In June 2009, Nomenus Quarterly, a limited-edition folio of original or previously unpublished images, reduced its print run to 10 copies from 50 and raised the price for a copy from $2,500 (then £1,500) to $6,500 (then £4,000). Nomenus Quarterly began publication 2007 under Erik Madigan Heck, its founder and editor in chief. All works are specifically created for each edition or previously unpublished. Nomenus Quarterly appears online four times per year, and additionally in print as a series of limited-edition folios and books.

The world’s most expensive military aircraft is the US-made B-2 Spirit, which cost in excess of $1.3 billion (£780 million) per unit. A long-range multi-role bomber, it is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions, and has a number of stealth characteristics that  enable it to penetrate an enemys defences without being observed: these include its special coatings and flying-wing design. The B-2 has an unfuelled range of 9,600 km (5,965 miles), and can carry a payload of 18.144 tonnes. It made its first Continue reading →

The most expensive hit was the CD set Miles Davis at Montreux which entered the US Top 20 Jazz chart in November 2002, and was priced $250 (£154).

The MTT Turbine Superbike, which is powered by a Rolls Royce Allison gas turbine engine, cost $185,000 (£101,000) in 2004, making it the most expensive production motorcycle ever to go on sale. The bike’s Rolls Royce turbine engine produces 213 kW (286 hp) of power at the rear wheel.

The record for the most expensive painting sold by a living artist belongs to Jasper Johns (USA) whose False Start (1959), was bought privately by Kenneth (USA) and Anne Griffin (France) for $80 million (£42 million) in October 2006. The auction record also belongs to Johns whose Figure 4 (1959) sold for $17.4 million (£8.7 million) at Christie’s, New York, USA on 16 May 2007.

The most expensive omelette commercially available is the Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata which costs $1,000 (£528.90) and is featured on the menu at Norma’s restaurant, Le Parker Meridien Hotel, New York, USA. The frittata contains 10 oz (280 g) caviar and approximately 1 lb (0.45 kg) lobster which is covered with egg on a bed of fried potatoes. Le Parker Meridien also feature a smaller, less expensive version called the ‘regular frittata’ that costs $100 (£54).

On 2 November 2006, Jackson Pollock’s iconic drip painting No.5, 1948 was reportedly sold by the entertainment mogul David Geffen (USA) to an anonymous buyer for $140 million (£73.4 million), making it the world’s most expensive private art sale. Just days later, on 18 November, Geffen offloaded another of his prized art assets, selling Dutch painter Willem de Kooning’s Woman III in a second private deal that raised $137.5 million (£72.8 million) and only narrowly failed to set a new record.

The most expensive moonscape painting sold was created by US astronaut Alan Bean, lunar module pilot on Apollo 12 (14-24 November 1969) and commander of Skylab 2 (29 July to 25 September 1973). It depicts the fictional scenario of Bean, who describes himself as an astronaut-explorer-artist, chasing a football on the Moon, thrown by Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad. The painting, titled ‘If we could do it all over again – are you ready for some football?’, was sold to an unnamed buyer in 2004 Continue reading →

Danseuse au repos (c.1879), a pastel of a ballet dancer by the French artist Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) sold for £17,601,500 ($27,868,455) at Sotheby’s, London, UK on 28 Jun 1999. The work was sold with its original frame designed by Degas. It shows a young dancer relaxing after the rigours of training, massaging her left foot while sitting on a bench next to a second dancer of which only the frills of her skirt can be seen. The work became the most expensive on Continue reading →

The most expensive PlayStation Portable (PSP) jacket commercially available costs $35,000 (£18,000) and is made from 14-carat gold with 8-carat black and yellow diamonds on the front and a crocodile finish on the back. The accessory to the Sony PSP was made by Simmons Jewelry Co. (USA), and is also decorated with the dangling logos of their other brands, including Baby Phat and Phat Farm. The piece made its debut at the Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, California, USA on 14 March 2005.