I want to corner the world supply of...

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was just reading the thread about the most useless chemical element ( What's the most useless chemical element? - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board ), which got my mind to thinking that maybe a get-rich scheme would be to corner the world supply of an element, like Lutetium mentioned in the chemical element thread, that is useless now, and when people do find a use for it, they would have to come to me, and I would have them at my mercy! Bwahaha.

My next step is to figure out what would be the easiest thing to corner the world supply of, if I was a super-villain on a budget?
It should be something that can’t be easily produced by other people, e.g. if I tried to corner the world supply of hot dogs, someone else can easily make more hot dogs. It should be something that other people might want some day, e.g. if I corner the supply of dirty socks once worn by Arnold Winkelried, no one would care. And it should be something that I can do on a small budget.

What could there be? I was thinking of some kind of rare stamp, but that would probably require a big budget. Gold would be a good one but I could never afford it, and I don’t have a bunch of henchmen to steal it for me like Goldfinger.

2

For a super-villain, I’d nominate coltan. Weaponry and evil intent would deliver the Congolese stocks, 'cause that all that holds them now. I would envisage something akin to a buffalo stand. You might even pick up the Nobel Peace Prize on the way. The profits from the African mines would enable a simple stock market raid to pick up the requisite resources from Australia and Brazil and you’d have north of 85%.

3

That might work, but it seems that many other countries have coltan deposits, and cornering it might work in the short run, but in the long run would be difficult. I was hoping for something easier. Also starting a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be a long and messy procedure.

4

*Ending *a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be a long and messy procedure.

What are you like with a paintbrush? Do you have some uber creative flair? You can do that on a budget. Only problem is achieving the richly rewarding due recognition within your own lifetime.