# Most expensive thing in the world **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846 "2007-08-16T19:26:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/41 "2007-08-17T15:22:12Z")
I don’t think you can really compare discrete objects as opposed to arbitrarily extensible things like land, elements, liquids, roads, really good pot, etc. Something that is sold by the gram, foot, etc. cannot really be compared to something that is only sold as a whole. I would also limit it to things that can be bought with private funds. Government money has never been a good representation of the real cost or value of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/42 "2007-08-17T16:25:17Z")
I’d say it’s gotta be a boat. Planes are expensive, as several people have pointed out, especially if they’ve been specially built and handsomely/outrageously appointed. But they’ve pretty much got a size limit. You can buy a mega cruise ship, I should think, something ridiculously long, and that’s been specially designed and decorated/furnished to the max. Would that beat a plane? I’m talking about something much, much bigger than Paul Allen’s yacht. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/43 "2007-08-17T16:52:51Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] I’d say it’s gotta be a boat. Planes are expensive, as several people have pointed out, especially if they’ve been specially built and handsomely/outrageously appointed. But they’ve pretty much got a size limit. You can buy a mega cruise ship, I should think, something ridiculously long, and that’s been specially designed and decorated/furnished to the max. Would that beat a plane? I’m talking about something much, much bigger than Paul Allen’s yacht. [/QUOTE] See Post 34 ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/44 "2007-08-17T17:03:33Z")
[QUOTE=Chief Pedant] In this sort of category, wouldn’t a regular old cruise ship be a lot more expensive? It meets criteria of purchasability to any private individual with the dough and a concrete price tag. 1.2 Billion+ USD, e.g. Of course, a private owner may want extras… [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/06/ap/business/mainD8FJQAOO1.shtml](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/06/ap/business/mainD8FJQAOO1.shtml) In the same way a private jet owner wants to step up to an airliner, a yacht owner could step up to a cruise ship–it’s just that they are too expensive. [/QUOTE] I was thinking of things that “consumers” are expected to buy. I could buy a power plant for a billion dollars but I don’t think I’m on GE’s hot-tip list. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/45 "2007-08-17T17:19:58Z")
[QUOTE=Chief Pedant] See Post 34 [/QUOTE] Yup. You beat me to it by far. Should’ve read more closely. What about a pro sports team? Man U or the Yankees? Over $1B, now, no? And somewhat regularly purchased/owned by individuals. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/46 "2007-08-17T17:28:28Z")
[QUOTE=williambaskerville] Under those criteria, would you accept a trip to Mars ? If you had the money,you could theoretically ring an aerospace company and say you want to fly to Mars ASAP, please make the necessary arrangements. [/QUOTE] But such a thing does not presently exist, cannot be built for you without research and development (which was specifically excluded by the OP) and isn’t a single thing. You can’t even say for sure that the product can be delivered, since it’s never actually been done. A 787 is one thing. It’s an airplane. You could take it home if you had the room. Build a big conveyor belt for it. You can buy one right now if you have the money; call Boeing and they’ll sell you one. They’re building them as we speak. You could probably even snag one from one of the airlines that takes some of the first shipments; they’d probably be happy to sell you theirs if you paid more than the original purchase price. But now I’m leaning towards a cruise ship. A private individual could not buy an aircraft carrier, but there’s no reason you could not buy a cruise ship. I think a full sized ship like the Norwegian biggies might cost more than a 787. ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/47 "2007-08-17T17:57:59Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] Yup. You beat me to it by far. Should’ve read more closely. What about a pro sports team? Man U or the Yankees? Over $1B, now, no? And somewhat regularly purchased/owned by individuals. [/QUOTE] Could someone please buy the Orioles. Please. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/48 "2007-08-17T18:16:28Z")
[QUOTE=drachillix] Ok, sorry for the hijack but this piqued my curiosity. Are there procedures for properly milking venom from spiders on the net? My Google-Fu is apparently lacking. I have access to metric shitloads of black widows. [/QUOTE] There’s a video of spider milking [here](http://www.sciencefriday.com/video/031507/milk.html), which is pretty similar to the way I’ve seen it done before. The spider is stunned/put to sleep with carbon dioxide, then placed in a metal clamp. An electric shock is administered through the clamp, which causes the spider’s venom glands to contract, producing a tiny bead of venom. The venom is then sucked up into a little pipet-like container. After that, I’m not clear on the storage and such. Repeat on about 100,000 spiders to gather about a gram of venom (in the case of black widows, at least, which are very small). I don’t think it’s something you’d want to do at home. If your home is like mine, the conditions are less than laboratory perfect, for one thing. If for some reason you’re opposed to squashing or spraying your widows, you could always contact a researcher in the field and offer them up, but I wouldn’t expect a fistful of cash. A hearty handshake is more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/49 "2007-08-17T18:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=KRM] I was thinking of things that “consumers” are expected to buy. I could buy a power plant for a billion dollars but I don’t think I’m on GE’s hot-tip list. [/QUOTE] Well, if you want something quite common that the average person might buy, how about “medical care”? The hospital bill for my brother’s triplets (born prematurely and away from home) topped $2 million. I understand that his employer’s insurance company still uses my brother’s kids as an example of “don’t ever let this happen again” in their employee training. ---
**Author:** ![WonJohnSoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f17d59/32.png) [@WonJohnSoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WonJohnSoup)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/50 "2007-08-17T23:23:08Z")
I think some of you are overlooking the OP’s original criteria of the object being _tangible_. Controlling shares of companies, medical care and even arguably places like New York aren’t tanglible. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/51 "2007-08-18T05:32:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I think some of you are overlooking the OP’s original criteria of the object being tangible. Controlling shares of companies, medical care and even arguably places like New York aren’t tanglible. The example I gave was a corporation. While it might not be in the same category as a boat, it is a tangible asset - its value derives from the fact that it owns around two hundred hospitals. And I’d say a hospital is a tangible asset - you can drive up to it and touch it and say “I own this.” And I don’t see how anyone can dispute what its price was. It wasn’t a theoretical exercise - somebody actually wrote a check for thirty three billion dollars and bought it. ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/52 "2007-08-18T13:59:59Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] The example I gave was a corporation. While it might not be in the same category as a boat, it is a tangible asset - its value derives from the fact that it owns around two hundred hospitals. And I’d say a hospital is a tangible asset - you can drive up to it and touch it and say “I own this.” And I don’t see how anyone can dispute what its price was. It wasn’t a theoretical exercise - somebody actually wrote a check for thirty three billion dollars and bought it. [/QUOTE] A corp. is a whole set of assets though. I could set up a company that has 200 boats as assets. That’s not one thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/53 "2007-08-18T21:09:46Z")
To me, the one type of corporation that almost qualifies, and doesn’t get too far from the OP’s general idea, is a pro sports franchise, one of the premier ones. Sure it’s a corporation, but a fairly small one (in terms of employees, even when you take into account farm teams, front office, etc.) and thus _practically_ tangible. Sometimes they’re owned by individuals who treat them as personal playthings, or toys, the same way they would a cruise ship. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/54 "2007-08-20T15:57:26Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] How much for the Space Station? [/QUOTE] It cost about $130 billion, making it nearly the most expensive thing. Of course, it isn’t located on Earth, so it may be exempt. [Cost of International Space Station](http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAQHA0VMOC_iss_0.html) ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/55 "2007-08-20T18:24:57Z")
You guys need to reacquaint yourselves with the definition of tangible. > [@](#): > > tan•gi•ble–adjective > > 1. capable of being touched; discernible by the touch; material or substantial. > 2. real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary: the tangible benefits of sunshine. > 3. definite; not vague or elusive: no tangible grounds for suspicion. > 4. (of an asset) having actual physical existence, as real estate or chattels, and therefore capable of being assigned a value in monetary terms. > –noun 5. something tangible, esp. a tangible asset. from [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) A business’s stock (especially a publicly traded one) and real estate are definitely tangible. Medical care, which is a service, is, by at least one definition, “tangible” so long as you know what the service is (i.e. open heart surgery), but just general medical care is too vague. Examples of intangibles are “good will” and “name recognition.” The problem with the answer being a business/ corporation is that you are buying many things (i.e. shares of stock). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/56 "2007-08-20T20:15:16Z")
> [@](#): > > To me, the one type of corporation that almost qualifies, and doesn’t get too far from the OP’s general idea, is a pro sports franchise, one of the premier ones. Sure it’s a corporation, but a fairly small one (in terms of employees, even when you take into account farm teams, front office, etc.) and thus practically tangible. Sometimes they’re owned by individuals who treat them as personal playthings, or toys, the same way they would a cruise ship. I’d take the opposite view. A sports team is a notably intangible type of corporation. You don’t own the players. You just acquire the temporary rights of some of their services to be used in a manner collectively agreed upon by other business owners in the hopes that the general public will find it entertaining enough to pay you to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/57 "2007-08-20T20:54:01Z")
[QUOTE=T\_SQUARE] A corp. is a whole set of assets though. I could set up a company that has 200 boats as assets. That’s not one thing. [/QUOTE] and a car is a a whole load of separate bits joined together. You could, for instance, sell or buy the wheels separate from the rest of it. It’s still a single thing, though. So’s a corporation. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/58 "2007-08-20T22:02:11Z")
You could set up any number of money wasters, say, an oil tanker filled with all the diamonds a billionaire’s cashed out fortune could buy, but that seems more like _assembling_ an expensive item than _buying_ one, and it takes liberties with the usage of the word “item.” The cruise ship idea may be the best suggestion (as an aside, aircraft carriers _are_ decommisioned from time to time, and probably could be bought). I don’t go for things like the Mona Lisa. France might _trade_ it for something like a universal cure for cancer, but I can’t work out any way it would be _sold._ No matter how much was offered. What about a really huge building? The Sears Tower changed hands for over a billion, I think I recall. Getting a Knock on the Door from Unfriendly Federal Agents Dept.: If some clever individual were to make and offer for sale a working hydrogen bomb, I bet the thing would go for a lot. And it _is_ conceivable, unlike a kilo of antimatter… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846/59 "2007-08-20T22:10:12Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] and a car is a a whole load of separate bits joined together. You could, for instance, sell or buy the wheels separate from the rest of it. It’s still a single thing, though. So’s a corporation. [/QUOTE] still, if it’s a publicly traded corp, you’re buying bunch of stock, which definitely has a per unit price. you don’t buy a car by the bolt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-thing-in-the-world/415846.md?page=2)