19.White Truffles
Cost: Up to $5 per gram or $2,000 per pound. What you do with it: This seasonal mushroom can be shaved over pasta, steak, eggs and rice, and infused in oil to sprinkle on almost anything.
18. Saffron
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.
17. Iranian Beluga Caviar
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.
16. Gold
Cost: $39.81 per gram
What you do with it: In addition to its uses in jewelry, the ancient metal can be used for electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion.
15. Rhodium
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.
14. Platinum
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.
13. Rhino Horn
Cost: $55 per gram or $25,000 per pound
What you do with it: The prized tusk is rumored in Vietnam to cure cancer. It’s supposed medical uses also include treating fevers and other ailments.
12. Crème de la Mer
Cost: $70 per gram or $2,000 an ounce.
What you do with it: Rub this so-called miracle cream daily to look ageless.
11. Heroin
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.
10. Methamphetamine
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.
9. Crack Cocaine
Cost: Up to $600 per gram
What you do with it: Some say party, others say develop a problematic habit.
8. LSD
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.
7. Plutonium
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.
6. Taaffeite
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.
5. Tritium
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 2 million tritium EXIT signs in the United States.
4. Diamonds
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.
3. Painite
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.
2. Californium 252
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.
1. Antimatter
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.
BONUS: Soliris
Cost: $5,000 per 30ml vial.
What you do with it: Pharmaceuticals can be quite expensive largely due to the R&D investments that go into getting to the final product. Considered the world’s most expensive drug, Soliris treats a rare, life-threatening disease that destroys red blood cells more quickly than normal. A year’s treatment could cost a whopping $569,000.
Cost: Up to $5 per gram or $2,000 per pound. What you do with it: This 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 jewelry, 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. It’s 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.
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.
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 2 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.
Cost: $5,000 per 30ml vial.
What you do with it: Pharmaceuticals can be quite expensive largely due to the R&D investments that go into getting to the final product. Considered the world’s most expensive drug, Soliris treats a rare, life-threatening disease that destroys red blood cells more quickly than normal. A year’s treatment could cost a whopping $569,000.