Is 85,000 the most expensive known to sell for this much?

[cshubhra]

Need @cosmicfolklore to help here, but just for fun I tried to come up with the price of the pipe

1. Dunhill Root Briar - Retails for $800. I assume a cost of $400
2. Gold is extremely malleable so 187 g of gold was not necessary at all. However since it has 187 g of gold which retails at $40 a gram, I assumed about $30 wholesale which makes the cost of gold $5600
3. Each diamond is about 0.036 carat which has a wholesale price of $15. Since there are about 492 of them, the cost of diamond is $7400
4. Ruby / Blue Sapphire/ Lapiz Lazuli are extremely cheap. I am sure it was less than $500, but just for argument sake I have considered $500
5. I don’t know the labor but I am sure most jeweler would be happy to build this for $1100

So the cost of this pipe was about $15000 for both material and labor.

 

[mso489]

Ah, but the artistry is priceless. In my case priceless. But now I do get a sort of buzz out of my $40 Stanwell.

 

[sablebrush52]

The labor cost would be a bit more, but not hugely more. Diamond prices vary slightly depending on quality, but overall, I'd say this is a pretty reasonable estimate. The other $2+ million is to cover the cost of the presentation case.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Need @cosmicfolklore to help here, but just for fun I tried to come up with the price of the pipe

1. Dunhill Root Briar - Retails for $800. I assume a cost of $400
2. Gold is extremely malleable so 187 g of gold was not necessary at all. However since it has 187 g of gold which retails at $40 a gram, I assumed about $30 wholesale which makes the cost of gold $5600
3. Each diamond is about 0.036 carat which has a wholesale price of $15. Since there are about 492 of them, the cost of diamond is $7400
4. Ruby / Blue Sapphire/ Lapiz Lazuli are extremely cheap. I am sure it was less than $500, but just for argument sake I have considered $500
5. I don’t know the labor but I am sure most jeweler would be happy to build this for $1100

So the cost of this pipe was about $15000 for both material and labor.

I was going to say that I couldn’t even get the stones for a mere $80,000. Seems underpriced to me. But, if it seems too expensive to someone who wants it, they could wait for a 15% off sale.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The thing most likely won’t set in a retail store. Stuff like this goes dirt to auction. There are still artists who make unique eggs in the Russian style, and just send them to Christies or Sothebys. It’s always hit or miss whether the artist makes anything off the sale.