BullionStar would like to thank all our friends and customers for supporting us during 2017, and to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! To wrap up the year, we have published this light-hearted article about outlandish products made from gold.
Throughout the world, many luxury good companies vie for attention in producing luxury products made from gold, plated with gold, or with substantial gold content. These products tend to be very opulent and usually very expensive because of the gold content and workmanship that goes into them. It seems that nothing is off-limits for receiving the gold treatment.
While a lot of these products may be considered slightly ridiculous, what they have in common is that they are well-designed, mostly customized, and on the whole very valuable. The limited edition nature of the products and the fact that in some cases they are made to order also adds to their rarity value and collectability. Below we profile some of the more outlandish products made from gold, all of which, apart from some one-off customized designs, are available for purchase.
Gold Fidget Spinner
By now, nearly everyone will have heard of fidget spinners, the spinning toy which gained worldwide popularity in 2017. Tapping into this trend, Russian luxury gift specialist ‘Caviar’ released a limited-edition fidget spinner in mid-2017, made from 100 grams of 18-karat gold. As the world’s most expensive fidget spinner, Caviar’s gold fidget spinner model retails for nearly RUB 1m (US $17,000), but is now sold out on the company’s website.
The World's most expensive Fidget Spinner
Golden Tricycle
Toy manufacturer Wisa Gloria is famous in Switzerland for producing a traditional tricycle for young children. However in 2010, Wisa Gloria collaborated with designer Werner Harerer in producing a 24-karat gold-plated version of its classic tricycle, complete with gold-plated wheel bearings.
Wisa Gloria's Gold-Plated Tricycle for 3 - 5 year holds. Source: WikiMedia Commons
Gold Nikon Camera
Nikon is one of the top names in high-end cameras, and its products are synonymous with quality and used widely by professional photographers. Now luxury technology company Brikk, based in California, has gone one step further and created a limited-edition gold Lux Nikon DF camera with matching lens. Both camera and lens are finished in pure 24-karat gold, and only 77 units of this edition have been produced, each costing US $58,000.
Nikon Camera plated in 24-karat Gold. Source: Company website
Gold Shirts
Some readers will be familiar with the story of a customized gold shirt produced for a man in India a few years ago. However, there were actually 2 shirts made for two different Indian men at about the same time. The first famous Indian gold shirt was made in 2012 for a money-lender in Pune called Datta Phuge. This shirt was stitched from 22-karat gold strands, weighed 3.32 kgs, and at the time was said to be worth US$ 240,000.
Pankaj Parakh in a gold shirt, flanked by bodyguards
The second famous shirt made entirely of gold was commissioned in 2014 for a politician / textile businessman named Pankaj Parakh from near Mumbai. This shirt weighed 4 kgs, was made from 18-22 karat gold and cost about US$ 210,000.
Gold staples
These 14-karat gold-plated staples are available from Dutch design company Oooms. Deisgned to be used either as a form of jewelry stapled to clothes or even as luxury conventional staples, they come in a pack of 24, and can be purchased for Euro 59 (about US$ 69). This works out at just under US$ 3 per staple.
Gold-Plated Staples. Source: Company website
Gold Dumbbells
Those who like to work out while being surrounded by gold and opulence might want to consider gold dumbbells. One such company that products gold weights is UK-based Custom Gym Equipment, a specialist in luxury fitness. According to its website, its client-base comes from “the super yacht world, luxury hospitality, luxury interior design and luxury private homes”.
Golden Dumbells. Source: Company website
Gold Table Football (Foosball)
There are a number of high-end table football (foosball) designs on the market, but one of the more luxurious offerings is a gold limited edition foosball table from Italian company Teckell. The table casing, legs and playing field are made from crystal glass, with one of the teams of players is plated with 24k gold, while the other team is decked in chrome. This table retails for around US $24,400.
Luxury Table Football with gold-plated players. Source: YLiving website
Gold Vacuum Cleaner
US company Go Vacuum hit the news in 2012 when it created a limited edition gold-plated vacuum cleaner which retailed for US$ 1 million. Made using 24-karat gold, the gold-plated model GV62711 was limited to 100 units and was a fully functional working vacuum cleaner. Each unit also came with its own engraved serial number and certificate of authenticity.
Gold-Plated Vacuum Cleaner - One of the more ridiculous items made of Gold. Source: www.inhabitat.com
Gold-Plated Supercars
From Ferraris to Lamborghinis, and from Porsches to Mercedes, there are many gold-plated and gold painted supercars on the streets of Dubai. When an expensive sports car is not enough, then the next step is to cover it in gold, like this Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
Gold Christmas Tree
In 2011, Japanese gold and jewelry company Ginza Tanaka, headquartered in Tokyo, created a pure gold Christmas tree. Containing 12 kgs of gold and standing 2.4 metres tall, the tree is also adorned with gold ornaments, and when it was made cost 150 million yen (which at the time was nearly US$ 2 million).
Ginza Tanaka Gold Christmas Tree
And there you have it folks! While the above list is a selection of some of the fairly outlandish gold laden items that are on the market, at BullionStar we still recommend that you to buy lasting gifts for your loved ones this Christmas and New Year in the form of bullion bars and bullion coins!
