Cinema ticket $17.91
In London, UK, the average price of cinema admission in 2016 was £12.19 ($17.91), according to Mercer’s annual Cost of Living survey.
SUPERLATIVES
Most expensive...
Money may not be able to buy you love, but it can certainly buy a lot of other things. From polished diamonds to priceless works of art, towering feats of architecture to an extremely expensive cheese sandwich, here are some of the costliest objects on Earth... and beyond.
Taxi ride $32.10
According to the 2015 UBS Prices & Earnings report, a 5-km (3-mi) taxi ride in the Norwegian capital of Oslo would cost passengers an average fare of $32.10 (£21.65). The same ride in New Delhi, India, would cost just $1.54 (£1.03).
Sandwich $214
The “Quintessential Grilled Cheese” was selling for $214 (£132.64) at Serendipity 3 in New York City, USA, as of 29 Oct 2014. It is served on French Pullman champagne bread with white truffle butter and ultra-rare Caciocavallo Podolico cheese, and accompanied by a dipping sauce of lobster tomato bisque.
Chocolate bar (auction) $687
A 100-year-old Cadbury’s chocolate bar was bought for £470 ($687) at auction on 25 Sep 2001. It had been taken on Captain Robert Scott’s first expedition to the Antarctic in 1901–04 and remained wrapped inside a cigarette tin.
Post-it note (auction) $940
A Post-it note featuring the pasteland- charcoal work After Rembrandt by R B Kitaj (USA) sold for £640 ($940) at auctions on 13–20 Dec 2000. It was one of a series made by artists to celebrate the Post-it note’s 20th anniversary.
Hamburger $5,000
A 777-lb (352.44-kg) hamburger available on the menu at Juicys Outlaw Grill in Corvallis, Oregon, USA, was selling for $5,000 (£3,115.87) as of 2 Jul 2011.
LEGO© brick $12,500
On 3 Dec 2012, a 14-carat-gold LEGO brick was sold by collector website Brick Envy, Inc (USA) to an anonymous buyer for $12,500 (£7,752). The 25.6-g (0.9-oz) brick was a gift given to long-serving LEGO staff between 1979 and 1981.
Sheepdog (auction) $21,392
Owned by Padraig Doherty (IRL), Cap the border collie was bought aged 16 months for £14,805 ($21,392) at auction in Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK, on 13 May 2016. Farm dogs that have been trained for herding usually sell for around £2,000 ($2,890).
Pop-star outfit (auction) – $300,000
A white peacock jumpsuit commissioned for Elvis Presley (USA) in 1973 and designed by Bill Belew was bought for $300,000 (£153,560) by an American investor. The 2008 sale was held by online auctioneer gottahaveit.com.
Pigeon (auction) $398,493
On 18 May 2013, pigeon breeder Leo Heremans (BEL) sold his racing pigeon Bolt for €310,000 ($398,493; £261,696) at auction. The bird, named after multiple record-breaking sprinter Usain Bolt, was thought to have been used for breeding.
Guitar (auction) $2.7 m
A Fender Stratocaster signed by a host of music legends fetched $2.7 m (£1.6 m) at a charity auction on 17 Nov 2005. Stars who signed the guitar included Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Brian May (all UK).
Car (auction) $38.1 m
A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta sold for $38,115,000 (£22.7 m), including buyer’s premium, on 14 Aug 2014 at the Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction in Carmel, California, USA. Eight of the 10 most expensive auctioned cars are Ferraris.
Wedding $55 m
In 2004, Vanisha Mittal and Amit Bhatia were married at a six-day event in Versailles, France, at a cost of $55 m (£28.5 m) – paid by Vanisha’s billionaire father Lakshmi. Performers at the reception included Shah Rukh Khan and Kylie Minogue.
Work by a living artist (auction) $58.4 m
On 12 Nov 2013, Balloon Dog (Orange) by Jeff Koons (USA, b. 21 Jan 1955) was sold in New York City, USA, for $58.4 m (£36.4 m). The 12-fthigh (3.6-m) stainlesssteel sculpture was bought anonymously.
Jewel (auction) $71.2 m
The Pink Star, an oval-shaped 59.6–carat diamond, was sold for $71.2 m (£56.8 m) at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong on 4 Apr 2017. Found in an African mine in 1999, it is the largest polished diamond in its class to be auctioned.
Soccer player $116.4 m
On 9 Aug 2016, Manchester United (UK) signed French midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus (ITA) for €105 m (£89.1 m; $116.4 m). Pogba had previously been a youth player at United, before leaving for the Turin giants in 2012.
Sculpture (auction) $141.28 m
Sculpted by Alberto Giacometti (CHE), L’homme au doigt (“Pointing Man”, 1947) was sold on 11 May 2015 for $141,285,000 (£91.4 m). The 1.8-m (5-ft 10-in) bronze statue is a tall and spindly figure – in trademark Giacometti style – with one arm extended.
Substance $163 m
In Dec 2015, Designer Carbon Materials (UK) sold 200 micrograms of nitrogen-atombased endohedral fullerenes for £22,000 ($32,611) in Oxford, UK. At this price, a gram would have cost £110 m ($163 m). The substance can be used in tiny atomic clocks.
Painting (private sale) $300 m
In Feb 2015, Nafea Faa Ipoipo (“When Will You Marry?”, 1892) by Paul Gauguin (FRA) reportedly fetched $300 m (£197 m) in a private sale.
Film $425 m
Avatar (USA, 2009) had an estimated production budget of $425 m (£261.3 m), according to The Numbers. During the making of his sci-fi epic, director James Cameron (CAN) pioneered the groundbreaking “Reality Camera System”. The money proved to be a sound investment – as of 5 Apr 2017, Avatar had earned the highest box-office gross, raking in a colossal $2.78 bn (£2.23 bn) worldwide.
Aircraft $1.3 bn
The US-made B-2 Spirit cost in excess of $1.3 bn (£780 m) per unit. A long-range multi-role bomber, the B-2 has special coatings and a flying-wing design that make the craft almost invisible to radar.
House built $2 bn
Completed in 2010 at an estimated cost of $2 bn (£1.29 bn), Antilia is a 27-storey personal skyscraper and the home of Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai, India. It has a total living floor area of 37,000 m2 (400,000 sq ft) plus three helipads, a health spa and a theatre.
Warship $27 bn $13 bn
Scheduled for commission in 2017, the USS Gerald R Ford cost around $13 bn (£10.1 bn). The supercarrier can launch up to 220 airstrikes a day from its two runways. It will have 500 fewer crew than a Nimitz-class carrier, saving $4 bn (£3.12 bn) during its lifetime.
Man-made object on Earth $27 bn
The Itaipu hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River between Brazil and Paraguay cost $27 bn (£20.2 bn) in 1984. Four dams joined together, its total length is 7,235 m (23,737 ft). In 2016, it generated 103.1 terrawatthours of energy.
Man-made object $150 bn
Initial construction on the International Space Station ran from 1998 to 2011, with an estimated final cost of $150 bn (£93.8 bn; €104.7 bn).
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