# Most expensive thing in the world by weight **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731 "2006-10-24T17:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![T\_Baggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@T\_Baggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_Baggins)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/41 "2013-04-26T23:37:00Z")
Ha ha! …thanks, maybe I’ll stick around and see what REALLY goes on here! ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/42 "2013-04-26T23:49:35Z")
I have a pile of 1850’s to 1900’s stamps here. They are at least 80 % pure of the same material as the ‘Tre Skilling Banco’ … In fact I can find many kilograms of the same material… So how much can I sell it for ? Seems I’ve proved that the purchase price for the ‘Tre Skilling Banco’ is not for the substance but for the sentiment… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/43 "2013-04-27T01:06:51Z")
Australian hookers? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/44 "2013-04-27T01:19:32Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Unobtainium. > [@Jake](#): > > Let’s not forget “Upsidaisyum” Flubber ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/45 "2013-04-27T02:29:32Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Flubber Continuing in the same vein, I was going to add Kryptonite. But then I did a Google check and one of the comics (Superman #331) had it that it was cheaper than radium. I thought that the way of thinking may have been similar to that here, with super heavy (seemingly paradoxical adjective) elements and the expense in producing them. But then another Google told me that that issue was from January 1979, not Madame Curie days, which I had been hoping. My first search brought me [here](http://satisfactorycomics.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-panel-critics-how-much-does.html), from 2010, where it says (couldn’t follow cite) that radium was going for $25,000/oz. The blogger there was furious at the writer of that issue, because the implication is that for a relative pittance you could defeat Superman. Although I don’t know how much Kryptonite you would ultimately need. NB: recently I was accused, once nastily and once good-humoredly, about how I could’ve done a simple Google check on something or other. I don’t know, how many feet in a yard. Many times, as you know, that’s not the point of why a question is posted. So, yes, fine, I didn’t look up…I can’t even remember what got that person’s panties in a twist. With this entry I prove my bonafides. I am a man more citing than cited at. You’re welcome, all. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/46 "2013-04-27T03:09:50Z")
If this were a new thread, I’d have mentioned microchips; the chip in a high-end CPU weighs a fraction of a gram but can cost $1,000 (assume that packaging is only a small portion of the cost), although that is only $millions/kg compared to the stamp mentioned by **T\_Baggins**. However, microchips may very well be the most expensive thing in terms of [embodied energy cost](http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/06/embodied-energy-of-digital-technology.html); manufacturing a single memory chip needs as much energy as running a typical laptop for its lifetime (thus, replacing a desktop, especially an older one, with a CRT monitor with a laptop will use far more energy that you might ever save, albeit the energy cost is mostly hidden; recycling doesn’t help to save energy either except for bulk materials like plastic and metal). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/47 "2013-04-27T04:37:55Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > The Master says [Californium-252](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_329a.html), but that’s a 30-year old column so things may have changed by now. Antimatter, californium, lawrencium, and element 118, forsooth! Those are all gone in a twinkling. IMO, durability and containability in the case of a gas ought to be an essential component of intrinsic worth. ---
**Author:** ![Animastryfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Animastryfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Animastryfe)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/48 "2013-04-27T04:48:29Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > I have a pile of 1850’s to 1900’s stamps here. They are at least 80 % pure of the same material as the ‘Tre Skilling Banco’ .. In fact I can find many kilograms of the same material… So how much can I sell it for ? > > Seems I’ve proved that the purchase price for the ‘Tre Skilling Banco’ is not for the substance but for the sentiment… The OP never made any such rules or conditions on his question. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/49 "2013-04-27T11:16:12Z")
I realize this is a zombie, but I’ll point out that we just paid about $300 for around 20 nanograms of a custom designed DNA primer. I’ll let someone else figure out what that translates to in dollars per pound. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/50 "2013-04-27T11:24:51Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I realize this is a zombie, but I’ll point out that we just paid about $300 for around 20 nanograms of a custom designed DNA primer. I’ll let someone else figure out what that translates to in dollars per pound. [About 6.804 trillion USD per pound](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=300+dollars+per+20+nanograms+in+dollars+per+lb) ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731/51 "2013-04-27T13:38:10Z")
This . . . [http://www.nextpowerup.com/news/1098/china-develops-worlds-lightest-solid-material.html](http://www.nextpowerup.com/news/1098/china-develops-worlds-lightest-solid-material.html) . . . might be a contender. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world-by-weight/377731.md?page=2)