SortStack #2614 — 2033-08-05
By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.
- A brand-new Toyota Corolla $23K
With over 50 million sold since 1966, the Corolla is the best-selling car nameplate in history — one has been sold roughly every 30 seconds for decades.
- A McLaren F1 supercar at its original Nineties sticker price $815K
The engine bay was lined with real gold foil for heat reflection. The same cars now trade for over $20 million — among history's best car investments.
- The Pink Star diamond, sold at auction in Hong Kong $71.2M
A previous buyer defaulted after bidding $83 million, forcing a re-auction — the 59.6 carat stone took two years just to cut and polish.
- 'Salvator Mundi,' the painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci $450.3M
The most expensive artwork ever sold was bought for about $1,000 at a 2005 estate sale. Since the 2017 auction, it has not been publicly seen.
- Constructing the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building $1.5B
It was renamed at the last minute for the president of Abu Dhabi, whose emirate bailed out Dubai during the 2009 debt crisis — it was to be called Burj Dubai.
- Activision Blizzard, when Microsoft bought it $68.7B
The biggest gaming acquisition ever took nearly two years to close as regulators on three continents scrutinized it — the UK initially blocked it outright.