If there’s one thing that will make American taxpayers across the political spectrum breathe a collective sigh of relief, it’s this—we’re not paying for the single most expensive bank bailout in the world.

That honor may go to Ireland, where Anglo Irish Bank Corp. has reported €8.3 billion (US $10.6 billion) in losses on loans in the first half of 2010. The bank has received €23 billion (US $29.4 billion) in government aid since it was nationalized in 2009. The bank hopes to sell its loans to the state’s National Asset Management Agency, where such accounts are bought for 25%-60% of their original values.

While Anglo Irish doesn’t think the bailout will exceed €25 billion (US $32 billion), others estimate that it may end up reaching as high as €35 billion (US $45 billion).

If your passion for performance and luxury autos cannot be stopped, and your McLaren F1 is becoming a bore along with the rest of your exotic cars, it might be time to check out Top Gear’s “Car of the Decade,” the Bugatti Veyron. The most recent model, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, has an estimated price tag of $2.3 million and, if that figure is even close to the ultimate price, will be the most expensive car in the world.

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport “World Record Edition”

The Super Sport, unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August 2010, is not your typical luxury car. Its W16 engine—essentially two narrow-angle V8s sharing a crankshaft—with four turbochargers generates 1,200 hp and, along with improved aerodynamics over the original Veyron, allows it to reach a top speed of 268 miles per hour. That makes the Super Sport the fastest production car in the world.

The original Bugatti Veyron 16.4, which entered production in 2005, hits 60 mph in 2.5 seconds, does the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds and reaches its top speed of 252 mph in just 55 secs. It came after a long absence from the market for Bugatti and helped the brand reclaim its title as the ultimate performance car and reign supreme as the world’s most expensive production car.

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4

The Veyron is named after Pierre Veyron, who won the 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans while driving a Bugatti Type 57 with Jean-Pierre Wimille.

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 most expensive bed in the world 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.

The most expensive hot dogs in history weren’t exactly special. Sure, they were limited items available for only a few days in Stockholm. Sure, it cost 999 Swedish kronor ($130 USD at the time) to get one. The pricey hot dogs, however, were no better than your average street vendor may sell you.

The expensive hot dogs were part of a United Nations initiative to highlight global poverty. The idea was that, for one of the billion people worldwide who live on less than a dollar a day, paying the standard price of a hot dog would be like your average, comfortably living individual paying $130. These expensive hot dogs were available from in September, 2005, from the United Nations Development Programme’s Nordic Office. They were sold by a number of Swedish celebrities and politicos.

The most expensive hot dog currently available, however, is a different story entirely. The Guinness-certified sausages are sold by Serindipity 3 in New York City’s Upper East Side. The Serendipity Foot-Long Haute Dog was launched on National Hot Dog Day on July 23rd, 2010. The fancy frankfurter is made of beef and grilled in white truffle oil. The bun is salted pretzel bread that has been toasted in white truffle butter. The hot dog is topped with duck foie gras, caramelized Vidalia onions, heirloom tomato ketchup and Dijon mustard. Black truffles are included in both the foie gras and the Dijon mustard.

The most expensive hot dog in the world is priced at a staggering $69 and must be ordered 24 hours in advance.

Serendipity 3 is also the home of the world’s most expensive sundae.

Beer is one of the oldest drinks known to man—and one of this writer’s favorites. While many people enjoy drinking light and less expensive beer, there are still some beer connoisseurs out there. If you don’t believe it, then check out the proof–the world’s most expensive beers.

Tutankhamun Ale – $52 per bottle

This expensive beer has a peculiar history. It’s brewed in a Cambridge laboratory from a recipe discovered in the Queen Nefertiti’s Temple of the Sun in Egypt. The beer is named after the queen’s stepson, more commonly known as King Tut. The temple, which housed a brewery, is believed to have been built by King Akenhaten, Tut’s predecessor and likely father. This beer is also limited and may be purchased for $52 per bottle.

Samuel Adams Utopias – $100 per bottle

Vintage No. 1 may be four times as expensive as Samuel Adams/Boston Beer Company’s Utopias, the former most expensive beer, but Utopias still holds a Guinness World Record for being the strongest beer at 50 proof.

Utopias was brewed with a blend of high-quality hops and sold in an ornate copper-plated brew kettle and offers a flavor unlike any other expensive beer or beverage in the world. The sweet flavor is richly highlighted with hints of vanilla, oak and caramel. The expensive beer is non-carbonated and should be served at room temperature.

Production of Utopias was limited to 8,000 bottles.

Carlsberg Vintage 3 – $348 per bottle

The Carlsberg Group, a brewing company founded in 1847 and named after founder J. C. Jacobson’s son Carl, is best known for their light-bodied lager, Carlsberg Pilsner (also known as Carlsberg Beer or Carlsberg Hof). In 2008, however, Carlsberg introduced another beer guaranteed to be linked to the Carlsberg name in the public consciousness, Vintage 1.

Vintage 3 is the third in the trilogy of beers created from 2008 to 2010. At the time of its launch, the “pale barley wine” was the only available beer to have been aged in French Côte d’Or oak barrels in the Carlsberg founder’s original cellar. Only 1,000 bottles of this exclusive beer were hand tapped and labeled with art by Kaspar Bonnén and two artists selected from the Radiant Copenhagen project.

The price of Vintage 1, 2,008 Danish kroner, reflected the year it was introduced. The brewer introduced Vintage 2 in 2009 and Vintage 3 in 2010, priced at 2,009 and 2,010 kroner respectively.

Brewdog’s “The End of History” – $765 per bottle

Well, PETA is going to have a field day with this one. Scottish brewery BrewDog has produced a beer served in bottles as shocking as the beer’s extremely high alcoholic content.

Only eleven bottles of this expensive beer, named after a book by philosopher Francis Fukuyama, were produced. The blond Belgian ale, infused with nettles from the Scottish Highlands and fresh juniper berries, is 55 percent alcohol and will be BrewDog’s final high ABV beer.

The bottles, however, are the beer’s most striking aspect–each one is encased in a squirrel or weasel stuffed by a gifted taxidermist. The four grey squirrels and seven weasels selected were all roadkill, however, so their immortalization as beer bottles may actually be considered more respectful than ignominious roadside decomposition.

Of the four most expensive bikes in the world, three were created in honor of Lance Armstrong, whose victory over cancer is as legendary as his ongoing career. The Lance Armstrong Foundation, founded in 1997 after Armstrong was diagnosed with the disease, raises funds and awareness to support cancer research and help cancer sufferers.

7-Diamond – $75,000

This expensive bike was sold to an anonymous buyer at the Lance Armstrong Foundation Gala in 2005. Studded with seven 1-carat Gemesis man-made diamonds and 300 white diamonds, the gold-plated bike commemorated Armstrong’s victory over seven Tour de France events. The expensive bike was a joint effort between Trek Bikes, Nike, jeweler Alan Friedman and artist Lenny Futura.

Aurumania’s Gold Bike Crystal edition – $114,000

Aurumania’s Gold Bike Crystal edition is almost entirely plated with 24 karat gold—even the spokes. The seat is a Brooks saddle made of the finest leather, while the handlebars have grips made with hand-sewn, chocolate brown leather. Even the numbered badge is made of leather. Of course, the bike isn’t called “Crystal edition” for nothing. It’s decorated with over 600 Swarovski crystals—including the Aurmania name written in Braille along the crossbar. Only ten of these spectacular bicycles were produced.

Trek Yoshitomo Nara Speed Concept – $200,000

Yoshitomo Nara created this work of art, a Trek Speed Concept bike embellished with his signature angry, childlike figures and his own take on the Livestrong logo, as a custom time trial bike to commemorate Armstrong’s renewed cycling career in 2009. The bike was displayed at the Stages event organized by The Lance Armstrong Foundation and Nike to raise cancer awareness. It was sold at the Bikes of Stages auction at Sotheby’s, which raised $1,125,000 for The Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Trek “Butterfly” Madone – $500,000

Like the Speed Concept above, this Trek Madone was decorated in honor of Armstrong’s return to cycling. When Damien Hirst got his hands on the bike, he coated it with hundreds of wings taken from butterflies. While PETA were predictably angry at Hirst’s chosen medium, the “Butterfly” Madone became the most expensive bicycle in the world at the Bikes of Stages auction.

Motorcycles have had mass appeal to the general public for roughly a century and a half. An American named Sylvester Howard Roper designed one of the first motorcycles in the 1860s. The motorcycle was displayed at fairs and circuses around the eastern U.S.. Europeans also had their hand in popularizing motorcycles and, during the World Wars, motorcycles functioned as a quick means of transportation.

As the motorcycle progressed, the engines and frames became bigger, sleeker, faster and more powerful, resulting in the high-tech and expensive motorcycles of today. If you can afford one, a custom motorcycle built to your exact specifications is within reach.

MV-Augusta F4CC – $120,000

This expensive motorcycle was created by Claudio Castiglioni, MV’s director. He wanted to create a spectacular motorcycle that met strategic marketing needs while also being something truly special and unique. The expensive motorcycle bearing his very own initials “CC” has a top speed of 315 kph (195 mph), 1078 cc’s and a 198 hp engine. Each bike boasts a platinum plate located near the top of the steering column showing the model number from 1 to 100, making this motorcycle all the more special to its owners.

MTT Turbine SuperBike – $150,000

Not only is this motorcycle expensive, it’s also extremely fast. This bike, also known as the Y2K Turbine Superbike, is the Guinness World Record holder for the “Most Powerful Motorcycle Ever to Enter Series Production”. The turbine engine in this one is made by Rolls Royce and is capable of over 300hp. The motorcycle also boasts carbon fiber fairings, a rear mounted camera with LCD color display, forward-and rear-looking radar detector with laser scrambler, one touch “Smart Start” ignition, and many other cool gadgets. This bike seams to be pretty popular in Hollywood. It starred in the movie “Torque” and even Jay Leno owns one!

Icon Sheene – $160,000

This bike was created by Andrew Morris in honor of legendary British Grand Prix motorcycle champion Barry Sheene, who died in 2003 at the age of 52. As such, only 52 of these 250 hp, turbocharged 1400cc motorcycles will be created, each emblazoned with a playing card hand-painted by the same artist who painted Sheene’s helmets, Mike Fairholme. Each of these bikes will be bespoke, tailored to fit the purchaser’s unique requirements.

Macchia Nera concept bike – $201,000

Built around a Ducati 998RS engine, this motorcycle’s Italian designers and engineers set out to create an extremely high tech and expensive motorcycle that would be thought of as “the ultimate track bike” that is “simply beautiful and beautifully simple”. The Testastretta engine is fitted with lightweight metals and alloys, like titanium and aluminum, making it very lightweight. The view from the side of the Macchia Nera shows exposed belts and engine components, giving its design a minimalist feel while still being aesthetically pleasing. We should add that this bike is a one of a kind and not in produced for retail at this point, but if you have an extra 150,000 Euros (US $201,000) laying around for an expensive toy, your dream might come true.

Ecosse Titanium Series RR Limited Edition – $275,000

This luxury motorbike features a titanium chassis with clear coated carbon fiber bodywork and wheels. It features a fuel injected, intercooled, supercharged 2,150cc billet motor and is capable of over 200 hp. Its saddle is ergonomic and adjustable. The bike also comes with a timepiece, designed by French watchmakers BRM, which is made to match the bike and is engraved with the same serial number as the handlebar clamp and VIN plate. This bike is limited to only 10 units.

Dodge Tomahawk V10 Superbike – $555,000

This reproduction of Dodge’s concept bike is considered an “automotive sculpture,” as it is not street legal in the US. Ten of these bikes were offered by Neiman Marcus in their 2003 Christmas Book. The Dodge Tomahawk V10 superbike boasts an 8.3 liter engine (505 cubic inch), and the 10 cylinders can bring the bike to a maximum speed of almost 400 mph. The 1500lb bike has an independent 4-wheel suspension and can reach 60 mph in around 2.5 seconds.

Rarity alone isn’t enough to qualify a metal as precious. It must also be naturally occurring, lustrous and ductile, possess a high melting point and low reactivity and, most important to anyone wishing to wear jewelry made from the metal, it must not be radioactive. Natural, radioactive metals like polonium and radium need not apply.

Gold, silver and platinum are undoubtedly the most well known precious metals, but they fall short of being the most expensive precious metals in the world. As of this writing, platinum (around US $1,500/ounce) and gold (around US $1,200 per ounce) take second and third place, respectively. Silver, in the low double digits, doesn’t even rate.

The world’s first pure rhodium bullion coin,
created by the Cohen Mint

The real money is in rhodium.

A member of the platinum group of metals which, unsurprisingly, includes platinum, rhodium is most commonly found mixed with other platinum group metals. This makes it difficult to extract, which can only increase its value. The silvery white metal is primarily mined in South Africa, North America and Russia’s Ural Mountains.

Rhodium has a variety of applications. It is used in the process of “rhodium flashing” white gold and platinum in order to give jewelry made from those metals a whiter, more reflective surface. It is also particularly suited to the production of catalytic converters. In 1979, Paul McCartney was presented with a rhodium-plated disc in honor of his status as the Guinness Book of World Records’s all-time bestselling songwriter and recording artist.

So how much is rhodium worth? It’s currently valued at twice the price of gold—around US $2,400 per ounce!

The violin is probably the most popular bowed and stringed musical instrument. It comes from 16th century Italy and the oldest surviving violin dates to 1564.

Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), the well-known master luthier, is believed to have created 1,100 violins in Cremona, Italy, and 650 of those are believed to still exist.

One such violin, the Lady Tennant Stradivarius, was sold by Christie’s New York in April 2005 for US $2.03 million. There have, however, been private sales of similar violins crafted by Stradivari that likely exceeded this costly figure. This expensive violin was originally owned by Charles Lafont. Its name comes from Sir Charles Tennant, who purchased it for his wife in 1900.

A del Gesù

Even rarer than Stradivari instruments, however, are those created by Giuseppe Guarneri, del Gesù (1698-1744). Guarneri also worked in Cremona and was considered Stradivari’s only rival. He earned the title “del Gesù” (“of Jesus”), also used to refer to his violins, by using the nomina sacra, I. H. S. and a Roman Cross on his labels.

In 2008, Russian lawyer and violinist Maxim Viktorov purchased a 250-year-old del Gesù, once owned by Tsar Alexander II’s court violinist, at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for nearly US $4 million. Viktorov only played it briefly before purchasing it. Afterwards, he refused to play it until Israeli virtuoso Pinchas Zukerman had performed with it. Zukerman played two concerts with what was, at the time, the world’s most expensive violin—one before a private audience of Moscow’s social elite and one public performance at the Moscow Conservatory.

Another del Gesù became the world’s most expensive violin and the most expensive musical instrument in the world in 2010. The Vieuxtemps Guarneri was created in 1741, just three years before Guarneri’s death. It is named after Henri Vieuxtemps, a 19th century musician known for his violin concertos.

Chicago’s Bein & Fushi, dealers of rare and costly musical instruments, are offering the instrument for an astounding US $18 million. Check out their video of Philippe Quint playing John Corigliano’s “The Red violin” on the Vieuxtemps Guarneri below.

Tokyo, Japan

What is the most expensive city in the world? Before you can even begin to answer that, you must first decide what “most expensive city” actually means. Several companies have done just that over the last few years and, due to the different methodologies used, compiled lists with surprisingly different results. We’ve compiled our own list of some of these surveys and the cities they’ve concluded are the most expensive cities in the world.

Mercer Cost of Living Survey, 2010
Highest-ranking city: Luanda, Angola

Mercer’s survey compares the costs of over 200 items in each of 214 cities. The survey covers the cost of housing, food, transportation and other essentials to help employers determine compensation for expatriate employees. This is the first of Mercer’s surveys to include African cities Luanda, Angola; Ndjamena, Chad and Libreville, Gabon. The high placement of these cities in the survey—Ndjamena placed third and Libreville placed seventh—can be explained by the fact that these areas, while rich in natural resources, are generally poor and expatriate employees must rely on newly built infrastructures. Other high-ranking cities on Mercer’s survey include Tokyo, Japan in second place; Moscow, Russia in fourth place and Geneva, Switzerland in fifth place.

Economist Intelligence Unit Cost of Living Survey, 2009
Highest-ranking city: Tokyo, Japan

Unlike Mercer’s, EIU’s survey disregards the cost of housing as it is usually provided by expatriate workers’ employers separately from their wages. The result is a list that may be more useful to the expatriate employees than to their employers. This list places Oslo, Norway in second place; New York City in third; London, England in fourth and Sydney, Australia in fifth. Luanda is notably absent from the top tier.

ECA International Cost of Living Survey, 2010
Highest-ranking city: Tokyo, Japan

ECA’s survey also disregards the cost of housing, as well as utilities, vehicles and schooling. In their survey, Oslo, Norway places second; Luanda, Angola places third; Nagoya, Japan places fourth and Yokohama, Japan places fifth.

Nothing says luxury like lazing the hours away in a tub that costs more than a lot of houses. Those looking for such a tub, however, have a few more options than they used to. If you’re not happy with plain porcelain, you can purchase a tub made from fine materials or hi-tech gadgets.

Water Games Technologies’ Red Diamond bathtub – $47,200

(via bornrich.org)

Designed by Aldo Puglielli, this bright red tub is big enough for two people. That’s just the beginning of the tub’s laundry list of features, however. It also includes a console framed in gold—42 grams of 18-karat gold, to be exact—and Swarovski crystals. The console controls two waterproof HDTVs that remain hidden when not in use. Among the tub’s other features are a massage function, multicolored lighting, a hand-held shower unit, automatic disinfection and even a Swarovski-coated Champagne holder. At $47,200, however, the Red Diamond bathtub is not for the faint of wallet.

Kallista Archeo Copper Bathtub – $67,557

Made of solid copper, this tub is hand-crafted by the very people who refurbished Lady Liberty’s torch. Over five feet long and two-and-a-half feet wide, the tub is spacious enough to comfortably accommodate just about anyone. The fluted faucet and hand-held shower unit are designed with the same aesthetic quality as the rest of the tub, featuring a finely engraved starfish-on-seashell knob.

Baldi malachite bathtub – $222,000

This boat-shaped tub, designed by Luca Bojola is made from turqoise malachite that is perfectly complemented by its ornate, 24k gold-plated feet.

Baldi Rock Crystal bathtub – $790,310

Also designed by Luca Bojola, the first of these three-person bathtubs was created in 2008 and shown at that year’s Salone de Mobile. TThat tub was carved from a single piece of Amazonian rock crystal measuring over 8 feet in diameter and sold for over $850,000. This second tub was created for Harrods and, as the exteriors of both tubs were left rough, is as unique as the first. Baldi even offers a rock crystal basin to complement the exquisite bathtub.

In the 1920s, white linen sheets were de rigueur. That all changed when Madeleine Porthault convinced her husband, Daniel, to offer a home couture collection through his small Parisian lingerie boutique. Their business thrived and many others followed suit, but the D. Porthault name still carries weight among the wealthy and their bath towels are the most expensive towels in the world.

The practice that sets D. Porthault apart from their competitors is that they still silk-screen their prints by hand. This process allows their hand-mixed paints to set deep within the fabric, making their towels and other home coordinates vibrant for a lifetime.

D. Porthault’s most expensive towels are made with 65-gram Egyptian cotton with double-rolled, hand-sewn scalloped edges. These luxury towels are priced over $400 and may be purchased in the US at their New York boutique at 470 Park Ave.

R. Jewels Diamond Edition

Luxury designer Stuart Hughes is at it again, this time in collaboration with Manchester tailor Richard Jewels. Rather than the gold-plated and diamond-encrusted gadgets Hughes is known for designing, this duo has created the most expensive suit in the world.

The R. Jewels Diamond Edition suit has 480 single cut diamonds, 0.5 carats each, studding the Cashmere wool and silk blend that makes up the rest of the suit. It is the flagship creation of the R. Jewels line of luxury suits that Mr. Jewels hopes will “not only capture the eyes but the hearts of the consumers.” The suit is the product of 600 man hours and only three will be made. It’s priced at £599,000 or just under US $900,000.

Alexander Amosu’s gold-threaded suit.

Alexander Amosu, whose London-based design house is also known for gem-studded phones and accessories, performed a similar feat in 2009. The fabric of his single-breasted suit is made from vicuña wool, the most expensive wool in the world due to its scarcity and stringent regulations on wool-gathering, as well as qiviut, wool made from the coats of muskoxen. It’s also threaded with 18-karat gold and its single button features pave set diamonds.

This fantastic suit took a total of 80 hours to make and was sold to an anonymous buyer for a price of £70,000—over US $100,000.

An original 1933 Zippo lighter

For more than half a century, Zippo lighters have been the lighters of choice for serious smokers, outdoorsmen and anyone else who might need to set something on fire in harsh conditions on a regular basis. While butane lighters are now preferred by some, Zippo still managed to celebrate their 75th anniversary in 2007 by selling the world’s most expensive Zippo lighter.

The Zippo Manufacturing Company was founded in 1932 and their first lighters were sold in early 1933. Zippo lighters are notable for combining the flint-wheel ignition typical of modern disposable lighters with a naphtha-soaked wick. This construction makes the lighters particularly wind resistant and more reliable in cold weather than butane lighters.

18k gold Zippo lighter

Around 25,000 lighters were produced throughout 1933. While the earliest Zippos were plain, the company began experimenting with embellishments as early as that first year. That tradition continues to this day, and thousands of different designs have graced the metal Zippo exterior over the past 75+ years.

During their 75th anniversary, Zippo sold one of the original 1933 Zippos for an extraordinary $37,000. Other high-priced Zippos include another 1933 Zippo lighter with diagonal lines on the lid, auctioned for $18,000 on eBay and an 18k gold Zippo lighter complete with a custom cherry gift box, available from Zippo for $8,675.95.

While Apple’s iPhone is already something of a luxury device, there are clearly some who believe it just isn’t flashy enough. Luckily for them (and those of us who write about such things), luxury designers have created these—the most expensive iPhones in the world.

Goldstriker iPhone 4G Diamond Edition – $19,460

Stuart Hughes of Goldstriker International presents the iPhone 4G Diamond Edition, likely the first of a bevy of luxury editions of Apple’s latest iPhone. Hughes has adorned the phone’s surrounding metal band with 6.5 carats of VVS diamonds and, on the back, recreated Apple’s iconic logo in platinum and diamonds. The iPhone 4G Diamond Edition has 32 GB of memory and is factory unlocked so you can enjoy it regardless of your wireless carrier. It also comes with an ostrich-foot wallet with pockets for up to four credit cards. If you want the phone, though, you’ll have to act soon–only 50 will be made.

Peter Aloisson’s iPhone Princess Plus – $176,400

The Princess Plus got its name from the Princess cut used on 138 of the 318 diamonds on its surface. The other 180 diamonds on the phone were brilliant-cut. In total, the phone has 17.75 carats of diamonds set in 18k white gold around its rim. The iPhone Princess Plus is worth $176,400 while the somewhat more pedestrian “Brilliants only” version sold for $66,150.

Peter Aloisson’s Kings Button iPhone – $2.4 million

The Kings Button iPhone is, like its predecessor, a jewel-bedecked iPhone. This time, however, Aloisson had the iPhone 3G to play with—and, apparently, a bit of a bigger budget. One hundred and thirty-eight brilliant-cut diamonds line the sides of the phone, but the real prize is the home button—a rare 6.6 carat white diamond.

Goldstriker iPhone 3GS Supreme – $3.2 million

Stuart Hughes is known for giving luxury devices such as phones and video game consoles the “Supreme” treatment—covering them with gold and diamonds—and the iPhone is no exception. The iPhone 3GS Supreme features a casing made from 271 grams of solid 22k gold and a screen trimmed with fifty-three 1-carat diamonds. The home button is covered with a single rare 7.1-carat diamond. That’s not all, though—the iPhone 3GS Supreme comes in a chest carved from a single block of granite and sports Kashmir gold and an interior lining made with Nubuck top grain leather.

South Africa is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and local jewelry house Shimansky is celebrating with the world’s most expensive soccer ball.

The ball took three months to design and is still in production. When finished, it will be festooned with 6,620 white diamonds and 2,640 black diamonds, for a total of 3,500 carats of South African diamonds. It will be the size of a standard soccer ball, but will weigh 4.8 lbs.

The ball is intended to entice wealthy tourists and soccer aficionados into purchasing some of Shimansky’s South African gemstones. Shimansky is also producing crystal replicas of the ball to be displayed in their local stores and auctioned off for charity.

The Shimansky diamond soccer ball is valued at a phenomenal 20 million South African rands—that’s US $2.59 million!

Aside from the ball, Shimansky has also created a 9.3 carat World Cup dome ring worth nearly $16,000 and a pair of silver commemorative World Cup cufflinks worth $129.

Like snakes and lizards, birds are fairly exotic pets by default. To a bird lover with a little extra cash, however, truly rare and amazing feathered friends, like those talkative parrots indigenous to Africa, are available. So what are the world’s most expensive birds?

The Yellow-naped Amazon is a popular species of parrot. Normally green with patches of yellow on the forehead and hindneck, birds of this species are intelligent, playful and capable of mimicking human speech.

They’re even relatively obtainable, with one major exception—the Blue Mutation Yellow-naped Amazon.

These extremely rare individuals are covered in beautiful turquoise plumage and were discovered in Honduras over a decade ago. While very few have been imported, breeders like Hill Country Aviaries have had some success with these birds.

More expensive individual birds, like one supposedly purchased by a Kuwaiti for over $300,000 in Saudi Riyals, have been reported. However, at $18,000 to $20,000, the Blue Mutation Yellow-naped Amazon is the most expensive species of bird available to most bird lovers.

Every once in awhile, a car enters the spotlight and becomes an instant classic. Years down the road, these cars demand hefty prices when sold at auction. These are the most expensive classic cars in the world.

1937 Bugatti Type 57S – $4.4 million

When relatives of the recently deceased and “eccentric” Dr. Harold Carr opened the garage he’d left to them in his will, they had no idea what to expect. Sure they’d heard that there might be a Bugatti in there, but that was just a bit of local legend. As it happened, there really was a Bugatti in there—and, when it went to auction at Bonham’s Retromobile car show in February of 2009, it sold for €3,417,500—around $4.4 million at the time.

This 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante was originally purchased by Earl Howe a month after it left the Bugatti works. Over the 8 years that he owned the car, Howe added new bumpers, a luggage rack and rearview mirrors. It was later brought up to SC specification with the addition of a Marshall K200 supercharger by its next owner, J P Tingay. Eventually, the car found its way into the hands of Lord Ridley, who held it for a year before selling it to Dr. Carr. Combine this pedigree with the fact that only seventeen Type 57S’s—a version of the Type 57 modified specifically for competitions—were produced and you have quite an expensive car.

007 Aston Martin DB5 – $5-$10 million

An unusual addition to our list of the world’s most expensive classic cars, this 1964 Aston Martin DB5 has a few unique features and a unique pedigree—it’s one of two DB5s driven by legendary 007 actor Sean Connery in “Goldfinger,” complete with twin machineguns mounted behind its front turn signals.

Radio broadcaster Jerry Lee originally purchased the car from Aston Martin in 1969 for $12,000, after the car had appeared in both “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball” and had toured in a 007 promotional campaign. He has entered the car in “Automobiles of London,” where it will be auctioned on October 27th, 2010.

The other DB5 is believed to have been destroyed after its reported theft in 1997.
Aside from the (non-functional) machineguns, the car also features an ejector seat (also non-functional) and revolving number plates. These and other factory-installed gadgets are all in working order after a recomissioning program by RM Auto Restoration.

This spectacular piece of film and automotive history is expected to fetch between $5 and $10 million.

1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder – $10.8 million

Sold in May 2008 at the RM Auctions/Sotheby’s Ferrari Legend and Passion auction, this Ferrari 250 GT was owned by former Magnificent Seven star James Coburn for twenty-five years. During that time, Coburn would test his skills against fellow enthusiasts Steve McQueen and James Garner. In fact, one of the latest lines of Ferraris, also designed by Pininfarina, has been named “California” in honor of Coburn’s car.

1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa – $12.4 million

One of only twenty-two of its kind, chassis no. 0714TR features a distinctive pontoon-like design by Carrozzeria Scaglietti. The Ferrari 250 TR is famous for having won ten of the nineteen races in which they were driven between 1958 and 1961.

This particular TR won 4th place when driven by Piero Drogo in the 1000 km Buenos Aires in January of 1958. Drogo drove it one more time, in the Grand Prix of Cuba, before he sold it to American Alan Connell who drove it in nine races and spent most of that time in 1st or 2nd place in class. It featured in twelve more races between 1960 and 1963, making it one of the most raced Ferraris of all time.

It was sold at auction in Maranello, home of Carrozzeria Scaglietti and birthplace of the TR, for an impressive sum of €9,020,000.

1934 “Star of India” Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental – $13 million

Hans-Gunther Zach, owner of the Rolls-Royce museum in Germany, is selling off his entire collection–including the museum’s premiere acquisition, the Star of India.

This bespoke Rolls was one of 281 Continental Phantom II’s ever produced. Built for the Maharajah of Rajkot, one of its custom features is, among its 14 headlights, a pair that turns with the steering wheel. Also particular to the Star of India is its unique orange-over-aluminum color combination.

The Star of India was auctioned alongside twenty-four other rare Rolls-Royces and another three Bentleys. After the auction, it appeared for sale at $13 million, but the listing was later removed.

Peter D. Williamson Bugatti Type 57S Atlantic – $30-$40 million

If you thought the Bugatti Type 57S above was expensive, then check out this piece of phenomenal piece of Bugatti history. The Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic was based on the “Aérolithe” concept car. The Aérolithe’s Electron and Duralumin construction required external riveting, resulting in a distinctive seam not unlike a dorsal fin. Despite the Atlantic’s aluminum construction, which required no such riveting, the seam was retained.

Only four Type 57SC Atlantics were produced and only two have survived to this day. Fashion guru Ralph Lauren owns one while the other was owned by late Bugatti collector Dr. Peter Williamson. The Williamson Bugatti, chassis #57374, was the first Atlantic off the production line and was originally owned by Lord Victor Rothschild. While it was drastically modified by its second owner, Dr. Williamson restored it to its original specifications after acquiring it for $59,000 in 1971. After Williamson’s passing, it was sold to an undisclosed buyer, reportedly for a sum between $30 and $40 million.

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).

Here in the US, the guy on TV wants to get as much of your gold as possible. In the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, though, the patrons are the ones who get the gold—thanks to a very special gold ATM.

The Gold To Go ATM, created by German entrepreneur Thomas Giessler, is updated every 10 minutes with the most current conversion rates and dispenses gold in the form of coins or bars up to 10 grams in weight. The bars are engraved with the Emirates Palace logo, while the coins are stamped with symbols representing major gold producers South Africa, Canada and Australia.

The ATM includes a variety of security measures, most notably anti-money laundering software. The machine will also shut down if it develops a fault.

The gold coins and bars are intended to be used either as souvenirs or, in light of gold’s record high, as a safe investment.

Considering the ATM’s gold exterior, I think we can safely say this is the most expensive ATM in the world.

Selling a Most Expensive home can take awhile and, especially in this day and age, may end up disappointing the seller. Dunnellen Hall, for instance, was originally listed at $125 million, but is now being offered for less than half that. With that in mind, we present these—the most expensive homes on the market.

Eurasia Estate (Moscow, Russia) – $100 million

Located 15 miles from Moscow’s city center, Eurasia consists of an 11,700-square-foot mansion with a 91,000-square-foot recreation center. The recreation center features a pool, Turkish and Russian baths and a sauna to keep the water bill high. For visitors, there are two 4,000-square-foot guest houses on the property.

Tranquility (Lake Tahoe, Nevada) – $100 million

What could be more tranquil than watching movies in your nineteen-seat private theatre with the knowledge that you’re not paying taxes on your lavish estate? Located on a 210-acre stretch of land, Tranquility is being sold by Tommy Hilfiger co-founder Joel Horowitz. The mansion itself is 20,000-square-feet and features a 3,500-bottle wine cellar and an indoor swimming pool and atrium.

Fleur de Lys (Beverly Hills, California) – $125 million

This 45,000-square-foot home was modeled after the palace of King Louis XIV in Versailles. It was built over five years after Texas billionaire David Saperstein and former wife Suzanne secured five acres in the Holmby Hills section of Bel Air. It was put up for sale soon after Suzanne was awarded the estate in the couple’s divorce. The home features a fifty-seat screening room, nine-car garage and library of first-edition books.

Updown Court (Windlesham, Surrey) – $140 million

This courtly estate aims for a more sophisticated occupant with its ballrooms and grand entryways. Of course, the 103-room Updown Court also has all the basic amenities—a fifty-seat cinema, heated marble driveway, helipad and indoor spas, Jacuzzis and pools. If that isn’t enough for you, there are also 58 acres of gardens and woodlands.

The Manor (Los Angeles, California) – $150 million

This incredible mansion, built in 1988 for television producer Aaron Spelling, is the largest home in Los Angeles County. Located on the former site of Bing Crosby’s manor, which Spelling had demolished, the 56,500 square foot manor in Holmby Hills was the center of some controversy based on its shameless extravagance. The widowed Candy Spelling has now put the enormous estate on the market. The Manor has 123 rooms, including three gift-wrapping rooms, a gym, four two-car garages, a bowling alley, a pool and a screening room.

La Leopolda, France – $750 million

Originally built for the mistress of King Leopold of Belgium, this mansion overlooking the French Riviera has been said to be owned by several prominent people over the years, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Fiat Group’s Gianni Agnelli. Sketchy reports of a “mysterious Russian billionaire” said that he had purchased the villa it from the widow of a Lebanese banker who was killed in an arsonist’s fire in 2003. Now that billionaire has backed out of the deal—and lost his $50 million down payment.

Despite their fearsome countenances, most lizards pose no threat to humans and most know at least one person who keeps a lizard or snake as a pet and some even use wall-crawling lizards like geckos as insect control. Of course, the most expensive lizard in the world is somewhat more exotic than any house gecko.

The pricey reptile was a leucistic Nile monitor offered by Reptile Haven around 2003-2004.

The Nile monitor is, as its name suggests, native to Africa. They’re not particularly suited to being pets, as they can grow to 9 feet in length, with sharp teeth and claws and an aggressive temperament. To put it simply, these things can take on freakin’ crocodiles and win.

Leucism is a condition similar to albinism but, unlike albinism, it affects all pigmentation rather than just melanin. Also unlike albinos, leucistic creatures will have normally colored eyes.

The most expensive lizard was offered for $1 million.

Looking for an expensive place to moor your super yacht? Well, look no further than the Italian Peninsula, home of the most expensive marinas in the world.

Three Italian marinas—Capri, Porto Cervo and Portofino—topped Wealth Bulletin’s list of the world’s most expensive marinas. While the prices tend to fluctuate, especially during these times of economic upheaval when a third of the world’s super yachts are for sale, these three marinas have maintained the highest average prices to moor boats over 24 meters (or 78 feet).

Capri, Italy – €2,900 (US $3,910) per night

This expensive marina peaks during the Rolex Capri Sailing week in May and can berth up to ten super yachts. Capri has been a luxury destination since the time of the Roman Republic.

Porto Cervo, Italy – €2,500 (US $3,371) per night

This northern Sardinian marina can berth up to sixty super yachts, peaking in June and September for the Deluxe Fair and Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup regatta, respectively. It was founded by the Aga Khan in the 1960s and the village was designed by renowned architect Luigi Vietti

Portofino, Liguria, Italy – €2,350 (US $3,169) per night

This small fishing village is home to yet another Rolex event—the Portofino Rolex Trophy in May. It can berth only six super yachts at a time and space must be booked well in advance.

You may have recently heard that actor Hugh Jackman had his favorite masseuse flown from LA after he threw out his back while playing with his daughter. If it were true, it might’ve been the most expensive massage in the world. Sadly, it wasn’t—but we still have a very expensive massage to tell you about.

Offered by WINKS London, the massage is an outcall service available at high-end hotels and in some residential locations. Their highly skilled and beautiful masseuses are trained in “sensual, tantric secrets.” If that’s too subtle for you, well, the naked ladies all over their website surely speak to the kinds of comfort the massage evokes. They are quick to point out, however, that they are not an escort service and that your masseuse is not to be touched.

While all of the massages offered by WINKS are pricey, their most expensive massage is the Tantra. This invitation-only service is billed as more of a spiritual experience than a massage. The massage can be booked for 90 minutes or 120 minutes and costs £725 (US $1,115) or £975 (US $1,500), respectively.

The New York Yankees have a long and storied history as a team that produces legendary players. Forty-four Yankees have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, including such players as Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and, of course, Babe Ruth.

Maybe that’s why the New York Yankees are the most expensive sports team in the world.

According to the first Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries, written for sportsintelligence.com and covering the salaries of 211 teams in 2009, the average Yankees player makes just under $7 million annually, while their highest-paid player, Alex Rodriguez, makes over $30 million. The Yankees were paid so much, in fact, that they had to pay a $23 million luxury tax to the MLB.

Following the Yankees are Spanish soc–er, football teams Real Madrid with an average salary of $6.3 million per year and Barcelona with an average salary of $6 million. The second best-paid team in the US (and fifth in the world) is the Dallas Mavericks, whose average salary is $5.3 million.

We’ve covered the world’s most expensive bras and panties, but Indian jewelers Orra have another, classier undergarment for you to drool over—the most expensive bustier in the world.

Orra is India’s largest diamond jewelry chain and the most expensive bustier really drives that point home. Valued at €1 million—US $1.35 million—the bustier was modeled by Anjali Lavanya along with a gold lehenga, a type of traditional Indian skirt. The handcrafted Orra Diamond Bustier is studded with a bevy of Belgian diamonds.

The glittering outfit was modeled at a Mumbai event held in honor of a state visit by Belgium’s Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde. The diamond bustier is particularly appropriate as gems and jewelry account for 75% of trade between Belgium and India.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has surveyed water prices in twenty Western countries. Their findings indicate that Denmark may have the most expensive tap water in the world.

Water in Denmark costs $6.70 per cubic meter. That’s about 2.5 cents per gallon–quite a bit more than in the US, where a gallon of water costs between .07 and .2 cents. Part of the reason for this price is that it includes the price to clean and dispose of the water. This practice has led Danish consumers to use water more conservatively, but it has also strained their agricultural industry.

The least expensive water came from Mexico, where citizens pay about 50 cents per cubic meter.

Cheese is probably the most popular dairy product in the world, a food that predates written history. In 2004 alone, over 18 million metric tons of cheese were produced worldwide. The world’s most expensive cheeses, however, are a little harder to come by.

One expensive cheese is only produced at one farm and at a very specific time of year. Unusually, the cheese isn’t made from cow’s milk—the milk comes from moose! Moose House, a 59-acre moose farm located in northern Sweden, is where the cheese is produced from three foundling moose named Gullan, Haelga, and Juna.

The moose are unusually tame, which is the only reason Moose House owners Christopher and Ulla Johannson can collect milk for the cheese. Even then, they can only be milked between May and September and the process takes about 2 hours per animal, hence the outstanding price of the cheese.

The moose cheese is 12% fat and 12% protein and only about 660 lbs are produced annually. The Johannsons sell it to high end Swedish hotels and restaurants for about $500 per pound.

If you’re surprised that moose cheese is so expensive, then you’ll be floored by Pule, the most expensive cheese in the world.

Pule comes from the Zasavica reserve north of Belgrade, capital of Serbia. A kilogram of the smoked cheese is priced at €1,000—around $616 per pound—but has no special ingredients beyond 25 liters of donkey milk.

Yeah, you read that right—donkey milk. The cheese even gets its name from the animals, as pule is the Serbian word for foal.

The milk is collected from 100 Balkan donkeys that make their home in the Zasavica Special Nature Reserve. The cheese is low in milk fat which, according to the reserve’s manager, is why no one else is making it.

Their success with pule has even spurred the reserve’s staff to find more applications for donkey milk, from cosmetics to a special donkey milk liqueur.

Modern projection televisions, flat panel LCDs and plasma TVs have come a long way since the black and white tubes which were first introduced in the mid-20th century. The TV is the centerpiece of most living rooms and often the TV is the most expensive purchase for one’s home theater system. If you really want to impress someone with your TV, though, then check out these, the most expensive televisions in the world.

Yalos Diamond – $140,000

From Italian company Keymat Industrie comes an expensive television studded with 160 real diamonds, totaling 20 carats. This expensive TV has no visible screws or welds, and the aesthetics are the work of Japanese designer Takahide Sano. This extravagant television can be purchased in sizes up to 46″.

Beovision 4-103 – $140,000

If you’re in the market for a television that’s priced for its technical merits, however, then you’ll want to take a look at the BeoVision 4-103. Featuring a 103”, 100 Hz plasma screen, this Bang & Olufsen television set acknowledges that size really does matter.

Its substantial viewing area isn’t its only feature, though, as the BeoVision 4-103 also features a motorized stand so that you can adjust the viewing angle on the fly. Auto Color Management and Auto Picture Control make sure that you always have the best possible picture, regardless of how much ambient light is in the room or how old the color elements in the plasma screen are.

Stuart Hughes’ PrestigeHD Supreme Rose Edition – $2.26 million

Luxury gadgeteer Stuart Hughes is at it again. After recently making a splash with the gold video game consoles, Hughes has tackled the common element that binds us all together–television. This 55″ PrestigeHD television, powered by Metz, is coated in 28 kilograms of 18k rose gold embellished with seventy-two round cut, flawless 1-carat diamonds. That’s not the end of the luxury materials used in its creation, however, as the most expensive television in the world features alligator skin hand sewn into the bezel.

For those whose wealth can support only slightly less epicurean lifestyles, the PrestigeHD Supreme Edition may be a more cost effective alternative to the Supreme Rose Edition. This one features only 19 kilograms of 22k yellow gold and the 48 brilliant round cut diamonds are only .75 carats apiece. It also features aventurine and topaz gems, all for $1.5 million.

Look up “mastiff” in the dictionary and “large” and “powerful” will be among the first words you read. The different mastiff breeds have been bred for guarding and for fighting. The two most expensive dog breeds in the world are the Tibetan Mastiff and French Mastiff.

A Tibetan Mastiff

The largest Tibetan Mastiffs can stand over 31 inches tall and the breed typically weighs over 140 lbs. The dogs can be black, grey, brown or even, in some rare instances, completely white. Best of all, their coats shed odors—they lack the troublesome aroma that afflicts other large dogs. In both their native Tibet and the West, they have been prized as livestock guardians and have even been reported to have killed tigers to protect their flock.

The world’s most expensive dog, Yangtze River No. 2, was a Tibetan Mastiff.

A French Mastiff
(Image distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.)

Typically standing over 24 inches and weighing more than 100 lbs, the French Mastiff can be a terror if not socialized at an early age. The sport of dog fighting was popular in Bordeaux, France, and the Dogue de Bordeaux, as the breed is more properly called, proudly bears the city’s name. The expensive breed may trace its ancestry to the Alans/Alaunts, a breed of dog from the Middle Ages, or the Bulldog. It was known in France as early as the 14th century and was entered into its first show in the 1863. It wasn’t until the 1920’s, though, that the French Mastiff became a uniform breed. The dog was virtually unknown outside of France until the late 1800s and was threatened with extinction after WWII. In 1970, though, the Dogue de Bordeaux population began to grow again.

Famous French Mastiffs include Beasley, who starred alongside Tom Hanks in Turner & Hooch, and Mac, recently stolen from and returned to Dutch football player Andy van der Meyde.

The average price for a puppy from one of these expensive breeds is $750 to $1,000.

Related Information

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