GOLD IS AN incredibly expensive substance. But many things are worth more than their weight in gold.
Ranging from foods to creams to gems to things the average person can’t fathom, Business Insider pulled together a list of 19 of the most expensive items in the world, including some illegal substances.
Cost: Up to $5 per gram or $2,000 per pound.
What do you do with it? This delicious seasonal mushroom can be shaved over pasta, steak, eggs, and rice and infused in oil to sprinkle on almost anything.
Cost: $11.13 per gram or $5,040 per pound
What you do with it: Saffron is a flowering plant that can be used in natural remedies for everything from depression to menstrual cycles.
Cost: $35 per gram or $1,000 per ounce
What you do with it: Also known as “almas,” these costly fish eggs are eaten cold and in small bites as an appetizer and on unsalted crackers or bread.
Cost: $39.81 per gram
What you do with it: In addition to its uses in jewellery, the ancient metal can be used for electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion.
Cost: $45 per gram or $1,270 per ounce
What you do with it: Rhodium is mostly used in three-way catalytic converters to reduce a car’s carbon emissions.
Cost: $48 per gram or $1,365 per ounce
What you do with it: Platinum can be used as a catalyst in scientific experiments, worn as jewelry, and taken in anti-cancer drugs.
Cost: $55 per gram or $25,000 per pound
What you do with it: The prized tusk is rumored in Vietnam to cure cancer. Its supposed medical uses also include treating fevers and other ailments.
Cost: $70 per gram or $2,000 an ounce
What you do with it: Rub this so-called miracle cream daily to look ageless.
Source: Michael Probst
Cost: High-quality heroin can cost you up to $110 per gram
What you do with it: The opiate is injected, snorted, or smoked and is meant to alter the subconscious. It can also cause convulsions or even comas.
Cost: $120 per gram or $1,600 per ounce
What you do with it: The highly addictive drug can produce euphoric effects and is often popular with teenagers.
Cost: Up to $600 per gram
What you do with it: Some say party, others say develop a problematic habit.
Cost: The crystal form of LSD costs about $3,000 per gram
What you do with it: Popular in the 1960s, this substance is known to cause hallucinations.
Cost: Roughly $4,000 per gram
What you do with it: It makes things nuclear. There are two kinds of plutonium that can be used, for either military purposes or nuclear reactors.
*Cost: Anywhere between $2,500 to $20,000 per gram or $2,400 per carat
What you do with it: The mauve-colored gem is thought to be more than a million times scarcer than diamonds. And while it's a bit too durable to use often in jewelry, if you're lucky enough to find one, don't let your hands off it.
*FYI: A carat = 0.2 grams
Cost: $30,000 per gram
What you do with it: Tritium is used in self-luminating EXIT signs found in theaters, schools, and office buildings. There are more than two million tritium EXIT signs in the United States.
Cost: A colorless, 1-carat can cost more than $65,000 per gram, or $13,000 per carat
What you do with it: Buy engagement rings.
Cost: $300,000 per gram or up to $60,000 per carat
What you do with it: Thought to be the rarest gem mineral, it can be used in crystal healing or just make a pretty collectible.
Cost: $27 million per gram
What you do with it: The Californium isotope is used in devices that find layers of oil and water in oil wells.
Cost: $100 trillion per gram
What you do with it: Antimatter could possibly fuel spaceships to the planets, and maybe the stars, in the years to come.
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