Think diamonds are expensive? Think again.
Although these precious gems are often thought of as highly valuable, they are not the most expensive things in the world. As it turns out, Earth is full of strange compounds and materials that are both rare and immensely valuable—though you may not have heard of some of them.
Though not all of these are equally useful, here are the most expensive materials in the world in 2017.
15. Saffron
You may recognize these thin little reddish strands from some more expensive rice dishes. If you don’t, those rice dishes are expensive precisely because of the saffron inside them!
Saffron, as we know it, only grows in certain climates. It comes from the flowers of the saffron crocus, each of which bears only three tiny threads of saffron which must be picked by hand. Today, the vast majority (about 90%) of saffron production is handled by Iran. A gram of this stuff will run you about $11, making it one of the world’s most expensive spices.
14. Gold
Bet you didn’t think this would be so low on the list, huh? Though gold is one of the most cherished precious metals on the planet, it’s only about five times as expensive as Saffron. It’s hard to say much about gold that isn’t already known, though not everyone knows that pure gold is actually very soft. A gram of gold will run you about $56.
13. Platinum
This one is only a little more expensive than gold at about $60 per gram, though it has a lot of different uses. Because it is one of the least reactive metals in existence, platinum is often used in electrodes, laboratory equipment, thermometers and many other technical devices. Still, it can be used for flash in jewelry as well.
12. Methamphetamine
Though this is one of the more plentiful substances on that list, that doesn’t make it any less valuable (or illegal). This one doesn’t have too many above-board uses other than as a drug, though interestingly enough it was once prescribed as Desoxyn (and has since been discontinued).
Regardless, methamphetamine is worth about $100 per gram at a street level.
11. Rhinoceros Horn
Though this one is less of a distinct substance or element, it still fetches $110 per gram on the black market. Unlike some of the other ones on the list, this one seems a bit inexplicable. Rhino horns are essentially just made of keratin, the same thing found in our hair and fingernails. Still, it remains sought after for traditional Chinese medicinal uses and other questionable health benefits (which we obviously do not encourage or endorse).
10. Heroin
The whole middle of this list is relatively in all honesty. Moving swiftly along, Heroin is the famously addictive opiate powder which often costs around $130 for a gram. The drug is most commonly processed from opium poppies, about 66% of which happens in Afghanistan. Though hospitals and pharmaceutical companies use similar chemical compounds to treat extreme pain, it is extremely illegal for anyone else to own or use privately.
9. Cocaine
Even more expensive than heroin is cocaine, which comes in at a whopping $236 per gram. Again, this one was made famous by Wall Street in the 80s. Everybody is on the same page with this one, yeah? Don’t try to but it, it’s highly illegal. Also don’t use it because it will do serious brain damage over time.
8. LSD
On a somewhat stranger note, LSD is exponentially more expensive than cocaine by volume—though that’s because you’re unlikely to find an entire gram of LSD laying around. Famously synthesized by chemist Albert Hoffman, LSD is a hallucinogenic drug made popular by 60s hippie culture and psychedelic music. Though Hoffman reported some positive experiences with it, it remains illegal to this day. At $3,000 a gram, this one is pretty expensive.
7. Plutonium
This peculiar element is a radioactive metal which is primarily used in nuclear chain reactions, whether that means power plants or bombs. Because its understandably costly to make, it’s also very costly to buy (if that were even possible for the average person). Should the opportunity present itself, a gram of Plutonium would cost about $4,000.
6. Painite
Painite is an orange-reddish gemstone which is said to be rarer than diamonds (though it still remains slightly less expensive). The stone contains a number of different elements including Calcium, Boron, Zirconium, Aluminum and Oxygen. It was first discovered in Myanmar in the mid 1950s. For a gram of painite, you would need to pay $9,000.
5. Taaffeite
Though some people have likely heard of painite, very few are likely to have heard of taaffeite. This is another gemstone which is actually a million times rarer than a diamond… but fetches a smaller price anyway, somehow. If you ever have a free afternoon, do some research on how diamond cartels artificially control the supply (and thus the price) of diamonds. Anyway, without getting on a soapbox, taaffeite costs $20,000 per gram.
4. Tritium
Another rare compound, tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen which is most commonly used in lighting—for example, on some self-illuminated clock faces. Still, it can also be used in nuclear bombs in some cases. While it costs about $30,000 per gram of tritium, the cost of producing it is exponentially higher than that.
3. Diamonds
Of all the items on the list, this one has to be the most obvious. Everyone who has ever seen a wedding ring of a James Bond movie knows what diamonds are. These precious gemstones are a mainstay of the jewelry market, prized for their clear color and the romantic associations people tend to have with them. A gram of diamonds would cost about $55,000.
2. Californium
An extremely rare substance, californium is essentially a lab-produced radioactive element used primarily in nuclear applications. For example, it produces neutrons well and can be used to start nuclear reactions. It can also poison you through gamma radiation, so there’s not much reason why you’d want to buy any of it. If you did, though, it would cost somewhere between 25 and 27 million dollars for a gram.
1. Antimatter
Of all the stuff on the list, this is certainly the most unique and the most abstract. In the same way that matter is matter, antimatter is that, but opposite. In essence, antimatter is made up of atoms with the opposite charge of whatever element they are the opposite of. And when they collide with that element, both are annihilated—and huge amounts of energy are released. If you could actually buy a gram of this stuff, it would run you $62.5 trillion for a gram.
Better start saving now!
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