21 of the most pointlessly...
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Budgeting for the essentials in life is important.
However, it’s ok to splurge every now and then. And when the desire to spend your hard-earned money arises, what better way to treat yourself than with something that you want… but don’t actually need.
Below are 21 pointlessly expensive things that you can buy right now. From solid gold toilet paper to cupcakes that cost more than a car, these items might not have any purpose, but they do look pretty awesome.
1. Antarctic beer - $800
Love beer?
In 2010 a brewing company from Australia made beer using ice from the Antarctic. Called Antarctic Nail Ale, it was brewed by Nail Brewing and master brewer John Stallwood. Said to be quite possibly the world’s oldest and purest beer, it eventually sold for a whopping $800 at auction, which is awesome.
It’s a shame they didn’t call it Polar Beer though.
2. 24-carat gold toilet paper roll - $1.2 million
Another Australian invention that you might (ok… definitely) call pointlessly expensive is the world’s most expensive roll of toilet paper.
Coming in at a crazy $1.2 million, this roll is made by a company called Toilet Paper Man. It consists of 24-carat gold and golden flakes are designed to fall from the roll as you use it. What’s more, it’s delivered with a bottle of champagne … champagne that’s unfortunately not made from golden grapes.
3. Meat rock - $1.2 million
You’ve probably seen all manner of rocks before. Big rocks, small rocks, jagged rocks and smooth rocks. But have you ever seen a rock that looks like meat? Or like a cut of pork to be precise?
Probably not, but you can on eBay. Last time Fair Go checked, there was a rock that resembled a hunk of meat listed for $1,225,000. Buy it for your wife, for your kids or for your enemy. Because who doesn’t want to own a meat rock?
4. Diamond teabag - $14,000
Handcrafted using 280 diamonds and made by one of the most iconic jewellers in all of Britain (with one of the oddest names – Boodles), this bespoke teabag is really something special. Although truth be told, we here at Fair Go don’t think it will be used anytime soon.
5. Kanye West-designed shirt - $120
Sometimes clothing is expensive because of its fabric, sometimes it’s expensive because it’s a limited-edition piece. But sometimes it’s because the designer is a celebrity. And the more famous the celebrity is, the more expensive and ridiculous they can make their products (we’re looking at you Goop).
A plain white t-shirt from Kanye West is one of these products. Designed by none other than Yeezy himself, this t-shirt costs $120 and is made from 100% Egyptian cotton. Other than that, there’s nothing else particularly unique about this top – it has a hole for the neck and for your arms. Plus you can buy one that looks exactly like it for $100 less from just about every single store in Australia that sells men’s shirts.
6. Diamond contact lenses - $15,000
Anyone can create a pair of luxurious glasses, but it takes real skill to craft diamond encrusted contact lenses. Made by Chandrashekhar Chawan of Shekhar Eye Research, these lenses are perfect for those who need but don’t want to wear glasses and still want to give off a certain refined air. In short, it’s a small price to pay to put a twinkle in your eye.
7. Solid gold shirt - $250,000
This solid gold t-shirt gives that solid gold roll of toilet paper a real run for its money when it comes to pointlessly expensive things. Designed and made by a team of goldsmiths from Rankar Jewellers, it took 15 days to complete and weighs a total of 7 pounds (3 kilograms). It’s also completely useless, since wearing it practically anywhere will result in one of two things: you’ll either look like a complete tool or you’ll get robbed.
8. Hotdog - $2,300
If you want to know what the world’s most expensive hotdog tastes like, then you better book a ticket to New York. Thought up by New York City’s 230-fifth, this 12-inch-long edible extravaganza isn’t your typical sidewalk fare. It’s enriched with truffle, infused with saffron, made with wagyu beef and dipped in white truffle butter. There are also a bunch of other exotic and fancy fillings for you to sink your (presumably gold-plated teeth) into.
9. Fishing lure - $1 million
Fishing is a way to get back to basics. It’s just you, the rod and the fish in nature. We here at Fair Go love the simplicity of fishing with mates, although Kev the Koala prefers to observe them from afar instead of eating them. However, if you have some expendable cash, here’s one way you can take your fishing adventure to the next level – use a 1.3-kilogram gold and platinum fishing lure encrusted with diamonds and rubies.
No sinker necessary.
10. Popcorn - $250
It seems that there’s no end to gold’s versatility.
You can wipe your bum with it. You can wear it. And you can eat it, as is the case with the world’s most expensive popcorn. Covered in gold and worth $250 per gallon, we can’t confirm whether it tastes any good. What we can confirm is that these savoury treats will definitely be a hit during your next movie night (although they’re probably not for sharing).
11. Gold iPhone 5 - $15.3 million
Surprise, surprise… another gold coated goodie. This time though it’s nothing edible. Instead, it’s a golden iPhone that’s been crafted by UK based designer Stuart Hughes. Requested by an anonymous Chinese businessman, this $16 million handset is covered in gold and finished off by a sprinkling of black and white diamonds.
12. City parking spot - $560,000
Finding a parking spot in any city can be annoying, but apparently in a couple of cities in the States, finding somewhere to slot your car is a waking nightmare. One spot in San Francisco recently sold for $82,000 while two more sold for a combined total of $560,000 in Boston. At those prices, surely it’s cheaper to simply park your car illegally and just cop the fines on the chin?
13. Coffee - $600
Roughly 90% of the world consumes coffee on a daily basis. And roughly 1% of that 90% consume coffee known as Kopi Luwak. What makes this coffee so… errr… unique is that the beans that it’s made from have been eaten and fully digested by a small cat-like Indonesian animal called a civet.
As the story goes, the enzymes in its stomach alter the chemical makeup of the beans, making them taste delicious. The only thing holding us back here is that fact that they’re essentially beans that have gone in one end and come out the other. So the Fair Go team are pretty sure that we won’t be paying $600 for a pound of these poo beans.
14. Snoop Lion sticker - $100
We already spoke about the effect that a celebrity’s name has on the price of a product, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that digital stickers endorsed by Snoop Lion are selling for around $100. All you need to do is visit his online marketplace – Snoopify – in order to secure your own. You can then do exactly nothing with it since it’s a strictly digital product.
15. Ice cubes - $325
We’re more concerned with the liquid that’s going into our cup and not so much the ice cubes that accompany said liquid, but if ice cubes are an important consideration for you, then some perfectly square cubes of ice from Gläce Luxury Ice Co. may just be your bag. Hand carved and optimised to keep your drink cool, they definitely do the trick… although that price might give you brain freeze.
16. Gold-layered racing bike - $500,000
You’ll need more than one bike lock to keep this luxurious item safe. Made by a company called Goldgenie, its covered in a layer of 24-carat gold and is perfectly rideable. Given that it’s probably one of the heaviest racing bikes ever made though, you won’t see anyone using it in the Tour de France anytime soon.
17. Guinea Pig Armor - $24,300
When your guinea pig needs to look his best before going into war against other animals, there’s only one option. Get it a custom suit of armour that’s adorned with precious gems and rare metals. Sure, they might not be able to move all that good. But at least it will be the best-looking guinea pig on the battlefield. Side note… who the heck would pay for this?
18. Luxurious staples - $210
Staples are an often-overlooked piece of stationary. These gold-plated staples, however, are guaranteed to catch the attention of everyone who sees them. At $210 for a pack of 24, they aren’t for your average punter. If you can’t live without some gold-plated staples though you could always just spray paint some silver ones.
19. Socks - $1,188
Nope… it’s not gold that makes these socks so expensive. Instead, it’s the fact that they’re made of wool from an animal known as a vicuna, which is a close cousin of the llama.
Vicunas are known for their fine, high quality fur, but the real reason why a pair of these feet warmers are priced at over a grand is that vicuna only shed their wool every few years. They’re also wild, which means they must be caught. Finally, only 10 pairs of these socks were ever made.
20. Cupcake - $1,060
Hunger pangs can really mess with your head. You might be on a diet, only to lash out and eat an entire cake. Or you might be on some type of juice cleanse, but crumble as soon as you see a plate of spag bol. Unless you’re a millionaire (or very bad with your money) though, you probably won’t give in to your cravings and buy the Golden Phoenix cupcake at Dubai’s Bloomsbury’s Cupcake. It’s made from edible gold and it’ll set you back $1,060… which is about $1,058 more than we’re willing to pay for a small cake.
21. Codex Leicester book - $30.8 million
You can never complain about the cost of a book again upon learning that a tome written by none other than Leonardo da Vinci sold for over $30 million. Filled with sketches and musings from his life, it was purchased by another famous inventor in Bill Gates. No word yet on whether he plans on releasing the contents on Kindle.
Don’t waste your money – double it with Fair Go
