What Is the Most Expensive Item on Earth?

I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than around $1,000 on any one item. However, there are some seriously loaded people out there who have the spare cash to afford the most extravagant, most incredibly unnecessary, and most expensive things in the world.

In case you didn’t hear, rapper Lil Uzi Vert spent $24 million on getting a pink diamond implanted in his forehead only to get it ripped out while crowd surfing at Rolling Loud. Yes, there are some very rich people out there that are willing to spend some very unbelievable amounts of money on extremely ridiculous things. 

So, with all of the massive-price-tag items that people buy, I got to thinking, What is the most expensive thing in the world? After racking my brain and speculating with my friends on what the most expensive thing in the world could possibly be, we came up with a few possibilities. Spaceships? Massive office buildings? Royal collections of jewels? Well, the answer is difficult for a number of reasons. 

First of all, it’s hard to say what certain things would trade for on the open market because certain things don’t trade on the open market. For instance, you can’t go on eBay and buy one of the Apollo space shuttles. So, for the sake of this article, rather than asking what the most expensive thing in the world is, we’re going to look at some of the most absurdly expensive items on Earth. 

History Supreme ($4.5 Billion)

Obviously, the History Supreme, a massive 100-foot yacht worth a whopping $4.5 billion, is the most expensive yacht on Earth. For reference, $4.5 billion is more than twice the GDP of the country of Lesotho. It’s also about $700 million more than it cost to build the Freedom Tower in New York City.

This gigantic boat was designed by United Kingdom-based Stuart Hughes, who’s sort of like a real-life Goldfinger. He’s known for encrusting things with diamonds and plating things with gold, and that’s exactly what he did with the History Supreme.

The yacht is embedded with over 100,000 kilograms of platinum, gold, and various jewels. This exuberantly expensive yacht is reportedly owned by Robert Kuok, the Malaysian businessman and billionaire who owns Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. The interior of the boat apparently features a real T. rex skeleton as well as a ton of other extravagant pieces of decor. 

Masjid al-Haram ($100 Billion)

Perhaps the most religiously significant building in the world, Masjid al-Haram, also known as the Great Mosque of Mecca, is also probably the most expensive building on Earth. The building centers around the Holy Kaaba, the holiest monument in Islam.

Millions of worshippers from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Holy Kaaba. At any time of any day, you can find worshippers walking counter-clockwise around the Holy Kaaba and praying. 

The Great Mosque covers an area of 356,000 square meters. Apart from the Holy Kaaba, Masjid al-Haram is also home to important religious locations such as the Station of Abraham, the Black Stone, and the Zamzam Well. The entire building is reportedly worth over $100 billion, making it the most expensive building on Earth. 

Salvator Mundi ($450 Million)

Leonardo da Vinci, who may just be the most famous artist in history, also painted the most expensive painting in the world. And the story surrounding the Salvator Mundi is nothing short of insane.

The iconic Renaissance painting was last bought by the Saudi Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud (the very same bin Salam who the CIA found guilty for ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi) at a Christie’s auction for an enormous sum of $450 million. 

Strangely enough, no one really knows exactly where the painting is located at the moment. While many agree that it’s hidden somewhere in the Middle East, there have been rumors that it’s in the tax-free zone of Geneva or even onboard bin Salam’s yacht.

Additionally, many art experts have expressed doubts that this painting sold at the 2017 Christie’s auction was even an authentic da Vinci at all. I suppose the world will never know until the painting is located. 

1963 Ferrari 250 GTO ($70 Million)

As we all know, rich people tend to spend a lot of money on fancy cars. However, David MacNeil, founder and CEO of WeatherTech, took it to an entirely new level when he bought a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO (with the chassis number 4153) for $70 million. 

By paying this record-setting auction price, MacNeil got himself inducted into a sort of secret society of GTO owners. In fact, there is an owners-only 250 GTO Tour that includes some of the wealthiest and most interesting people on the planet, including the likes of Ralph Lauren, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, and billionaire Lord Anthony Bamford (the only person to ever own two 250 GTOs). 

Buckingham Palace ($6.7 Billion)

It’s no surprise that the most expensive house in the world is the home of one of the most notoriously wealthy families in the world. The British royal family’s Buckingham Palace is worth an astounding $6.7 billion, though it most likely won’t go up for sale any time soon.

The palace has a total of 775 rooms, a swimming pool, and an operating room in case of a medical emergency. You can take guided tours to see most of the rooms in the house. 

Buckingham Palace has a total of 240 bedrooms, 19 staterooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, and there’s rumored to be quite a few secret rooms around the halls of the mansion. Naturally, there is a massive staff that tends to Buckingham Palace, somewhere around 400 people. 

Antilia ($2 Billion)

While it’s difficult to qualify Buckingham Palace as a house, Antilia is most certainly a private residence, owned by Asia’s richest billionaire Mukesh Ambani. The house, located in the most prestigious district of Mumbai, India, has a total of 27 stories, each with double-height ceilings. There’s even a room that can make artificial snowflakes for when the weather in Mumbai gets a little too hot. 

Antilia is named after a mythical island in the Atlantic ocean, and its design is most definitely one of mythical decadence. There are plenty of natural elements such as trees and shrubs, a salon, a massive indoor temple, an ice cream shop, and a private movie theatre. There are also six entire floors dedicated solely to parking spots for when Ambani has his other rich friends over for business or pleasure. 

Hope Diamond ($450 Million)

The most expensive piece of jewelry, and also probably the most famous, of all time is the Hope Diamond, a 45.52-carat blue diamond worth around $450 million. The blue coloration is believed to be the result of impurities from boron atoms. 

The Hope Diamond is believed to have come from a mine in southern India. It then went into the possession of King Louis XIV of France until it was stolen from the royal family in 1792. It appeared again in 1839 in the collection of a prominent London banking family.

No one really knows what happened to it before that. After it resurfaced, the Hope Diamond changed hands quite a few times until it was finally donated to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in 1958 by a gem merchant named Harry Winston.