Really Expensive Stuff • Vol. 20: #5 • (1-28-2024) Tidbits of Coachella Valley

This week Tidbits tantalizes you with the facts on some very spendy items, some of which are the most extravagant in the world, and all of which are likely beyond the scope of most everyone's fantasy wish list!

• Wealthy heads of state and famous celebrities have been overnighting at Manhattan’s prestigious Mark Hotel since 1927. Overlooking Central Park, the penthouse suite covers the top two floors of the hotel and will set you back $75,000 a night. For this price, you can enjoy the five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two powder rooms, four fireplaces, two wet bars, and a large living room that can be used as a ballroom.

For this price, you can enjoy the five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two powder rooms, four fireplaces, two wet bars, and a large living room that can be used as a ballroom.

• The penthouse at Geneva, Switzerland’s Hotel President Wilson features a wall of glass and private balcony overlooking Lake Geneva, 12 bedrooms, a dining room seating 26, a 2500-sq.ft. living room with a 103-inch television, billiard table, a Steinway grand piano, and its own private gym. This can all be yours for a mere $90,000 per night!

• If you can afford $100,000 for an overnight stay, relax at the Royal Atlantis in Dubai, which features a 12,000-sq-ft., two-story penthouse complete with 100-year-old olive trees, marble floors, four bedrooms, and a private infinity pool overlooking the ocean.

• In the market for a used Lamborghini? Consider a 2014 Veneno Roadster, produced for the company’s 50th anniversary. Only nine roadsters and five coupes were produced, resulting in the slightly hefty window price of $4.5 million. If that’s a little rich for your blood, consider instead a 2017 Centenario Roadster that’s only in the $2.8 million range.

• The world’s most expensive spice is derived from the flower of the crocus sativus. Saffron has a pungent flavor used in many traditional Indian, Middle Eastern, North African, and European dishes. This crocus only blooms twice a year and has an intensive harvesting process requiring the flowers’ stigma to be carefully extracted. There are only three stigma per flower, all of which require manual labor of 40 hours per 150,000 flowers, the number of flowers required to produce 2.2 lbs. of saffron. It’s not unusual for the price of a pound of saffron to fetch more than $5,000.

• If you are fortunate enough have an original 1959 Barbie doll stashed in a closet somewhere, chances are good that youʼll be able to get close to $25,000 for this rare childhood treasure. Sophisticated collectors are looking for that doll in mint condition in the original box, and are willing to pay that price - or higher.

• Baseball cards can also be worth some pretty hefty sums, and a good example is a 1911 Honus Wagner card. Known as “The Flying Dutchman,” Wagner was in the first group inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame class in 1936. In 2021, this card sold for $6.606 million. That same year, a 1952 Mickey Mantle card was snapped up for $5.2 million, and a 1933 Babe Ruth card in mint condition was purchased for over $4.2 million.

• Is a pair of Levi’s simply too plain for you? In that case, Armani jeans start at $230 a pair, but might cost as much as $1,295. Gucci jeans start at $600. APO jeans have a range of $1,200 to $4,000, depending on fabric and embellishments. Or how about their design with a diamond button and gold rivets starting at $4,000? Even their economy version at $1,000 features pockets of pure silk.

Dolce and Gabbana jeans retail for nearly $4,500. While a pair of Escada stretch skinny jeans can be purchased for $350, and those embellished with genuine Swarovski crystals might fetch up to $10,000. But while plain Levi’s might seem like a bargain, consider that a pair of vintage 1893 Levi Strauss blue denim trousers sold in May 2018 for $100,000.

• So how about vintage oil paintings? One art collector nabbed a Vincent van Gogh painting of a garden of cyprus trees at a 2022 auction for the tidy sum of $117.1 million. Another well-heeled enthusiast spent $136 million on an 1880 Paul Cezanne landscape of the peak of Sainte-Victoire. An 1884 masterpiece by Post-Impressionist painter Georges Seurat fetched $149.24 million. But none could compare with the astounding price paid for Andy Warhol’s 1964 silkscreen painting “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,” a colorful portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe. The buyer went home with his prize and $195 million less in his bankroll.

• When we think of expensive violins, the name Stradivarius probably comes to mind. It’s estimated that this genius craftsman created 960 violins, of which less than 250 are accounted for. The highest price paid for a Stradivarius violin to date is $16 million. There remains one that is considered in “nearly new” condition with the instrument in very good repair and the original varnish still intact.

This “Messiah Stradivarius” has an estimated worth of $20 million. The Italian craftsman made around 75 cellos, one of which sold in 2008 for $20 million. But it’s the Stradivarius violas that command the most money. He completed just ten violas, making the MacDonald Stradivarius, created in 1719, worth $45 million today.

• Have you ever wondered how some of the world's wealthiest people choose to spend their leisure time? Beyond the sleek private jets waiting in hangars at the beck and call of their ultra-wealthy owners to whisk them on short notice to almost any destination around the globe, they have boats. Big boats. Luxurious private yachts with full maritime crews and lavish amenities that stretch the imagination.

• Tech magnates like Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, Google cofounder Sergey Brin and others in the elite billionaire class have purchased their own private getaways, and spared no expense in equipping them with first class amenities. These add-ons include everything from luxury suites to gyms, pools, spas, performance stages, movie theaters, elevators and helicopter landing pads.

• Price tags for these sea-going luxuries can range from the tens of millions up to the whopping $500 million mega-yacht owned by Bezos. His 417-foot floating palace also includes an 80-foot tender boat, a Mercedes limousine and chauffeur, two Harley motorcycles, and more.

• If owning one of these luxury yachts doesn't quite fit your vacation budget, you might consider renting a comparable vessel as an alternative. If so, be prepared to shell out anywhere from $100,000 to $450,000 (and up) for the experience - per day. 