Useless things can instantly turn into golden eggs. Here are the top 10 items that found the right person at the right moment and sold for insane amounts of money in the 21st century.
10. Queen Elizabeth II's wedding cake
Yes, you read that correctly. In 2013, a slice of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding cake was auctioned off for £560.
Considering it had been 66 years since their wedding, this slice of cake was hardly good for digestion. And the price seems exorbitant. But what sacrifices wouldn't one make for Her Majesty?.
9. Britney Spears' Used Pregnancy Test
The test was allegedly discovered by a cleaning lady in a Los Angeles hotel room where Britney was staying. Although there is no direct evidence that the test actually belonged to the singer, it was listed on eBay, and online casino GoldenPalace.com bought it for $5,001.
8. The Holy Sandwich
In 2004, an unusual listing appeared on eBay. It was a piece of grilled cheese bread, which, according to its owner, Diane Deiser, bore an image of the Virgin Mary.
Deyser kept this sandwich for over 10 years, and during that time it remained intact (at least in appearance) and even helped a woman win $70,000 at a local casino. However, poverty forced her to part with the "sacred sandwich.".
Over 100,000 bets were placed on the lot, and it was ultimately purchased by the online casino GoldenPalace.com for $28,000.
7. Justin Bieber's hair
In 2011, Justin appeared on the popular American show Ellen DeGeneres and offered her a lock of his hair on the condition that she auction it off and donate the proceeds to charity.
A small lock of the teen idol's hair sold for a ridiculous $40,668. Any amount donated to charity is commendable. But given that the winning bidder almost certainly didn't intend to donate their own hard-earned money, it's entirely possible they were specifically targeting Bieber's hair.
6. A cane with a ghost of a grandfather as a bonus«
Children are constantly afraid of something. Some are afraid of spiders, some of the dark, some of everything. And in 2004, one six-year-old boy began convincing his mother that he was being haunted by the ghost of his recently deceased grandfather. He believed the ghost was tied to his old cane, which hadn't yet been thrown away.
To allay his childhood fears, the boy's mother sold the cane, along with the ghost, on eBay. The auction price was $64,000. The cane was purchased by GoldenPalace.com, an online casino that collects rare and bizarre items.
5. Diamond denture
A Hollywood smile is no longer a surprise. But a prosthetic created from 156 diamonds and high-grade gold is. This luxurious item, crafted in a Dubai clinic, is valued at $153,000. It can't be used for chewing, and that's not its purpose.
4. Banana glued to the wall
These days, any object can be classified as contemporary art. So it's no surprise that an ordinary banana, held to a wall with a strip of duct tape, sold at auction for a staggering $120,000. And this isn't some special fruit with hidden gems inside; it was purchased at an ordinary supermarket.
The artist behind this masterpiece is Italian installation artist Maurizio Cattelan, renowned for his provocative work. I wonder if the banana installation lost its value after being transferred to a new owner?
3. Scenario "Breakfast at Tiffany's"«
In 2017, Christie's auctioned off Audrey Hepburn's personal belongings, fetching over $5 million. Among these items was the script for Breakfast at Tiffany's, which sold for $700,000.
Considering anyone could download a copy of the script online, the buyer was essentially paying for the oils Hepburn left on the pages. It's like buying high-quality "bathwater from a streamer's bath.".
2. A copy of Super Mario 64
In many ways, the game defined the course of 3D platformers, and to this day still regularly appears on "best games of all time" lists.
But Super Mario 64 is no longer young—it's over 25 years old, and is available in reissues and ports. This calls into question the value of buying a sealed Mario cartridge for $1,560,000, even if the box was in pristine condition. Before the auction at Heritage Auctions, the lot was valued at a modest $100,000.
Undoubtedly, for a video game collector, this item is one of the most holy grails imaginable. However, all he got for $1.5 million was a plastic cartridge, a cardboard box, and a quick start guide.
1. Window with frame
This is both the most expensive window in the world and, perhaps, the most useless thing, sold for a staggering sum. The only real merit this window has is that Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of American President John F. Kennedy, once stood behind it.
A collector from the Netherlands bought this item on eBay for $3 million.