for charity: water during the Macallan’s “tour du monde“.
EXPENSIVE RING
Most Expensive Ring
If you’re an aging bachelor and billionaire looking to wed someone half your age, you may want to look into expensive engagement rings. One such individual’s proposal to an ex-model involved a $1.5 million engagement ring. That may seem way out there, but it’s not even close to the most expensive ring in the world.
The Chopard Blue Diamond Ring is the ring that makes any other diamond ring look bad. Set with an enormous, oval-shaped blue diamond, the expensive ring also has diamond shoulders and an 18k white gold band paved with diamonds.
Blue diamond is among the most expensive diamonds in the world. It is found among boron deposits, from whence it derives its shade. This particular gem weighs in at nine carats.
The world’s most expensive ring is valued at $16.26 million, enough to put a dent in the wallets of even the wealthiest individuals.
EXPENSIVE POOL
City of Stars
Crystal Lagoons, the builders behind the mega-pool at San Alfonso del Mar, are using their patented filtering technology to construct increasingly large pools across the world. Their latest venture is located in Sharm el Sheikh , Egypt Stars
But Crystal Lagoons isn't stopping there. When City of Stars is complete, the company will move on to a new pool project in Soma Bay , just south of Cairo Soma Bay
EXPENSIVE TOILET
Luxe Bathroom Fixtures
Even though you can't buy the Hang Fung gold toilet for your master bath, there are plenty of other fancy fixtures available to accent this room. But you're going to have to shell out big bucks for them.
The Neorest 600 certainly falls into this category. The Neorest takes the cake as the most expensive commode available for purchase in the home. Produced by bathroom fixture manufacturer Toto, the Neorest 600 is a tankless, one-piece toilet. It may not be gold, but you could call it green: It's a low-flow toilet, conserving water by sending only 1.6 gallons down the drain per flush. But you'll be too busy sitting in awe of the Neorest to yearn for the water-frivolous days of the full-flow toilet. It's also a bathroom dynamo, doing all of the work your old toilet used to make you do.
Image courtesy Toto USA
The tankless Neorest 600 toilet offers hands-free bathroom experience. A remote control adjusts the features for
each user.
When the Neorest senses your approach, the toilet lifts its lid, inviting you to have a seat. Once you do your thing, a gentle blast of warm water cleans your bottom. This is followed by the toilet's air-dry function. And after you get up, the toilet flushes the ionized, self-cleaning bowl and deodorizes the air . With all of these features, maybe the $5,800 retail price for the Neorest 600 isn't so much, relatively speaking .Plus, you can find them for sale as low as $3,159 . Of course, you can get a regular residential toilet in the U.S. for around $150, but these certainly don't come with the bells and whistles the Neorest offers.
If you're going to remodel, why not go all the way? How about some gold leaf inlay in the counter's backsplash? And what about Italian marble tile for the bathroom's floor?
Be sure to install the big fixtures first. There's the Idrolux "L" shower, which retails for around $24,000. This freestanding shower includes UV panels, designed to give you a healthy, tanned glow while you bath. If you don't like standing when you scrub down, you can opt to rest easy in 21 inches of warm water in Kohler's Kallista Archeo bathtub. Before you sink into the tub, check the price tag: This freestanding copper bathtub goes for more than $66,000 .
How about a nice sink, too? The Italbrass Mezz'aria dual basin sink might look nice reflecting the blue UV glow of your tanning shower -- the wall-mounted floating sink is stainless steel. The nearly $7,500 price tag doesn't include the complementary mirror to go above it, but you'll want a mirror from another company anyway [source: Quality Bath]. Seura offers wall-mounted, over-the-sink mirrors as large as 45 inches wide that feature an LCD television embedded inside. You can get ready and watch the news at the same time. When turned off, the TV disappears, and the fixture looks like a normal mirror [source: Seura]. The mirrors and their frames can be customized per order, and they fetch around $5,000 for the 45-inch model .
Still, starting your day off in a bathroom with all of these luxury features would probably put a pretty good spin on things. And who can put a price on that feeling?
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World’s Most Expensive Beds
A person typically spends a third of their life sleeping, so why not make the most of that time by spending a ridiculous amount of money on an extravagant bed? Each supremely expensive bed is luxurious in its own way, and we’re certain almost anyone will find one of these beds most desirable.
Parnian Furniture bed – over $210,000
Furniture designer Abdolhay Parnian treats his furniture like works of art and it shows in the final product. It’s taken him two years to design this bed and I think you’ll agree that it was well worth the wait. It’s not only visually striking, with the eyelike headboard that will surely dominate any bedroom, but also equipped with features sure to intrigue even the most jaded of millionaires. The purchaser may choose from a variety of materials, including the ebony, sapele and curly maple in the pictured display model, as well as technological features such as iPad holders and charging stations, hidden compartments and pop-up swiveling televisions and computer monitors.
Jado Steel Style Gold Bed – $676,550
If you want to go all out with a bed that conveys wealth like no other, you can’t go wrong with the Gold Bed. As its name suggests, the luxurious waterbed is coated in 24k gold and features Swarovski crystals along the sideboard. It’s equipped with a DVD player and Bose sound system, Blu-ray player, Playstation 3, a foldaway plasma television coated in gold and can even be connected to the internet.
Magnetic Floating Bed – $1.6 million
The 2006 Millionaire Fair in Kortrijk, Belgium saw the debut of a magnetic floating bed that pretty much takes the cake for the coolest bed in the world—and the most expensive. Conventional beds and mattresses haven’t changed much over the years, and that’s where Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars comes in. The goal in his project was to make a usable piece of furniture that wasn’t constrained by the laws of gravity.
Ruijssenaars reportedly worked on the technology for six years in collaboration with Bakker Magnetics. Permanent opposing industrial-strength magnets allow the bed to float around 1.3 feet off the floor while holding almost 2,000 lbs. This aesthetically pleasing technology could also be applied to other areas in home furnishings like coffee tables, sofas, and Japanese dining tables. How cool would it be to eat sushi and drink sake off a floating table?
While the expensive bed will run you €1,200,000 (US $1.6 million), a smaller unit, one fifth of the full size, costs €115,000 (US $153,000). If you are a millionaire and simply must have this eye-catching bed, the people at Universe Architecture would be happy to make it happen for you.
Baldacchino Supreme – $6.3 million
After four years on the top, the magnetic floating bed has been unseated by luxury designer Stuart Hughes. whose collaboration with Italy’s Fratelli Basile has created nothing short of the most expensive bed in the world–the Baldacchino Supreme.
Fratelli Basile’s Hebanon furniture evokes the timeless qualities of 18th century furniture while making use of modern craftsmanship. This bed, with its chestnut structure and ash wood canopy, is no exception. The exterior is lacquered, patinated and decorated with 107 kg of 24k gold. The bed also features the finest Italian silk and cotton.
World’s Most Expensive Conditioner
If you’re already using a luxury shampoo, it would be a shame to treat your hair with an inferior conditioner. With that in mind, we present what may just be the most expensive conditioner in the world—Russian Amber Imperial Conditioning Crème by Phillip B.
The conditioner promises to revitalize even the most damaged hair—coarse or fine—with 11 L-amino acids, leaving it lustrous and lush. The conditioner’s rejuvenative qualities come from a Romanov-inspired blend of nettle, chamomile, rosemary, sage, burdock and grape seed, as well as a touch of amber oil.
The expensive conditioner can be purchased in a 2-oz travel-sized tube for $52 or a 6-oz tube for $120.
Most Expensive Dress Shirt
They say the clothes make the man. That’s probably less true today than when you could tell a man’s occupation by the hat he wore, but if it’s true of anything then it’s true of the world’s most expensive shirt.
Swedish shirt-making company Eton, celebrating their 80th birthday, created this shirt out of the finest Egyptian cotton. Of course, it couldn’t be the most expensive shirt in the world without a few diamonds. Both the studs and the cufflinks are encrusted with diamonds—white diamonds on the cufflinks and colored diamonds on the studs.
As if that isn’t enough, the dress shirt will be touring the world before it’s sold at auction next year. The luxurious shirt will make stops in Milan, LA, Stockholm and a few other places with Eton stores.
The most expensive shirt is valued at £23,000 (over $45,000). Proceeds from its sale will go to charity.
Most Expensive Wedding Dress
A wedding is an expensive occasion for even the most humble bride and groom. Imagine, then, the wedding that includes the most expensive wedding dress in the world. The Diamond Wedding Gown is a collaboration of Renee Strauss, owner of a highly successful bridal salon in Beverly Hills, and Martin Katz, who deals in rare jewels. Featuring 150 carats of diamonds, the dress is valued at US $12 million.
Most Expensive Purses
Expensive purses have long been status symbols in upper-class culture. For years women routinely shelled out hundreds, sometimes thousands for the “it” bag, but the major price shift to the five figure handbag occurred nearly five years ago when bag makers started offering “signature items”. With this shift came a willingness to spend way more than necessary and the idea that these handbags are not just accessories, but investments and collectibles too. Check out the most expensive purses in the world.
Louis Vuitton’s Tribute Patchwork Bag – $45,000
Louis Vuitton’s Tribute Patchwork Bag, LV’s most expensive handbag, has an even higher retail price. This hideous bag, made in 2007 from fifteen other bags exhumed from LV’s fashion graveyard—their spring/summer and cruise lines, to be exact—actually sold out fairly quickly.
One can only hope that the supply, limited to only twenty-four numbered bags, had more to do with that than high demand.
Hermès “Birkin” – $64,800
While a Hermès “Birkin” bag retails at $37,000 USD, the highest amount paid for one of these bags was $64,800 USD, sold at a Doyle New York auction in April of 2005. This black crocodile-skin features silver hardware, 14-karat white gold closure plates paved with 174 diamonds and an additional 310 diamonds on the lock. The 484 diamonds weigh in at 14.11 carats.
Leiber Precious Rose – $92,000
Without a doubt, the most remarkable thing about Judith Leiber’s most expensive handbag is its unique rose shape. There’s a lot more going on with this purse than that, however. It’s lined with metallic kidskin and features 1,016 diamonds (42.56 carats), 1,169 pink sapphires and 800 pink tourmalines. For the purse’s metal components, Leiber used 18-karat white gold. Only one was ever made and it’s no longer available from Leiber’s boutique.
Lana Marks’ Cleopatra Clutch – $100,000
Lana Marks releases just one of these limited edition bags per year. Pictured here is the 2007 bag, made with metallic silver alligator skin and 1,500 fully cut, faceted black and white diamonds set in an 18-karat white gold frame. Each year’s bag is signed and numbered.
Chanel “Diamond Forever” Classic Bag – $261,000
Only thirteen of these pricey Chanel bags were created with only five available stateside. The alligator-skin bags featured clasps set with 334 diamond (3.56 carats) in the shape of Chanel’s trademark double-C logo. Eighteen-karat white gold was used to fashion both the clasp and the bag’s long shoulder straps.
Ginza Tanaka’s purse – $1.9 million
The most expensive purse in the world is a unique bag created by Japanese jewelry house Ginza Tanaka. It shouldn’t surprise you that the most expensive purse is covered in diamonds—over 2,000 diamonds totaling 208 carats, in fact—but the bag’s other features make it truly special. For one thing, the rest of the bag is made of platinum, a very difficult metal to work for such a project. For another, the strap and clasp can be detached and worn as a necklace and brooch. It’s almost as if they expect someone to actually use this bag!
The luxurious handbag will be on display in several stores across London during the first ever London Jewellery Week. It’s being offered by jewelry shop Nicholas James for the phenomenal price of £1 million (nearly US $2 million).
World’s Top Ten Most Expensive Foods
If you’re looking to expand your horizons into the world of excess culinary expense, then you could do worse than starting with a few items on the list below. We’ve collected some of the most outlandish, outrageous and, above all, the most expensive foods in the world.
The matsutake, or mattake, mushroom is expensive because of its rarity. While its historical prevalence meant it was nearly synonymous with autumn in Japan, the introduction of an insect that kills the trees under which the mushroom grows has caused a dramatic decrease in the number of matsutake mushrooms. A method for farming the matsutake has yet to be developed, which means the lack of trees from which to harvest these mushrooms naturally is a serious problem for the species.
This bagel, created by Executive Chef Frank Tujague for New York’s Westin Hotel, is topped with white truffle cream cheese and goji berry infused Riesling jelly with golden leaves. The bagel’s price is justified when you consider that white truffles happen to be the second most expensive food by weight, eclipsed only by caviar. The underground fungus grows only under specific oak trees in Alba, Italy. Their pheromone-like odor is considered to be an aphrodisiac and is the reason dogs and female pigs are used to hunt the precious truffle.
This absurdly expensive breakfast item consists of a mixture of eggs, lobster and 10 ounces of sevruga caviar (which costs the restaurant $65 per ounce). On the menu next to the expensive omelet there is a challenge that reads, “Norma dares you to expense this.”
While Wagyu cattle are raised both in and outside Japan, the Kobe varietal which is raised specifically in the Hyogo prefecture is the most elite. Employing the most traditional production methods, Kobe beef comes from cows that are allegedly fed only beer and massaged by hand to ensure a tenderness and marbling beyond compare. These dishes can be out of range for the average restaurateur, carrying an unhealthy load of fat and a price tag to match. For your next after-work social, you might try taking your associates to New York City’s Craftsteak, where a full Wagyu rib eye was served up to a private party for $2800.
To celebrate the DVD release of Slumdog Millionaire, Bombay Brassiere packed this curry platter full of the most expensive ingredients they could find. Devon crab and white truffle and a half tomato filled with Beluga caviar and dressed with gold leaf are just the start of this lavish dish. A Scottish lobster, also coated with gold, four abalone and four shelled and hollowed quails’ eggs filled with even more caviar round out the dish.
The 12 inch pizza pie is densely packed with an assortment of some of the world’s most expensive food ingredients, such as lobster marinated in cognac, caviar soaked in champagne, sunblush tomato sauce, Scottish smoked salmon, venison medallions, prosciutto, and vintage balsamic vinegar. In addition to all these fine ingredients, it’s topped with a significant amount of edible 24-carat gold flakes.
In a country where watermelons are rare game, they can be a costly commodity. That’s how a 17-pound Japanese watermelon became the most expensive watermelon in the world. Densuke watermelons, a type of black watermelon grown only on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, are usually given as gifts due to their extraordinary rarity. There were only sixty-five of the fruits among the first harvest this season. They are harder and crisper than the watermelons we Americans are used to and, according to Tohma Agricultural Cooperative’s spokesman, they “have a different level of sweetness.”
Another type of expensive melon, the world’s most expensive cantaloupes are a pair of Yubari melons and were the first auction of the 2008 season. They had previously been judged the best pair and were purchased by the owner of a nearby seafood lunchbox and souvenir business. It had some competition—100 melons grown by farmers from Yubari were also judged.
Almas caviar comes from Iran making it extremely rare and extremely expensive. The only known outlet is the Caviar House & Prunier in London England’s Picadilly that sells a kilo of the expensive Almas caviar in a 24-karat gold tin for £16,000, or about $25,000. Coincidentally, it is also where you can find the most expensive meal in Britain. The Caviar House also sells a £800 tin for those on a smaller budget.
Expensive truffles are notoriously pricey because they are difficult to cultivate. This makes them a true delicacy which some have called the king of all fungi. The Associate Press reported that a real estate investor and his wife from Hong Kong have paid €125,000 ($160,406 USD) for a gigantic Italian White Alba truffle which is reportedly the world’s most expensive ever. The most expensive truffle weighs in 1.51 kilograms (3.3 lbs).
World’s Most Expensive Stamps
Since the turn of the twentieth century, collectors have swooned over rare and unusual stamps. In fact, there’s even a field of research, called philately, devoted to the study of valuable stamps. You might ask why someone would spend so much time and/or money on a small piece of sticky paper that once graced the top corner of an envelope.The reason is that, like similarly expensive collectibles such as comic books and baseball cards, many stamps rise in value phenomenally compared to other stamps.
The late Alfred H. Caspary is one of the best examples of a person who successfully profited from stamp collecting. Almost a century ago, Caspary started collecting stamps–but not just any stamps! Caspary only purchased the most valuable ones he could find. He did this with the intention of investing for his family’s future, a goal many stamp collectors still hold. His stamp collection went on to fetch world record setting prices upon his death with his heirs reaping all of the benefits.
The Treskilling Yellow – $2.3 million or more
The world’s most expensive stamp was printed in Sweden in 1855 and was the result of a printing error. Instead of printing the three-skilling stamp on green stock, it was printed on yellow/orange stock paper. In 1970, the authenticity of this misprinted stamp was questioned by the Swedish Postal Museum, but it was found to be genuine. Similar printing errors have resulted in many other expensive collectibles such as misprinted coins and baseball cards.
Only one copy of the “Treskilling Yellow” postage stamp is known to exist. The most expensive stamp in the world was part of the first Swedish stamp series in the years 1855 and, in 1886, a young collector named George William Backman discovered this stamp in his grandmother’s attic.
The stamp has changed hands numerous times since then. One of the stamp’s first owners since Backman’s discovery was Philipp von Ferrary, who acquired it in 1894 as an addition to his then unequaled stamp collection.
Ferrary’s collection was auctioned in the 1920s and made its way into the hands of such notables as Baron Eric Leijonhufvud of Sweden and eventually King Carol II of Romania.
It first achieved a million US dollar price tag when it was sold in 1990. Six years later, it was sold for 2.5 million Swiss francs–around US $2.3 million.
In 2010, the stamp made headlines again with a record-breaking sale to an international consortium. While the exact figure is unknown, auctioneer David Feldman–who sold the stamp from his own collection in 1984 and oversaw this most recent sale–revealed that it at least maintained the $2.3 million price achieved in 1996.
Andi Herzog Lenticular Stamp – $8.42
Old stamps aren’t the only expensive stamps, though. While it isn’t likely that anyone will ever pay millions of dollars for a new stamp, Austrians were recently given the option of buying the most expensive stamp in print.
This revolutionary stamp isn’t any ordinary stamp, of course. It’s a lenticular stamp featuring approximately three minutes of footage of Austria’s legendary football player, Andi Herzog. The footage shows the goal that allowed Austria to compete in the World Championships in 1998. It’s even shown from three different angles.
The most expensive stamp in print is also the largest one. It measures in at 6.5 by 4.7 cm (or around 2.5 by 1.8 inches). It can be purchased for €5.45 (around $8.42).
World’s Most Expensive Watches
Watch collecting may be one of the most expensive hobbies in the world, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. Many antique timepieces are a testament to the brilliance of early and modern innovators.
Vacherin Constantin’s Tour de l’Ile – $1.5 million
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin marked its 250th anniversary in 2005 with the world’s most complicated wrist watch—the Tour de l’Ile. The watch is so complicated that it required over 10,000 hours of research to create. Its name refers to one of the historical sites of the venerable company, located next to the current Maison Vacheron Constantin on the Quai de l’Ile.
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin marked its 250th anniversary in 2005 with the world’s most complicated wrist watch—the Tour de l’Ile. The watch is so complicated that it required over 10,000 hours of research to create. Its name refers to one of the historical sites of the venerable company, located next to the current Maison Vacheron Constantin on the Quai de l’Ile.
Only produced in a limited edition of seven pieces, this expensive watch is also the most complicated double-face watch. Tour de l’Ile is made with a totally original combination of horological complications (that is, features beyond the simple telling of the time of day) and astronomical indications composing a list of sixteen different points including a minute repeater, sunset time, perpetual calendar, second time zone, a tourbillion device, the equation of time and a representation of the night sky.
At $1.5 million, this is one of the world’s most expensive watch produced in recent years.
Patek Philippe’s Platinum World Time – over $4 million
The Platinum World Time created by Patek Philippe was sold at auction for over $4 million USD in 2002. It is believed that only one was created and, at the time, it was the most expensive wristwatch in the world.
In fact, Patek Philippe had produced all of the ten most expensive watches in the world. The company, headquartered in Geneva, made their first wristwatch in 1868. They had already made a name for themselves prior to that, however, by providing watches to Queen Victoria herself in 1851. Other notable customers include Pope Pius IX, a king and queen of Denmark, an Italian king and Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law. If millions of dollars for a watch is too much for you, don’t worry you can find a Patek Philippestarting around $20,000 USD.
Patek Phillipe’s Supercomplication- $11 million
Patek Philippe’s most expensive watch was a yellow-gold pocket watch created in 1932 for New York banker Henry Graves, Jr. The watch, Supercomplication, was created as part of a vain competition Graves had with Ohio automobile engineer James Ward Packard to have commissioned a watch with the most complications in the world. This watch, of course, guaranteed that Graves won the contest. Supercomplication wasn’t surpassed until over fifty years later, when Patek Philippe created the 18k gold Caliber 89 which had a total of thirty-three different functions.
Graves’ watch became the most expensive watch in the world when it was sold at auction in 1999 for over $11 million USD. Caliber 89 went for a mere $6 million.
Chopard’s $25 million watch
Yes, you read that right: twenty-five million dollars. This gaudy timepiece by Chopard is adorned with three heart-shaped diamonds—a 15-carat pink diamond, a 12-carat blue diamond and an 11-carat white diamond. For good measure, they threw in 163 carats of white and yellow diamonds to bring the total to 201 carats of diamonds. The result is something that looks rather like a geode that’s been turned inside out and dipped in lemon Kool-Aid. Add to that the fact that the size of the watch’s face must make telling time into a fun game of Where’s Waldo and you’ll see that Chopard has truly created a recipe for success.
Of course, its $25 million price tag guarantees its place as the world’s most expensive watch for years to come.
Most Expensive Phone Number
The expensive phone number 666 6666 reportedly sold for 10m Qatari riyals or £1.5m, or around $2,750,000 US. In the West some consider 6 the imperfect number, but this is apparently not the consensus in Qatar.
The Register reports that the Chinese number 8888 8888 was previously the most expensive phone number, selling for £270,000 to Sichuan Airlines.
Most Expensive Coffee in the World
The most expensive coffee in the world does not hail from Jamaica or Hawaii, but instead from Indonesia.
Kopi Luwak the most expensive coffee in the world does exist, and those who drink the expensive coffee insist that it is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the Common palm civet, a weasel-like animal.
“Kopi” the Indonesian word for coffee along with “luwak” is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee beans. The civet digests the soft outer part of the coffee cherry, but does not digest the inner beans and excretes them.
Apparently the internal digestion ends up adds a unique flavor to the beans, removing the bitter flavor, and then beans are then picked up by locals and sold. The most expensive coffee beans can cost up to $600 a pound, and up to $50 per cup, if you can get over the fact that you are drinking such a strange brew.
You would know if you drank the most expensive coffee in the world, because the quantities of it are tiny amounts.
Most Expensive Guitar in the World
“Blackie”, Eric Clapton’s favorite mid-career modified Strat has been surpassed in value and is no longer the most expensive guitar ever, despite that it was bought for $950,000 USD in 2004 by a guitar archaeologist.
The latest most expensive electric guitar in the world dethroned its predecessor at an auction in Doha, Qatar on November 16th, 2005. The Strat was signed by several rock musicians to benefit a tsunami charity, ‘Reach out to Asia’. It was bought one year ago by Qatar’s royal family for a million dollars and donated back to the Asia Program, bringing in $2.7 million USD at the more recent auction, whose attendees included Former President Bill Clinton. Technically, the guitar has generated a total of $3.7 million USD, making it the most expensive guitar yet.
Signees of this expensive electric guitar included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray Davis, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus & Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams, the coordinator of the project.
World’s Most Expensive Hello Kitty Item
Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, that adorable cartoon cat that comes to us from Japanese popular culture, has appeared on a host of commercial products from credit cards to the Hello Kitty Jet (an Airbus A330-220). The character, designed by Yuko Shimizu, debuted in 1974 as a decoration on a vinyl coin purse.
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Hello Kitty in 2009, Sanrio partnered with crystal maker Swarovski and Japanese jeweler I.K. to create the Super Hello Kitty Jewel Doll. This 4-inch “doll” is made of solid platinum studded with thousands of precious gems, including 1,939 pieces of white topaz, 403 pink sapphires, a pair of black spinels for her eyes, a citrine for her nose and a 1.027-carat diamond on her signature bow.
The ultimate Hello Kitty doll was unveiled at Switzerland’s Baselworld watch and jewelry show and is valued at 15 million yen—about US $167,000!
World’s Most Expensive Scotch Whiskies
Scotch whisky is produced and aged, as the name suggest, in Scotland. By law, Scotch must be made from malted grain, must be matured in oak casks for at least three years and must have an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume. The age statement on a bottle of Scotch is determined by the youngest stock used in its production. The most expensive scotch whiskies in the world were each produced in one of the regions traditionally considered part of the Highlands region.
The Macallan 1926 – $54,000
This whisky, bottled in 1986 and rebottled in 2002, was auctioned in 2007 at Christie’s in New York. The auction was the first liquor auction allowed in New York state since the prohibition in 1920, and the Macallan was only expected to sell for between $20,000 and $30,000. The Macallan was produced in Speyside, formerly considered part of the Highlands region.
Dalmore 62 – $58,000
This single Highland malt Scotch whisky from the Dalmore Distillery in Inverness, Scotland, was one of only twelve bottles produced in 1943 from four single malts dating from 1868, 1876, 1926 and 1939. Each was labeled with its own unique name, this one being called Matheson after the Dalmore Estate’s owner, Alexander Matheson. It was purchased for £32,000 at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey, where the anonymous buyer reportedly shared it with five of his friends. It has been speculated that the buyer and his friends are the only people to have actually enjoyed a bottle of the expensive vintage.
Dalmore 64 Trinitas – $160,100
Yet another product of the Dalmore Distillery, Trinitas is so named because only three bottles of this expensive whisky have been made. The whisky is a blend of rare stocks, including some that have been maturing at the distillery for more than 140 years. Two bottles were sold in Glasgow in 2010, one to a US-based collector and one to a UK-based investor. It is the first Scotch to sell for six figures.
The Macallan 64 Year Old in Lalique – $460,000
A bottle of 64-year-old Macallan, the oldest whisky ever bottled by the Macallan distillery, became the most expensive whisky in the world when it sold at a charity auction in November, 2010. The catch, however, is that the auction also included a one-of-a-kind crystal decanter.
The decanter was created by Lalique using lost-wax casting, called “cire perdue” in French. The decanter was created to celebrate the anniversary of master glassmaker René Lalique’s birth. It is based on a decanter from the 1920s, when The Macallan distillery was founded. The crystal decanter and its expensive cargo have toured twelve cities to raise awareness for charity: water, including Paris, London, Hong Kong and its final stop at Sotheby’s in New York.
The entirety of the sale price of this expensive whisky was donated to charity: water. In addition, US $145,000 were raised for charity: water during the Macallan’s “tour du monde“.
EXPENSIVE RING
Most Expensive Ring
If you’re an aging bachelor and billionaire looking to wed someone half your age, you may want to look into expensive engagement rings. One such individual’s proposal to an ex-model involved a $1.5 million engagement ring. That may seem way out there, but it’s not even close to the most expensive ring in the world.
The Chopard Blue Diamond Ring is the ring that makes any other diamond ring look bad. Set with an enormous, oval-shaped blue diamond, the expensive ring also has diamond shoulders and an 18k white gold band paved with diamonds.
Blue diamond is among the most expensive diamonds in the world. It is found among boron deposits, from whence it derives its shade. This particular gem weighs in at nine carats.
The world’s most expensive ring is valued at $16.26 million, enough to put a dent in the wallets of even the wealthiest individuals.
EXPENSIVE POOL
City of Stars
Crystal Lagoons, the builders behind the mega-pool at San Alfonso del Mar, are using their patented filtering technology to construct increasingly large pools across the world. Their latest venture is located in Sharm el Sheikh , Egypt Stars
But Crystal Lagoons isn't stopping there. When City of Stars is complete, the company will move on to a new pool project in Soma Bay , just south of Cairo Soma Bay
EXPENSIVE TOILET
Luxe Bathroom Fixtures
Even though you can't buy the Hang Fung gold toilet for your master bath, there are plenty of other fancy fixtures available to accent this room. But you're going to have to shell out big bucks for them.
The Neorest 600 certainly falls into this category. The Neorest takes the cake as the most expensive commode available for purchase in the home. Produced by bathroom fixture manufacturer Toto, the Neorest 600 is a tankless, one-piece toilet. It may not be gold, but you could call it green: It's a low-flow toilet, conserving water by sending only 1.6 gallons down the drain per flush. But you'll be too busy sitting in awe of the Neorest to yearn for the water-frivolous days of the full-flow toilet. It's also a bathroom dynamo, doing all of the work your old toilet used to make you do.
Image courtesy Toto USA
The tankless Neorest 600 toilet offers hands-free bathroom experience. A remote control adjusts the features for
each user.
When the Neorest senses your approach, the toilet lifts its lid, inviting you to have a seat. Once you do your thing, a gentle blast of warm water cleans your bottom. This is followed by the toilet's air-dry function. And after you get up, the toilet flushes the ionized, self-cleaning bowl and deodorizes the air . With all of these features, maybe the $5,800 retail price for the Neorest 600 isn't so much, relatively speaking .Plus, you can find them for sale as low as $3,159 . Of course, you can get a regular residential toilet in the U.S. for around $150, but these certainly don't come with the bells and whistles the Neorest offers.
If you're going to remodel, why not go all the way? How about some gold leaf inlay in the counter's backsplash? And what about Italian marble tile for the bathroom's floor?
Be sure to install the big fixtures first. There's the Idrolux "L" shower, which retails for around $24,000. This freestanding shower includes UV panels, designed to give you a healthy, tanned glow while you bath. If you don't like standing when you scrub down, you can opt to rest easy in 21 inches of warm water in Kohler's Kallista Archeo bathtub. Before you sink into the tub, check the price tag: This freestanding copper bathtub goes for more than $66,000 .
How about a nice sink, too? The Italbrass Mezz'aria dual basin sink might look nice reflecting the blue UV glow of your tanning shower -- the wall-mounted floating sink is stainless steel. The nearly $7,500 price tag doesn't include the complementary mirror to go above it, but you'll want a mirror from another company anyway [source: Quality Bath]. Seura offers wall-mounted, over-the-sink mirrors as large as 45 inches wide that feature an LCD television embedded inside. You can get ready and watch the news at the same time. When turned off, the TV disappears, and the fixture looks like a normal mirror [source: Seura]. The mirrors and their frames can be customized per order, and they fetch around $5,000 for the 45-inch model .
Still, starting your day off in a bathroom with all of these luxury features would probably put a pretty good spin on things. And who can put a price on that feeling?
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