- Here’s a bunch of some stupidly expensive things you’ve never heard about.
Gold, diamonds, oil, perfumes… We all know the most expensive materials and substances in the world.
Except that we don’t. Everyday luxury items can be exceedingly valuable, make no mistake, but they don’t hold the candle to the most expansive substances in the world.
So, what are those? We’ll tell you — and we bet you wouldn’t guess most of them.
Here’s a collection of eight strange things and materials that cost an arm and a leg (and a whole bunch of other limbs).
8. LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD, is one of, if not the most expensive recreational drug in the world. Good ol’ acid costs roughly $84,000 per ounce in its pure, freshly synthesized crystalline form.
How on earth could the hippies of the ‘60s afford to trip out on this stuff?
Well, that’s because virtually nobody sells LSD as crystals, outside of the official chemistry trade. The crystalline LSD is always dissolved into water or alcohol for recreational use.
Additionally, the typical stamp-sized paper tab of LSD contains maybe a few drops of dissolved LSD at most. One ounce of acid is such a ludicrously large amount of the drug that even the most spaced-out hippie would likely never need it.
7. Libmeldy
“What the heck is Libmeldy?” you ask. It’s just the most expensive medicinal drug in the world.
Scientifically known as atidarsagene autotemcel, Libmeldy is a gene therapy drug used to treat metachromatic leukodystrophy. In clearer terms, it’s an obscure, experimental drug for treating a rare childhood disorder that so far has had no known cure.
You’d better hope you never have to use Libmeldy, though. Just a single dose of the drug costs $4.25 million.
In fact, Libmeldy is so jaw-droppingly pricey that some countries, like Ireland, refuse to consider it for use unless it can be made more cost-effective.
6. Saffron
Saffron is a popular spice worldwide for its lovely aroma, color, and flavor. That’s despite its ridiculous price of up to $700 per ounce, making it the most expensive spice in the world.
It’s all due to the incredibly laborious process of harvesting it. Saffron threads are actually the stigma and styles of the saffron crocus flower.
The are so delicate that they must be handpicked. Additionally, one flower produces only around three saffron threads, so it takes an immense amount of work to harvest just one gram of the spice.
5. Snake Venom
You might not expect deadly venom to fetch a high price. Yet, snake venoms can be exceedingly valuable substances.
One of the priciest is the venom of the colorful yet deadly coral snakes. One of the most potent venoms out of all snakes, it can sell for up to $113,500 per ounce.
Snake venom is expensive because you need it to produce anti-venom. Some venoms also have antibacterial, antiviral, or other medicinally important properties that are vital for producing certain drugs.
Yet, one snake can only pump out so much venom (and they try to spend as little as possible because producing venom is tiring work). As such, the toxic goo oozing out of snake fangs sells for a small fortune.
4. Caterpillar Fungus
The caterpillar fungus, or Ophiocordyceps sinensis, is a parasitic fungus that preys on ghost moth larvae in the mountain plateaus of the Himalayas. The fungus eats the caterpillar from the inside before pushing a small, stick-like fruiting body through its back.
It’s those fungal sticks that are worth a lot of money, due both to their rarity and being difficult to farm artificially. With a price tag of around $3,125 per ounce, the caterpillar fungus is probably the most expensive parasite in the world.
But what is it used for? For supposed medicine — the caterpillar fungus is a sought-after ingredient for Chinese and Tibetan folk remedies.
That’s even though the fungus contains so much arsenic that overconsumption can easily kill you.
3. Ambergris
Whale puke doesn’t sound like something that you would want to have around, does it? Yet, if you owned a chunk of ambergris, you’d be rich indeed.
Although ambergris is nothing but a by-product of sperm whales’ digestive tracts, it’s very valuable. It sells for about $980 per ounce.
Fresh ambergris is pretty disgusting due to its offensive, feces-like stench. As it ages, though, the smell turns into a pleasant, fragrant aroma that many perfume producers would love to get their hands on.
If you had ambergris, though, you’d likely have to sell it on the black market. Due to sperm whale protection laws, ambergris is illegal to buy, sell, or even own in many parts of the world.
2. Painite
If you prefer your stupidly expensive substances to be traditional gems, you might want to get your hands on some painite. This exceedingly rare mineral is likely the most expensive gemstone in existence.
A carat of painite costs about $60,000 (compared to diamonds’ $4,400 per carat). That means an ounce of painite would set you back a whopping $8.4 million.
That said, there may not be an ounce of the mineral to go around. Painite was only discovered in the 1950s and only 25 crystals are known to exist.
1. Antimatter
Finally, as likely the single most valuable substance in the world, we have antimatter. According to NASA, antimatter is worth around $1.775 trillion per ounce.
As to what antimatter is, well… It’s matter, but it’s made of antiparticles instead of normal particles?
Look, we’re not physicists — don’t ask us to wrap our heads around this science-fiction stuff.
In any case, it’s possible to produce antimatter and it’s not even particularly hard. For example, the Department of Energy says a normal banana releases one particle of antimatter every 75 minutes.
But that’s one particle. Wonder how many of those you would need to make up an ounce of the stuff.