Published By: Darielle Britto

World's Most Expensive Items Ever Sold

Find what some of the most expensive items are on the planet.

Over the years, many incredible items across the globe have been sold for a staggering amount of money. Each item has an incredible story behind it. Here are some of the world's most expensive items ever sold.

A sculpture called Man Pointing or L’homme au doigt

Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture called Man Pointing or L’homme au doigt is the most expensive sculpture ever purchased. It was supposed to include a second figure but the artist decided against it. In 2015, Hedge fund mogul Steve Cohen spent $140 million on the piece, which was created decades earlier.

Salvator Mundi

Salvator Mundi is the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. It is a depiction of Jesus Christ holding a crystal orb. In 1958 it was sold for £45. It was only in 2005 when a couple of art speculators reevaluated the piece when they learned it was an original painting by Leonardo da Vinci. However, not everyone agreed with their findings. Some sceptics believed it to be a copy. Regardless of the doubts, expert opinion triumphed.  In 2017, the piece sold for $450 million.

Most Expensive Professional Sports Team

In 2020, the American professional baseball team the New York Mets was purchased for $2.4 billion by Hedge fund mogul Steve Cohen. It is reportedly the highest recorded purchase price for a professional sports team. In 1962, the Mets were reportedly founded to replace New York's departed NL teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants.

The Codex Leicester

The Codex Leicester is the most expensive manuscript ever sold at auction. Bill Gates purchased it in 1994 for over $30 million It was one of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks that contained sketches and scientific musings. These pages contain some fascinating insights into the renaissance man’s wandering mind. He sought to understand the presence of maritime fossils on hilltops and attempted to account for their location instead of agreeing with explanations of the time. He also laid out an incipient understanding of what we have now come to know as trace fossils. He was ahead of time and knew centuries before other scientists that creatures had once burrowed their way through a soft sea bottom that had become rocky mountain top material over time. What's more interesting, is he thought the moon might be covered in water.