Most Expensive Homes on the Market

Selling a Most Expensive home can take awhile and, especially in this day and age, may end up disappointing the seller. Dunnellen Hall, for instance, was originally listed at $125 million, but is now being offered for less than half that. With that in mind, we present these—the most expensive homes on the market.

Versailles (Windermere, Florida) – $100 million ($75 million as-is)

At 90,000 square feet, this magnificent work in progress has been dubbed the “largest single family home under one roof in America.” Featuring thirteen bedrooms and twenty-three bathrooms, no one living in or visiting this palatial estate will lack for privacy. It’s based on Louis XIV’s Versailles royal palace and is currently owned by Jacqueline and David Siegel of Westgate Resorts.

Eurasia Estate (Moscow, Russia) – $100 million

Located 15 miles from Moscow’s city center, Eurasia consists of an 11,700-square-foot mansion with a 91,000-square-foot recreation center. The recreation center features a pool, Turkish and Russian baths and a sauna to keep the water bill high. For visitors, there are two 4,000-square-foot guest houses on the property.

Tranquility (Lake Tahoe, Nevada) – $100 million

What could be more tranquil than watching movies in your nineteen-seat private theatre with the knowledge that you’re not paying taxes on your lavish estate? Located on a 210-acre stretch of land, Tranquility is being sold by Tommy Hilfiger co-founder Joel Horowitz. The mansion itself is 20,000-square-feet and features a 3,500-bottle wine cellar and an indoor swimming pool and atrium.

Fleur de Lys (Beverly Hills, California) – $125 million

This 45,000-square-foot home was modeled after the palace of King Louis XIV in Versailles. It was built over five years after Texas billionaire David Saperstein and former wife Suzanne secured five acres in the Holmby Hills section of Bel Air. It was put up for sale soon after Suzanne was awarded the estate in the couple’s divorce. The home features a fifty-seat screening room, nine-car garage and library of first-edition books.

Updown Court (Windlesham, Surrey) – $140 million

This courtly estate aims for a more sophisticated occupant with its ballrooms and grand entryways. Of course, the 103-room Updown Court also has all the basic amenities—a fifty-seat cinema, heated marble driveway, helipad and indoor spas, Jacuzzis and pools. If that isn’t enough for you, there are also 58 acres of gardens and woodlands.

Mansion on Avenue Foch (Paris, France) – $140 million

This 28,000-square-foot mansion was built in 1912 for the Duchesse de Montmorency and purchased upon her death fifteen years later by mining tycoon Antenor Patino. The mansion’s decor includes historically important elements such as 18th century wood paneling, marble fireplaces and an impressive ceiling painted by the famed French Post-Impressionist, Henri Rousseau. The mansion also boasts twelve bedrooms and bathrooms, crystal chandeliers, Corinthian columns, gilded moldings and marble floors.

The Manor (Los Angeles, California) – $150 million

This incredible mansion, built in 1988 for television producer Aaron Spelling, is the largest home in Los Angeles County. Located on the former site of Bing Crosby’s manor, which Spelling had demolished, the 56,500 square foot manor in Holmby Hills was the center of some controversy based on its shameless extravagance. The widowed Candy Spelling has now put the enormous estate on the market. The Manor has 123 rooms, including three gift-wrapping rooms, a gym, four two-car garages, a bowling alley, a pool and a screening room.

Villa Leopolda, France – $500 million

Originally built for the mistress of King Leopold of Belgium, this mansion overlooking the French Riviera has been said to be owned by several prominent people over the years, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Fiat Group’s Gianni Agnelli. Sketchy reports of a “mysterious Russian billionaire” said that he had purchased the villa it from the widow of a Lebanese banker who was killed in an arsonist’s fire in 2003. Now that billionaire has backed out of the deal—and lost his $50 million down payment.

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World’s Most Expensive Books

Like any historical work, first edition books can fetch enormous sums when sold at auction. This is especially true of those books written by influential authors, scientists and other extraordinary thinkers. The most expensive books in the world are the works of seminal masters whose legacies are all but impossible to ignore.

Ptolemy’s Cosmography – $4 million

This atlast is based on the work of the second-century Greek mathematician, geographer and astronemer, Ptolemy. Printed in 1477, only two copies are held by private collectors today. Atlases presented a unique challenge for early printers, as each map had to be etched into a printing plate by hand, precisely copying the original sources which were often over a thousand years old.

William Shakespeare’s First Folio – $5.1 million

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies, a first edition collection of the bard’s plays, was the most expensive book sold at auction in 2006. The book was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death, and contains a dozen plays that have never been reprinted, as well as many that are considered classics today. The original printing issued 750 copies of the book and perhaps a third of these still exist today, many of them incomplete. With its original price of twenty shillings per copy, the book has undergone a remarkable price increase. It was a literary custom and common practice for readers to make revisions, additions and annotations to original books and manuscripts and this piece is no exception, with many notes giving insight into the book’s readership.

The book was auctioned by Dr. Williams’ Library, a London library that contains a remarkable collection of first editions and manuscripts. It was said that the auction, carried out by Sotheby’s Auction House, would secure the finances of the library for the near future.

James Audubon’s Birds of America – $11 million

The most expensive printed book on record is James Audobon’s “Birds of America,” which sold in 2000 for $8.8 million. A second copy was sold in 2010 for a staggering $11 million. Audobon is a noted illustrator who pioneered much of early wildlife research, and the book’s dimensions reflect his attention to detail. Each original copy of this book measures 3 feet by 2 feet, because Audubon wanted to paint the birds in life size. His work vastly increased popular awareness of the breadth of species in our world, and is still very highly regarded today for its accuracy and poignant detail.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Codex Leicester – $30.8 million

This notebook filled with original drawings, notes and sketches was sold to Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 1994. The manuscript takes its name from Thomas Coke who purchased it in 1717, decades before he was created Earl of Leicester. In the Codex, Da Vinci devotes his attention to such topics as the movement of water and the luminosity of the moon.

Gates didn’t keep the manuscript to himself, either. He had the contents scanned and distributed as a screensaver with Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95.

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World’s Most Expensive Beds

A person typically spends a third of their life sleeping, so why not make the most of that time by spending a ridiculous amount of money on an extravagant bed? Each supremely expensive bed is luxurious in its own way, and we’re certain almost anyone will find one of these beds most desirable.

Parnian Furniture bed – over $210,000

Furniture designer Abdolhay Parnian treats his furniture like works of art and it shows in the final product. It’s taken him two years to design this bed and I think you’ll agree that it was well worth the wait. It’s not only visually striking, with the eyelike headboard that will surely dominate any bedroom, but also equipped with features sure to intrigue even the most jaded of millionaires. The purchaser may choose from a variety of materials, including the ebony, sapele and curly maple in the pictured display model, as well as technological features such as iPad holders and charging stations, hidden compartments and pop-up swiveling televisions and computer monitors.

Jado Steel Style Gold Bed – $676,550

If you want to go all out with a bed that conveys wealth like no other, you can’t go wrong with the Gold Bed. As its name suggests, the luxurious waterbed is coated in 24k gold and features Swarovski crystals along the sideboard. It’s equipped with a DVD player and Bose sound system, Blu-ray player, Playstation 3, a foldaway plasma television coated in gold and can even be connected to the internet.

Magnetic Floating Bed – $1.6 million

The 2006 Millionaire Fair in Kortrijk, Belgium saw the debut of a magnetic floating bed that pretty much takes the cake for the coolest bed in the world—and the most expensive. Conventional beds and mattresses haven’t changed much over the years, and that’s where Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars comes in. The goal in his project was to make a usable piece of furniture that wasn’t constrained by the laws of gravity.

Ruijssenaars reportedly worked on the technology for six years in collaboration with Bakker Magnetics. Permanent opposing industrial-strength magnets allow the bed to float around 1.3 feet off the floor while holding almost 2,000 lbs. This aesthetically pleasing technology could also be applied to other areas in home furnishings like coffee tables, sofas, and Japanese dining tables. How cool would it be to eat sushi and drink sake off a floating table?

While the expensive bed will run you €1,200,000 (US $1.6 million), a smaller unit, one fifth of the full size, costs €115,000 (US $153,000). If you are a millionaire and simply must have this eye-catching bed, the people at Universe Architecture would be happy to make it happen for you.

Baldacchino Supreme – $6.3 million

After four years on the top, the magnetic floating bed has been unseated by luxury designer Stuart Hughes. whose collaboration with Italy’s Fratelli Basile has created nothing short of the most expensive bed in the world–the Baldacchino Supreme.

Fratelli Basile’s Hebanon furniture evokes the timeless qualities of 18th century furniture while making use of modern craftsmanship. This bed, with its chestnut structure and ash wood canopy, is no exception. The exterior is lacquered, patinated and decorated with 107 kg of 24k gold. The bed also features the finest Italian silk and cotton.

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Most Expensive Apps on the Android Market

The Android Market was opened in 2008, a mere day after Google released the initial version of its mobile operating system. This mobile software store, according to a 2010 survey by Distimo, over twice as many free apps, by percentage, as any of its competitors—including Apple’s vaunted App Store. Additionally, unlike the App Store’s maximum price of $999.99, Google only allows developers to charge up to $200 for their Android Market apps.

In December, 2010, Business Insider published a list of the most expensive Android apps. Here are the five apps that topped their list.

MobileNavigator GPS – $126.58

This GPS navigation app from Navigon features text-to-speech, live traffic updates and photo-realistic displays.

Emergency Central – $129.95

Unbound Medicine dominates the upper end of the Android Market spectrum with their medical reference apps. This one, intended for use in the ER, features “the Emergency Medicine Manual, Davis’s Drug Guide, Diagnosaurus DDx, Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests, and MEDLINE Journals.”

Anesthesia Central – $149.95

For anesthesiologists, this app is a go-to resource full of information about diseases, drugs, tests and procedures.

Nursing Central – $159.95

This app caters to both nurses and students, including Davis’s Drug Guide, Tabor’s Medical Dictionary and a study system to help aspiring nurses pass their exams.

Medicine Central – $159.95

This app, intended for physicians, nurse practicioners and students, includes a “5-Minute Clinical Consult”, MEDLINE journals and resources on drugs and drug interactions.

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World’s Most Expensive Digital Camera

Digital photography has come a long way since it started to catch on in the 1990s. While even your high-end smartphone may take pictures that look like crap, a real digital camera can make even the stodgiest photographer forget about film.

The Hasselblad H4D-60 is probably the most expensive digital camera in the world. This DSLR camera has an astonishing 60 megapixel 40 x 54 mm sensor. Aided by the Absolute Position Lock processor, Hasselblad’s True Focus system allows the photographer to focus on the composition without constantly fiddling with the focus. The camera has a capture rate of 1.4 seconds per capture and shutter speed ranges from an 800th of a second to 32 seconds.

This pro digital camera costs in excess of $40,000, but that price will also get you membership in the Hasselblad Owners’ Club. The exclusive club promises to hook you up with a considerable network of professional photographers to increase your exposure and expand your client base.

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World’s Most Expensive Televisions

Modern projection televisions, flat panel LCDs and plasma TVs have come a long way since the black and white tubes which were first introduced in the mid-20th century. The TV is the centerpiece of most living rooms and often the TV is the most expensive purchase for one’s home theater system. If you really want to impress someone with your TV, though, then check out these, the most expensive televisions in the world.

Yalos Diamond – $140,000

From Italian company Keymat Industrie comes an expensive television studded with 160 real diamonds, totaling 20 carats. This expensive TV has no visible screws or welds, and the aesthetics are the work of Japanese designer Takahide Sano. This extravagant television can be purchased in sizes up to 46″.

Beovision 4-103 – $140,000

If you’re in the market for a television that’s priced for its technical merits, however, then you’ll want to take a look at the BeoVision 4-103. Featuring a 103”, 100 Hz plasma screen, this Bang & Olufsen television set acknowledges that size really does matter.

Its substantial viewing area isn’t its only feature, though, as the BeoVision 4-103 also features a motorized stand so that you can adjust the viewing angle on the fly. Auto Color Management and Auto Picture Control make sure that you always have the best possible picture, regardless of how much ambient light is in the room or how old the color elements in the plasma screen are.

Stuart Hughes’ PrestigeHD Supreme Rose Edition – $2.26 million

Luxury gadgeteer Stuart Hughes is at it again. After recently making a splash with the gold video game consoles, Hughes has tackled the common element that binds us all together–television. This 55″ PrestigeHD television, powered by Metz, is coated in 28 kilograms of 18k rose gold embellished with seventy-two round cut, flawless 1-carat diamonds. That’s not the end of the luxury materials used in its creation, however, as the most expensive television in the world features alligator skin hand sewn into the bezel.

For those whose wealth can support only slightly less epicurean lifestyles, the PrestigeHD Supreme Edition may be a more cost effective alternative to the Supreme Rose Edition. This one features only 19 kilograms of 22k yellow gold and the 48 brilliant round cut diamonds are only .75 carats apiece. It also features aventurine and topaz gems, all for $1.5 million.

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World’s Most Expensive MP3 Players

MP3 players have taken the world by storm since Apple released their original 5 GB iPod in 2001. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, though. The first of the modern successors to portable tape and CD players was produced in 1997 by SaeHan Information Systems. Their MPMan, later licensed to Eiger Labs for distribution in North America, held only 32 MB of music.

Since then, MP3 players have become almost as ubiquitous as cell phones—and they’re status symbols in the same way cell phones are, as well. A variety of expensive MP3 players have been released in the past decade. What follows are the most expensive MP3 players in the world.

TrekStore i.Beat Organix Gold – $20,000

Wowing attendees at CeBIT 2006, the TrekStor i.Beat Organix gold MP3 player was one of the first luxury MP3 players. Cast in 18 karat gold and covered with 63 one carat diamonds, the player’s technical specifications included a gigabyte of memory, a Lithium-polymer battery that allowed an operating time of twenty-five hours, an FM radio, SRS WOW surround sound and even an audio recorder for note-taking.

iDiamond iPod Shuffle – $40,000

This diamond-encrusted version of the iPod Shuffle was offered as part of an auction at the Feast of Albion. The auction also included a chauffeured Jaguar XJ and VIP tickets to see Roger Waters’ final performance of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The iPod and accompanying headphones are made of 18k white and pink gold. There are 430 diamonds on the iPod and another 118 on the headphones. While its estimated worth is around $40,000, its exact value is up in the air since it is a unique item sold as part of a larger auction prize.

Meng Duo’s Douglas.J Presidential HD – $44,000

Over twice as expensive, however, was the Douglas.J Presidential MP3 player by London-based Meng Duo Ltd. When ordering your own Presidential, you needed to choose not only the gold used in the casing (white or yellow) but also the physical configuration of the diamond buttons set in the front of the player. This expensive digital audio player included a gigabyte of memory, a 65k color screen for video playback and support for a plethora of audio and video file formats. The price also included Class 85 membership that provided exclusive access to a small group of clubs as well as hand delivery of the blinged out MP3 player anywhere in the world.

Stuart Hughes’ iPod Touch Supreme Fire Edition – $330,000

The latest luxury gadget by Stuart Hughes, this iPod Touch—already a costly MP3 player—has been refitted with 125 grams of solid 24k gold and embellished with 124 flawless diamonds totalling 75 carats. That includes an Apple logo set with fifty-three diamonds, a border of diamonds around the face and a 2-carat diamond set in the center of the home button and surrounded by twenty-eight smaller diamonds. This luxury iPod is a limited item and only three will be made.

For the cash-strapped, Hughes also offers his standard iPod Touch Supreme for about $220,000

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World’s Most Expensive Apple Computer

Before the iPad or the iPhone, before the iPod or even the Macintosh, a pair of Steves created what would be the first model in a long line of Apple computers. One of those computers has become the most expensive Apple computer in the world.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs met in 1971, when the latter was only 16 years old. Five years later, Jobs was able to convince a local computer store to buy fifty preassembled computers for the price of $500 each and, based on that purchase order, managed to convince a local hardware supplier to credit him the parts he needed to assemble the fifty computers. The two Steves assembled the fifty computers in time to pay off their credit and the Apple I went on sale for a marked up price of $666.66.

Apple Computer, Inc. went on to produce approximately 150 more Apple I computers before introducing the Apple II. It is considered the first commercially available personal computer, as computer hobbyists at the time usually had to purchase the parts and assemble them on their own.

The Apple I came with 4 KB of memory, which could be expanded to up to 48 KB, and a 1 MHz CPU. Users still needed to supply their own keyboard and monitor—in this case, oddly enough, a television set.

An original Apple I went on sale at Christie’s in London in November, 2010. The computer, model number 82, sold for over $210,000.

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World’s Most Expensive Jeans

Antique Levi’s jeans

The popular worker’s denim trousers have become modern day fashion and status symbols. Designer jeans come in and out of popularity but in the early 2000s, expensive jeans started coming back into fashion with brands such as APO Jeans, Chip and Pepper, Paper Denim & Cloth, Seven for All Mankind, True Religion and many other brands costing $200 or more per pair.

The Guinness Book of Records listed a pair of Gucci Genius jeans featuring elaborate feathers, beads, rips and buttons as most expensive jeans off-the-rack at a cost of $3,134 and Forbes once showcased Escada’s Swarovski crystal-encrusted jeans that sold for US $10,000.

Levi Strauss Company bid $46,532 to buy a pair of their own brand of denim pants back on the popular auction site eBay. However, the most expensive old jeans were an average pair of 501 jeans manufactured in the 1880s and purchased by a Japanese collector in 2005 for $60,000.

Trashed Denim

None of those prices, however, can even hold a candle to that commanded by Dussault Apparel’s Trashed Denim line of luxury jeans. These men’s jeans are handmade using a special process where they are washed thirteen times, with dying and painting performed between each washing to add depth to the jeans. That’s not all, though, as each pair of Trashed Denim jeans is adorned with sixteen 1-carat rubies, twenty-six .05-carat rubies, eight .05-carat diamonds and 1080 grams of 18k white or rose gold.

So how much are the most expensive jeans in the world? Try a quarter-million dollars. That’s right; Dussault Apparel’s Trashed Denim jeans are priced at $250,000. They can be purchased at the Dussault store in Los Angeles or Kustom in New York City.

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Most Expensive Colleges in the US

Once again, Forbes has surveyed universities across the US and created a list of the most expensive universities in America. The expensive universities and colleges were ranked by the typical expensives of a freshman student, including room and board. Here are the top 5 universites on Forbes’ list.

Vanderbilt University – $53,660

This private university in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded by the South Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873. Originally called Central University, it was rechristened after a sizable donation by Cornelius Vanderbilt. The Methodist church severed its ties to the university in 1914, after the Supreme Court ruled that Vanderbilt, not the church, was the university’s founder. Today, Vanderbilt is known for its Medical Center, the second largest employer in the state.

Wesleyan University – $53,976

Founded in 1831, Wesleyan University was founded as a Methodist college named after the religion’s founder, John Wesley. The university, located in Middletown, Connecticut, was among the first all-male universities to open their doors to female students in 1872, but the university ceased coeducation from 1912 to 1970. Today, Wesleyan is known as one of the top universities for African Americans and for its high percentage of doctorates earned by women.

Bard College – $54,275

Located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, this liberal arts college was founded in 1870 in association with the Episcopal church. Originally called St. Stephen’s, it was renamed after its founder, John Bard, in 1934. Today, the school is known for its liberal leanings, being ranked the second most liberal university in the US by the Princeton Review in 2005.

Columbia University – $54,385

New York’s oldest university was founded as King’s College in 1754. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784, after the Revolutionary War. This Ivy League university’s alumni include five of the founding fathers and four presidents, including Barack Obama. It is the third most selective school in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report. It’s also affiliated with more Nobel prize laureates than any other university.

Sarah Lawrence College – $57,556

The most expensive university in the United States was founded as a women’s college in 1926 and didn’t start accepting men until 1968. The college, located in Bronxville, NY, was founded by William Van Duzer Lawrence, a real-estate mogul. It carries the name of Lawrence’s wife, Sarah. The college was the first liberal arts institution in the US to take the progressive approach to education in the arts, and its students have been known since the 30s for their political activism. That tradition continues to this day with involvement in the sexual rights movement and organizations responding to the conflict in Iraq.

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World’s Most Expensive Hello Kitty Item

Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, that adorable cartoon cat that comes to us from Japanese popular culture, has appeared on a host of commercial products from credit cards to the Hello Kitty Jet (an Airbus A330-220). The character, designed by Yuko Shimizu, debuted in 1974 as a decoration on a vinyl coin purse.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Hello Kitty in 2009, Sanrio partnered with crystal maker Swarovski and Japanese jeweler I.K. to create the Super Hello Kitty Jewel Doll. This 4-inch “doll” is made of solid platinum studded with thousands of precious gems, including 1,939 pieces of white topaz, 403 pink sapphires, a pair of black spinels for her eyes, a citrine for her nose and a 1.027-carat diamond on her signature bow.

The ultimate Hello Kitty doll was unveiled at Switzerland’s Baselworld watch and jewelry show and is valued at 15 million yen—about US $167,000!

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