The Stranger Side of Luxury

Everyone has heard about the common types of products in the luxury market: cars, yachts, jets, fashion apparel, jewelry, watches, shoes, etc. Today we explore a stranger side of luxury. Call it the niche of niches. The truly rare and exotic items that are not meant for the public or rather not meant for even the most irrational collectors. Although there are more items that stretch the luxury market, these three embodied much of the drives that elicit the consumer to buy regardless of the price. Bear with me as we pull the curtains back and reveal the deepest reaches of the luxury market.

First up: Lionel Messi’s foot. The internationally known football (soccer) star has been immortalized with a solid gold replica of his left foot. Although Messi’s real foot would be worth a lot more, this is the closest you can get to owning the icon’s foot. Created by Japanese Jeweler, Ginza Tanaka, this gold statue has a price-tag of $5 million USD. Ginza Tanaka is also famous for his other solid gold works including a statue of Santa and Walt Disney’s character, Stitch.

What you’re looking at is a pen valued at $1 million USD. The Montegrappa Centennial Dragon fountain pen is used to celebrate the 100^th year anniversary of this brand. Moreover, the price of this brand as rich as its history. This writing instrument has been the brand of choice for heads of state and titans of industries and used to sign contracts and treaties that made history. When the Dragon pen debuted in 1995, it was used to pass the torch from Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin as President of Russia.

Probably the strangest and possibly borderline absurdity of the luxury market product is Icelandic designer Sruli Recht’s “Forget Me Knot” ring. This ring is a gold band with 4 inches of Recht’s skin actually cut from his abdomen. At a price of $470,000 USD, this comes with a DNA certificate of authenticity and a DVD detailing its creation process. This truly is a one-of-a-kind ring (granted the artist doesn’t slice off more of himself).

The luxury market is as unique as the products that saturate it. Above are three products only a handful of people in the luxury industry have seen and fewer in the eyes of the public. While it’s understandable to want to possess a piece of history such as the Montegrappa Dragon Pen, it is hard to rationalize the “Forget Me Knot” ring. When purchasing these items one must try to comprehend the type of lifestyle the buyer wants to portray. Is it a fanatic appreciation of an iconic superstar, an ownership of a piece of history, or a sense of exclusivity? It is these inner drives that fuel the need to purchase such extravagant items. In the grand scheme of things, these items represent an extreme end of a spectrum where luxury finds itself entangled with human imagination.