For over half a decade, Business.com reigned as the world’s most expensive domain name after its 1999 sale for $7.5 million. That was shortly after the site was founded by former Walt Disney Internet Group chairman Jake Winebaum and Earthlink founder Sky Dayton. The domain retained its record until 2006, when Match.com founder Gary Kremen decided to get out of the adult entertainment industry and sold Sex.com for $14 million (or $12 million, depending on who you ask) in 2006.

While the current market for internet domains is nowhere as solid as it was during the dot-com peak, the market remains strong and is experiencing solid growth. Each year tens of millions of dollars are exchanged during the resale of domains.

The record for most expensive domain name ever sold changed hands again in late 2009, when internet marketing firm QuinStreet purchased Insure.com for $16 million. Other top dollar domain sales of 2009 include Toys.com, purchased by Toys ‘R Us for $5.1 million in March of 2009, and Candy.com, sold for $3 million in June of 2009.

Enough with the preamble, though—check out the world’s top ten most expensive domain names:

1. Insure.com, sold to QuinStreet for $16 million in 2009.
2. Sex.com, sold for $12-$14 million in 2006.
3. Fund.com, sold for $9.99 million in 2008.
4. Porn.com, sold for $9.5 million in 2007.
5. Business.com, sold for $7.5 million in 1999.
6. Diamond.com, sold to Ice.com for $7.5 million in 2006.
7. Beer.com, sold for $7 million in 2004.
8. Israel.com, sold for $5.88 million in 2004.
9. Casino.com, sold for $5.5 million in 2003.
10. Toys.com, sold to Toys ‘R Us for $5.1 million in 2009.

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In early 2009, a Florida couple became the proud owners of Lancelot Encore, the world’s first commercially cloned puppy and one of the most expensive dogs in the world.

The Labrador retriever was cloned from samples thoughtfully taken by the couple five years ago from their beloved pet Lancelot. The cloned puppy looks just like his predecessor and the couple hopes that, being around the same people and many of the same dogs, Lancelot Encore will be every bit the alpha male that the original Lancelot was.

The couple won the chance to have their pet cloned in an auction held last July by BioArts, a California-based firm that employed Korea’s Sooam Biotech Research Foundation to recreate their darling dog. The hammer price of the pricey pooch was $155,000. That’s $100,000 more than was last paid for a commercially cloned animal, a bull named Second Chance.

A black Tibetan Mastiff

Later that year, however, Lancelot Encore’s price was dwarfed by the sale of a black Tibetan Mastiff named Yangtze River Number 2. Yangtze’s new owner, a Chinese millionaire identified only as Ms. Wang, met the pup while visiting Yushu in China’s Qinghai province with a Tibetan Mastiff she wished to breed with one of the region’s storied pureblood canines. As soon as she met the dog, then known as White Root, she knew she had to have him. Ultimately, she ended up paying $582,000 for the most expensive dog in the world.

Upon his arrival at an airport in Xi’an, Yangtze was greeted by a motorcade of thirty luxury cars and a crowd of spectators.

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.

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H. Couture Beauty may be defunct—visitors to their website are redirected to a search engine owned by the same youthful entrepreneur who founded H. Couture—but not before they produced the most expensive mascara in the world.

The mascara was offered for a limited time as part of H. Couture Beauty’s Socialite Collection. The smudge proof, water based mascara usually came in a luxurious case festooned with 1,000 hand set Swarovski crystals and topped with an 18k gold plated cap. Along with the mascara came a concierge service including a lifetime supply of refillable mascara tubes. The Socialite Collection, which also included a tube of lipstick also covered with Swarovski crystals, had a price of $589.

For one customer, however, that case just wasn’t fancy enough—and so a custom case bedecked with 2,500 blue diamonds was made. Complete with a similarly treated pink diamond tube of lipstick, this unique version of the Socialite Collection cost its buyer $14 million.

What kind of artist works with a hunting knife? Ask Mark Evans, the pioneer whose work has been called “leather sculpting.” That work will soon adorn the walls of one Russian billionaire’s mansion as the most expensive wallpaper in the world.

Evans works by etching the leather down to the suede with a number of bladed tools of different sizes, from a large hunting knife to several sculpting knives. The results are photorealistic depictions of animals, the crucifixion and even the celebrated “Fight of the Year” between Doug Jones and Muhammed Ali.

Evans’ leather etchings will cover the walls of two rooms in a mansion in Moscow. The unnamed billionaire’s wallpaper will cost $2.71 million, or around $23,675 per square meter.

The Miss Russia Pageant has only been around since 1993 and, since then, it has produced one Miss Universe and two winners of Miss World (one of whom was, unfortunately, later dethroned). Now, however, the pageant has a new claim to fame—the most expensive beauty pageant crown in the world.

The new Miss Russia crown was unveiled at Imperial Park Hotel & SPA, just outside of Moscow, and will be bestowed upon the pageant’s 2010 winner after she is announced on March 8th. Created by the Yuvelirny Teatr jewelry house, the exquisite crown is made of 18k white gold adorned with 2,358 diamonds totaling 62 carats and fourteen pearls, the foremost of which is an enormous 19 mm.

While this crown is claimed to be the most expensive in the world, its exact value remains unrevealed.

While the debate over healthcare continues, Forbes has released a list of the nine most expensive drugs in the world—each of which costs patients over $200,000 annually.

At the top of the list is Soliris (eculizumab), produced by Alexion Pharmaceuticals to treat, ahem, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. PNH is a rare and life-threatening disease and is the only form of hemolytic anemia—a deficiency in red blood cells caused by their destruction, as opposed to low production—that is acquired rather than inherited.

PNH affects approximately 8,000 Americans. It’s because of that low figure that Alexion can charge $409,500 per year for the most expensive drug in the world. The rarity of the condition means there are very few competitors to compete with for pricing.

The second most expensive medicine in the world is Elaprase at $375,000 annually. It was created by Shire Pharmaceuticals to treat Hunter Syndrome, which has symptoms ranging from a flattened nose to brain damage and afflicts 2,000 people worldwide. The third is Naglazyme, produced by BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, which treats an even rarer disorder that enlarges the head and causes short stature. That drug costs $365,000 annually.

Wingtips, or brogues, may be seen as men’s country shoes, but if there’s one name that can give them an urban edge, it’s Louis Vuitton. That’s why the most expensive wingtips in the world feature the LV monogram.

The Manhattan Richelieu wingtip shoes are made from waxed alligator leather. They’re hand-stitched with Blake construction for a more comfortable fit and the outsole-embedded thread ensures a long-lasting stitch. The interior, meanwhile, sports glove-soft leather lining. Even the sole, made of hand-painted leather and featuring an embedded ruthenium-finished cube with the LV monogram, is high quality.

These luxury wingtips will be offered in Spring/Summer of 2010 for $10,000.

Karl Lagerfeld, the German-born creative director for both Chanel and Fendi, is branching out. After all, you need somewhere to put all those handbags—somewhere like the most expensive personal safe in the world.

A collaboration between the Kaiser, as Lagerfeld is sometimes called, and German safe designers Döttling, Narcissus is nearly six feet tall and less than a foot deep. The steel safe is sheathed in high-gloss chrome-plated aluminum and looks very imposing when closed. When activated, two sets of cabinets, watch winders and drawers slide out from either side.

This luxury safe is not only ultra-expensive at $339,000—it’s also ultra-exclusive. Only thirty Narcissus safes will be made and the Kaiser already has dibs on one.

If you’ve never been to a restaurant that serves genuine ramen, you’re likely to think of ramen as the cheapest of all foods—a brick of instant noodles accompanied by a sodium-rich flavor packet, all for about twenty-five cents. It shouldn’t be too surprising, however, that the most expensive ramen in the world is something completely different.

At the ultra-exclusive Fujimaki Gekijyo restaurant in Tokyo, patrons can feast on the Five-Taste Blend Imperial Noodles. The dish is made with over twenty ingredients, including high quality Chinese stock as well as another, spicier stock inspired by Thai tom yum soup. A bowl of Fujimaki’s exquisite ramen sells for a jaw-dropping $110.

Fujimaki Gekijyo is an omakase (i.e. menu-less), reservation-only restaurant that is only accessible to guest who have already dined at one of owner Shoichi Fujimaki’s less expensive restaurants. American diners will be able to try the expensive ramen when Fujimaki opens a restaurant in Los Angeles in August, 2010.

Wilmott – $650 for six issues

Published out of the UK, Wilmott magazine offers information about the most recent research, innovative financial models, reviews and in-depth analysis. Of course, you may need a PhD in mathematical finances to understand any of it. Each issue is an eleven inch square, giving you the feeling that you’re holding the teacher’s copy of a textbook, with all the answers in the extended margins. Individual subscribers pay only $325 for a year-long subscription while institutions pay $650. Subscribers to the expensive magazine are also inducted into the Wilmott Book Club, giving them discounts on many quantitative finance and popular science books.

FINE Exclusive – €500 ($679.45 US) annually

FINE Magazines, headquartered in Finland, publishes exclusive fine wine magazines that are distributed to over eighty-five countries through carefully selected partners. Their main magazines, including several regional FINE magazines and FINE Champagne, are not available for subscription, but digital copies can be purchased through their website. FINE Exclusive, on the other hand, is only available through subscription—and even then you’ll need an invitation.

A FINE Exclusive subscription includes not only the magazine—which features more of the top notch content that makes FINE “the world’s leading publication focused on fine and rare wines”—but also the Fine Wine Drinkability Index and access to the world’s first wine concierge service.

Unfortunately, scant information is available about the frequency of their publication.

Nomenus Quarterly – $6,500 for one issue

Erik Madigan Heck/Nomenus Quarterly

Nomenus Quarterly features previously unpublished photographs, paintings and other artwork. While normally priced around $2,500 for a single issue, the magazine’s founder, editor in chief and photographer, Erik Madigan Heck, has increased the price of the magazine’s seventh issue to $6,500 while reducing the print run from fifty copies to a scant ten. Aside from Heck, the issue features work by Anselm Kiefer, Lucian Freud, Adam Fuss, the Costume Institute and a tribute to the menswear of Ann Demeulemeester.

Kohl – $10,000 for one issue

The United Arab Emirates’ one and only women’s lifestyle and fashion magazine, Kohl is targeted at expatriate Asian women. Publisher ITP teamed up with Damas, a UAE jeweler, to create the stunningly bejeweled cover for the single most expensive magazine issue in the world. The cover, which features sexy Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif, was handmade with 91 grams of gold and 622 diamonds. Gold leaf was also applied by hand to the cover as part of an 86 hour process.

The luxurious cover was displayed in Damas stores until a gala event in October 2008 where it was auctioned. Proceeds from the sale of the world’s most expensive magazine were donated to the Rashid Pediatric Therapy Centre in Dubai.

Giacomo Casanova, the world’s greatest lover, may have been Venetian, but it was the French government who, in early 2010, paid top dollar for the licentious libertine’s manuscript.

Casanova wrote of his adventures from 1789 to his death in 1798, during which time he was employed as the librarian to Count Waldstein in the Castle of Dux, Bohemia. The manuscript, “Histoire de mi vie” or “History of my Life,” allegedly details his conquest over more than 100 women—at least one of which was a nun—and several men. Unfortunately, the general public has only seen censored and otherwise altered versions of the account.

The 3,700 manuscript was acquired by the Brockhaus family in 1820 and survived the bombing of Leipzig in World War II. It was smuggled out of Germany on a US military truck in 1945 and published fifteen years later.

The French National Library purchased the cultural artifact for a cool €7 million—over US $9.4 million—making it the most expensive written manuscript in the world.

You’ve worked hard and finally managed to buy your dream car. There’s a problem, though—you can drive it to the office, but you can’t take it in with you. That’s where Beau Reid and Dynamic Innovations come in. With the most expensive briefcase in the world, you don’t have to leave your car in the parking lot.

Each of these carbon fiber briefcases is custom-made with the finest leather and paints to match your luxury car—and not just on the outside. Both the exterior and interior of this expensive briefcase are customized. From the looks of it, your briefcase can even be badged with your car’s brand insignia.

These luxury briefcases are priced at $15,000, but Reid hopes the price will drop as the product gains momentum.

Tacos are undoubtedly one of the cheaper foods in life, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get the Most Expensive treatment. All you have to do is add gold and diamonds and voila—you have the most expensive taco in the world.

In this case, the “gold and diamonds” were actually hunks of filet mignon. Offered by Brentwood Restaurant and Lounge in Los Angeles, this fancy fare was a specialty entrée accompanied by pico de gallo, vegetable rice and black beans. Unfortunately, this expensive taco is not present on Brentwood’s online menu and we can only assume that it is no longer offered.

Brentwood’s filet mignon taco entrée had a price of $38.50. That may not seem like much, but we’re talking about tacos here. If you know of a more expensive taco, though, let us know.

Bugatti may have one over on Aston Martin as the Bugatti Veyron is the world’s most expensive car, but owners of the Aston Martin DBS and the Aston Martin Rapide will have the option to buy another top-priced item—the most expensive car key in the world.

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s AMVOX2 DBS and Rapide Transponders marry the cutting edge technology of the AMVOX2 Chronograph with the extravagance of Aston Martin automobiles. Already a collaboration between the two, the origin AMVOX2 Chronograph featured a groundbreaking vertical-trigger chronograph. The stopwatch function of the watch could be stopped, started and reset by pressing the watch’s crystal sapphire surface. In the AMVOX2 Transponders, however, that same surface controls the transponder that locks and unlocks an Aston Martin luxury car. Pressing both the open and close areas of the surface at the same time will even cause the headlamps to light up briefly, allowing the owner to find their car with ease.

This optional feature can be had for just over $34,000. Compared to the prices of the Rapide and DBS—$199,950 and $269,000, respectively—that doesn’t seem like so much.

Aston Martin Rapide

Paintings are often highly sought after due to their broad appeal and identifiability. They’re relatively easy to transport and widely available in a variety of price levels. Sculptures, on the other hand, have a tendency to fetch much higher prices initially, due primarily to the workload involved in their creation and the significantly higher price of materials. Gold, bronze and marble are much more difficult to obtain, transport and work with than the materials favored by the world’s painters. The heyday of creative sculpting existed in the Greek and Roman empires, and then as now served primarily religious and memorial functions. These works are seldom traded on the open market due to the grip with which museums and religious institutions hold them.

Pablo Picasso – “Tête de femme (Dora Maar)” – $29.1 million

Pable Picasso’s most expensive sculpture is an abstract representation of French photographer, painter and poet Dora Maar, whose relationship with Picasso lasted from 1936 to 1943. Created in 1941, the bust is 31.5 inches tall and cast in bronze. It achieved its record-breaking price at a Sotheby’s auction in 2007.

Constantin Brancusi – “Madame L.R. (Portrait de Mme L.R.)” – 36.8 million

Brancusi was a member of the modernist art movement, which took a marked turn from the styles and fields of study of its predecessors. Favoring minimalism to representation, his pieces, while often pleasing to look at, serve more a conceptual purpose then a literary or narrative one. A student of the literal and highly lauded Auguste Rodin, Brancusi’s pieces lack the emotional content one often searches for in works of art. Madame L.R. was sculpted circa 1914-1917 and was sold at Christie’s auction of the Yves Saint Laurent collection of Art in 2009.

”The Guennol Lioness” – $57.2 million

This Mesopotamian statue of an anthropomorphic lion is 5,000 years old and likely depicts an Elamite deity or other venerated figure. It was discovered near present-day Baghdad in the early 1800s by Sir Leonard Woolley. It was most recently sold in a Sotheby’s auction in late 2007 and was, for a short time, the most expensive sculpture ever sold. It was carved from limestone and stands just over 3 inches tall.

Damien Hirst – “For the love of God” – $100 million

The most modern sculpture on this list, “For the love of God” was created in 2007. The work was inspired by an Aztec turquoise skull and was based on a European skull thought to be at least 200 years old. It’s cast from platinum and covered in 8,601 pavé-set diamonds totaling 1,106.18 carats. The teeth came from the original skull. “For the love of God” was sold in mid-2007 and is the most expensive work by a living artist.

Alberto Giacometti – “L’Homme qui marche I” (“Walking Man 1”) – $104.3 million

This piece is considered to be the culmination of the Swiss sculptor’s work, which started small and gradually became taller and thinner. This 6-foot-tall bronze sculpture was sold in February 2010 and became not just the most expensive sculpture ever sold but the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction.

(via theartwolf.com)

Do you pay for some of the most expensive data transfers in the world? If you use text messaging, chances are you do.

An SMS message can hold up to 160 characters, making the largest text messages 140 bytes. Assuming you’ve paid for a service like AT&T’s $15 Messaging 1500, you’re paying a penny for every message you send—assuming you meet, but don’t exceed, your 1500 message limit. Sounds like a good deal, right? After all, they’re charging 20 cents per message to the poor users of their GoPhone plans.

Well, what if your internet service provider were to charge a similar rate for data transfers? Consider that an hour-long video from iTunes runs about 650-700 megabytes. At $0.01 per 140 bytes, downloading just one hour of television from iTunes—discounting the purchase price of the content itself—would cost you over $48,000.

Compare that to the $62,000 charge received by a man who downloaded Wall-E on his data card while vacationing in Mexico. He would’ve paid nearly $80,000 at that rate.

If that isn’t compelling enough, consider this: in 2008, Dr. Nigel Bannister of the University of Leicester concluded that sending a 5-pence text message—around 7 cents in the US—cost four times as much as sending a similarly sized piece of data to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Of course, not every text message is 140 bytes and not every customer uses their entire allotment every month, which just makes these expensive data transfers even more expensive.

If that makes you hesitate before sending a text message to your friend down the block, just remember that it could be worse—you could be sending it overseas.

Vespa was founded in post-WWII Italy when Enrico Piaggio, owner of Piaggio & Co., decided to take his company out of the aeronautics industry. Because many of Italy’s roads had been destroyed, motorbikes like the Cushman were more useful than automobiles. Inspired by the Cushman, Piaggio & Co. began working on a bike of their own. The result was the first globally successful scooter—the Vespa.

The Vespa featured a shield in front that helped keep the driver dry and clean, as well as a step-through frame that could accommodate women in long dresses. The internal mesh transmission eliminated the need for an exterior chain and the front fork design made it easy to change wheels.

The Vespa SS90 Super Sprint was introduced in 1965 and produced until 1971. It featured a narrower front end compared to other Vespas and a glove box and spare wheel mounted in the step-through area of the frame. It didn’t do so well during its run, however, making the SS90 a rare piece of Vespa history today.

Because of its rarity—only 5,309 were ever made—and Vespa’s storied history, the SS90 is now the world’s most expensive scooter. If you manage to find one, you can expect to pay over $7,000 to own this costly scooter.

While researching the world’s most expensive snowboard, I ran into an interesting story—apparently, the “King of Snow Mountain” in China bought a motorized, solid gold snowboard at a price of $10 million for his son’s 21st birthday.

Yeah, I don’t believe it either.

The Burton Method, on the other hand, actually exists. Burton has been making snowboards for 30 years and purchasers of the Method will benefit from that experience. The board is constructed with Burton’s unfortunately named UltraMeth technology, which employs finely woven carbon strands, titanium edges and S2 carbon composite instead of glass. All of this amounts to a board that is both lightweight and high performance.

The most expensive snowboard in the world is sold out from Burton’s own online store, but expect to pay $1,500 or more if you do manage to find one.

Willoughby Siberian White Goose Down Comforter – $375-$1,100

This hypoallergenic comforter is filled with at least 90% Siberian white goose down. The shell is 100% microfiber, which will prevent that expensive filling from leaking out far better than a standard cotton shell would. It’s sewn through with true baffle box construction, which prevents the lumpy texture that comes from filling migrating within the shell over time. It even has a white satin trim. This luxury comforter is only available in white, but can be purchased in sizes from twin to king and is available in both summer and winter weights.

Stacks & Stacks Alpaca Fur Bedspread – $996

This queen-sized luxury bedspread is made with soft Alpaca fur—the softest fur in the world. It also features a genuine Alpaca leather backing. Be warned, however, that the sheet covering the backing may be a little rough. The fur bedspread can be purchased in three colors—white, beige and dark brown.

Kumi Kookoon’s Silk Dream Blankets – $1,113-$1,526

Perhaps the king of all luxury blankets, Kumi Kookoon makes their blankets from the finest Chinese raw mulberry silk—from the charmeuse silk shell to the stretched silk filling. The blankets use an innovate modular design wherein the smaller winter blanket is tied to the top of the summer blanket, leaving a six-inch border of visible summer blanket. The blankets can be purchased in a variety of colors and are purchased separately—meaning the full winter/summer blanket combo can cost over $3,000.

Luxury gadgets, clothing and food are all well and good, but let’s face it—history is written by the land barons. Real estate put the feud in feudalism, made legends of early explorers and put Donald Trump on primetime television. So where is the most valuable land in the world?

The world’s most expensive real estate market, according to a recent survey by the Global Property Guide, is Monte Carlo. Named “Mount Charles” after Prince Charles III of Monaco, Monte Carlo is a northern district in the city-state of Monaco and is home to the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the renowned Hôtel de Paris and the greater portion of the Curcuit de Monaco, where Formula One drivers race in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Real estate in this land of luxury cost an average of $47,578 per square meter, according to the Global Property Guide’s 2009 report.

Monte Carlo was followed by Moscow, Russia at less than half that price—$20,853 per square meter—and London, England at $20,756 per square meter. New York City placed 6th on the list at $14,898 per square meter.

Global Property Guide’s full top ten list is as follows:

1. Monte Carlo, Monaco – $47,578
2. Moscow, Russia – $20,853
3. London, England – $20,756
4. Tokyo, Japan – $17,998
5. Hong Kong – $16,125
6. New York, USA – $14,898
7. Paris, France – $12,122
8. Singapore – $9,701
9. Rome, Italy – $9,166
10. Mumbai, India – $9,163

As if the bottled water craze that has stigmatized tap water consumption wasn’t enough of a waste of money, one company has hit upon an even more fantastic way to throw away your money—some of the most expensive ice in the world.

Gläce Luxury Ice Co. have eschewed the typical ice cube for a more pleasing sphere. Each 2.5” sphere is carved by hand and made with pure water to preserve the flavor of high-end drinks. Gläce recommends allowing a sphere to “age” for 3-4 minutes once you’ve removed it from the freezer, lest your precious status symbol be marred by “crackling” and “spidering.” These luxury ice spheres cost $8 each.

Gläce isn’t the first company to make ice spheres for beverage cooling, however. Okamoto Studios—New York’s most expensive ice sculptors—once made ice balls for an event at a bar. Using a leather strap, screws and dog bowls, they made ice balls for patrons’ drinks. By using differently sized bowls, they were even able to vary the sizes of the balls.

The popular worker’s denim trousers have become modern day fashion and status symbols. Designer jeans come in and out of popularity but in the early 2000s, expensive jeans started coming back into fashion with brands such as APO Jeans, Chip and Pepper, Paper Denim & Cloth, Seven for All Mankind, True Religion and many other brands costing $200 or more per pair.

The Guinness Book of Records listed a pair of Gucci Genius jeans featuring elaborate feathers, beads, rips and buttons as most expensive jeans off-the-rack at a cost of $3,134 and Forbes once showcased Escada’s Swarovski crystal-encrusted jeans that sold for US $10,000.

Levi Strauss Company bid $46,532 to buy a pair of their own brand of denim pants back on the popular auction site eBay. However, the most expensive old jeans were an average pair of 501 jeans manufactured in the 1880s and purchased by a Japanese collector in 2005 for $60,000.

Trashed Denim

None of those prices, however, can even hold a candle to that commanded by Dussault Apparel’s Trashed Denim line of luxury jeans. These men’s jeans are handmade using a special process where they are washed thirteen times, with dying and painting performed between each washing to add depth to the jeans. That’s not all, though, as each pair of Trashed Denim jeans is adorned with sixteen 1-carat rubies, twenty-six .05-carat rubies, eight .05-carat diamonds and 1080 grams of 18k white or rose gold.

So how much are the most expensive jeans in the world? Try a quarter-million dollars. That’s right; Dussault Apparel’s Trashed Denim jeans are priced at $250,000. They can be purchased at the Dussault store in Los Angeles or Kustom in New York City.

HBO’s latest attempt to recapture the magic that made The Sopranos a hit may just be the most expensive television show in the world.

According to The New York Post, the pilot episode for Boardwalk Empire has set HBO back $50 million—around five times the price of Lost’s two-hour pilot episode, formerly thought to be the world’s most expensive television episode.

Boardwalk Empire fuses the period style that made AMC’s Mad Men popular with the gangster drama that propelled Sopranos to the top. It will star Steve Buscemi as politician and gangster Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, who reigned over Atlantic City in the 1920s. The series was created by Buscemi’s fellow Sopranos alum Terence Winter and is produced by none other than Martin Scorsese.

Boardwalk Empire is set to debut in late 2010 with a 12-episode season.

When you hear the phrase “most expensive camera in the world,” you probably imagine a super high-tech digital camera—maybe one used by NASA to take pictures of Mars or the moon or some cool camera capable of going underwater to extreme depths.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

The first cameras used the daguerreotype process, pioneered by Jacques Mande Daguerre, to form images. A daguerreotype image is achieved by producing a direct image onto a polished silver surface. Unfortunately, a daguerreotypist couldn’t produce copies by means other than daguerreotyping the original and the process was obsolete within a decade.

1839 Susse Freres daguerreotype camera

In May 2007, a daguerreotype camera dating back to 1839 became the world’s most expensive camera when it sold at auction for €576,000—about US $775,000 at the time. The camera, designed by Frenchman Susse Freres, was housed in a sliding wooden box frame and was also believed to be the oldest commercially manufactured camera in the world, heightening its appeal to collectors.

In May 2010, another daguerreotype camera will go under the hammer and possibly become the most expensive camera in the world. Undocumented since 1839, this camera was built by Alphonse Giroux, brother-in-law to Daguerre, which may make it the oldest camera ever built. It was even signed by Dagguere, which can only increase its value to enthusiasts.

1839 Alphonse Giroux daguerreotype camera

The Camera will be on sale at the WestLicht Auction in Vienna—the same auction that sold the Susse Freres daguerreotype in 2007—where bidding will open at €200,000. It is expected to fetch between €500,000 and €700,000—that’s upwards of US $978,000.

Via LuxuryLaunches \ BornRich

Jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie was a central figure in the bebop movement and its success is partially attributed to his stage presence. While his beret, horn-rimmed glasses and pouched cheeks all played their part, it was his bent horn that eventually became the most expensive trumpet in the world.

Gillespie’s first bent horn was the result of an accident, but he liked the effect produced by the 45-degree bend so much that he used bent trumpets for the rest of his career. One such trumpet was his Martin Committee bent trumpet.

So called because a committee of players and music teachers designed it for the Martin Band Instrument Company, the Martin Committee line of musical instruments was also used by jazz icons like Miles Davis and Chet Baker.

In 1995, Dizzy Gillespie’s Martin Committee trumpet was sold at a Christie’s auction $55,000.

The martini cocktail—typically four parts gin to one part vermouth—is a Western staple; from the three-martini lunches enjoyed by American businessmen through the 1970s to the “Shaken, not stirred” vodka martinis enjoyed by James Bond, the cocktail has a long and storied association with men of influence.

The world’s most expensive martini, however, has a little something for the ladies.

Offered by the Blue Bar at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, the Martini on the Rock is served in a crystal glass on a silver platter. The Grey Goose martini’s price wasn’t determined by the quality of alcohol in the mixed drink, but by one very special ingredient—a diamond engagement ring.

The drink is listed at $10,000, but its actual price is determined by the ring. A visit with a private jeweler allows the customer to choose the perfect ring for the occasion. As such, the hotel requires a 72-hour advance notice to serve the most expensive martini.

You’ve probably heard about the late night drama that has caused Conan O’Brien to be dismissed from his duties on the Tonight Show. In the few days leading up to his last episode, O’Brien decided to do something a little different—a “screw you” to the folks at NBC in the form of the most expensive comedy bits in the world.

The first of these “crazy expensive” bits involved a new character on the show—the Bugatti Mouse. The Bugatti Mouse is a Bugatti Veyron, the world’s most expensive car, dressed as a mouse. The Bugatti Mouse even has its own theme song—the original master recording of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”

According to O’Brien, the bit cost NBC $1.5 million. Of course, considering the car currently sells for significantly more than $1.5 million, it’s likely that O’Brien was afforded a discount for the publicity.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Conan unveiled the Tonight Show’s brand new mascot the very next night. Mine That Bird, equine winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby, was led onto the stage wearing a mink Snuggie. As the horse was watching restricted NFL Super Bowl footage, the price tag on this bit was even larger than that of the Bugatti Mouse—$4.8 million.

Update: After unveiling his third and final “crazy expensive” comedy bit—a fossil skeleton of a giant ground sloth, purchased from the Smithsonian Institute and spewing beluga caviar on an original Picasso—Conan made sure everyone knew that “It’s not real!” Such is life.

Carradan Skis may offer the most expensive skis in the world—but are they actually worth the money?

Carradan Skis offers four models of skis—Diamondback and Envy for $12,000 and Mamba and Lust for $19,000. Carradan Skis touts their FLEX:2 system that absorbs impact, the CRYO:2 process that strengthens the skis and the Carradan Coriolis Core that reduces warping.

Buyer beware, however, as concerned consumers have supposedly revealed Simon Carradan as none other than Simon Brodie, whose previous ventures have resulted in legal action.

Should Carradan Skis prove to be less than legit, the award for most expensive skis will go to the FC08 by Ferrari and Dynastar. The collaboration between Ferrari and skiing giant Dynastar has resulted in a pair of high performance skis made of lightweight carbon fiber and featuring newly developed Autodrive Fluid technology that allows for greater stability in lines.

These Ferrari-branded skis retail at a phenomenal price of 2,500 euros—about US $3,500.

Iconic pop artist Andy Warhol strove for a unique and trendsetting look—even going so far as to commission mismatched footwear with patches sewn onto the right shoe. Then, of course, there’s the famous wig he began wearing in the mid-1960s.

While the silver-grey wig was originally intended to cover up his receding hairline, it became an integral part of the Andy Warhol look. In 2006, almost twenty years after Warhol’s death, the wig was sold at a Christie’s auction along with a few other items formerly owned by Warhol. The wig even had Warhol’s toupee tape still attached to its interior.

The wig sold for $10,800, making it one of the most expensive wigs in the world.

Other Warhol memorabilia sold at the auction included a 1977 photo of Muhammed Ali, signed by Warhol, and a 1975 Polaroid of Mick Jagger. The photos sold at $19,200 and $15,600, respectively.