The title of ‘world’s rarest trading card’ is split between two quite distinct cards: the 1996 World Champion and the Shichifukujin Dragon. Only one specimen of each card exists anywhere in the world. The 1996 World Champion was given to Tom Chanpheng (Australia) in 1996 and all other copies of it, along with the printing plates, were ceremoniously destroyed at the end of that year’s World tournament. The Shichifukujin Dragon, created to celebrate the opening of the DCI Tournament Center in Tokyo, Japan, is also
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The world´s rarest stickleback is the Greek stickleback (Pungitius hellenicus). Critically endangered, it is entirely limited to three localities in the Sperchios Valley, central Greece, yielding a total area of under 10 km2 (3.8 mi2).
Rarest stamp Unique examples include a British Guiana 1 cent black on magenta of 1856 (last on the market in 1980) and the Swedish 3 skilling-banco yellow colour error of 1855.
The rarest snake is the Antiguan racer (Alsophis antiguae) of which fewer than 150 are now believed to exist, including those in captivity. The snake was once common in Antigua, but disappeared from the island following the introduction of non-indigenous predators, black and brown rats (Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus) and then the Asian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus). The racer was thought to be extinct, but in 1989 was rediscovered only on Great Bird Island off the northeast coast of Antigua. Following intense conservation programmes, the
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Confined entirely to Isla Escudo de Veraguas, a small island off the coast of Panama, the world´s rarest species of sloth is the pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus), scientifically described as a new species as recently as 2001. Critically endangered according to the IUCN, only approximately 300 specimens are thought to exist. They live exclusively in red mangrove trees.
The Abingdon Island giant tortoise Geochelone elephantopus abingdoni is represented by a single living specimen, an aged male called `Lonesome George’, making it the world’s rarest reptile. With little hope of discovering another specimen, this particular subspecies of Galapagos giant tortoise is effectively extinct while still alive, unless cloning techniques can generate future replicas of George. Lonesome George is also the most endangered animal.
The richest fashion designer is Giorgio Armani (Italy). Clothes, watches, perfumes, homeware, and hotels all bear his name an incredible achievement for a medical school drop-out who’s now worth a record $5.3 billion (£3.3 billion).
The richest person alive is Carlos Slim Helú (Mexico), with an estimated worth of $53.5 billion (£35.23 billion) to top the 2010 Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires. Slim has amassed a self-made fortune that includes fixed-line telephone assets, a construction conglomerate, and stakes in financial group Inbursa, Bronco Drilling, Independent News & Media, Saks and New York Times Co. He increased his wealth by $18.5 billion in the previous year, helping knock Bill Gates off the top spot for just the second time since
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According to Forbes.com, the richest monarch in the world as of July 2010, is Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, with an estimated wealth of $30 billion (£19 billion).
In 2011 the Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, India, overtook the Tirupati Temple (also India) to become the world’s richest Hindu temple after the chance discovery of secret cellars at the temple uncovered a vast treasure of gold, silver and precious jewels believed to be worth at least £12 billion (then approx. $18 billion).