Most Extravagant Gifts Ever Bought

Buying gifts can be a tough business. I don’t know how many receipts I have in my wallet for old gifts that I bought friends and family members, not knowing if they would even remotely enjoy what I’d gotten them. What would help, no doubt, would be a credit card with at least six zeros on it. After all, it would be hard for someone to grumble over being gifted a $200,000 car (even if the leather seats didn’t quite match with their handbag). To give you some inspiration for when your bank account is where you dream it to be, here’s some examples of the most extravagant things ever gifted.

Bombardier Challenger 850 Jet (Price tag: $40 million)

The world’s most well-known entertainment musical couple are renowned for looking any excuse to splash out big time on each other, but this one might be their most ridiculous example. On Father’s Day 2012 (not even his birthday!), Jay Z was gifted this absolutely insane Bombardier Challenger 850 by his wife, Beyoncé, for a staggering price tag of $40 million USD. The jet is an absolute treat, containing a kitchen, bedroom, living room and, not one, but two bathrooms. Suddenly the funny socks I bought my Dad last Father’s Day feel somewhat inadequate. 

Gold Bathtub (Price tag $2.2 million)

Maybe the most unnecessarily extravagant high-profile item ever gifted, Mike Tyson famously gifted his then-wife actor Robin Givens this ridiculous 24-carat solid gold bathtub in 1988. That’s right, a bathtub that was worth more than your average home, despite having no logistical advantage over your average porcelain bathtub. The extravagant gift was among a number of bizarre and expensive personal purchases made by Tyson at the height of his fame, which would later come back to bite him as he would file for bankruptcy in 2003. The tub now sits in the home of British billionaire Derwood Hodgegrass, who bought it in 2013 at an absolute bargain price of $1.2 million.

Taylor–Burton Diamond (Price tag: $1.1 million, roughly $6.6 million in 2021 accounting for inflation) 

A high-profile purchase in the 1960’s, actor Richard Burton practically made it his life’s purpose to get his hands on this diamond as a gift for his then-wife and fellow screen star, Elizabeth Taylor. The 69-carat pear cut diamond went for over $1,050,000 at auction, a price which made it the most expensive jewel ever publicly sold at the time. Burton, who originally was not willing to go above a clean $1 million, was actually outbid in that auction by a corporate chairman named Robert Kenmore. But his determination to claim the jewel for his beloved overcame his prior frugality, so he coughed up the extra $100,000 in a private exchange between the two parties a few days later. Taylor later sold the diamond in 1979 after the two actors had divorced. 

Multiple Burger King Restaurants (Price tag: Unknown)

Easily the most thoughtful and practical gift on this list, in 2014, everyone’s favourite entertainment eccentric Kanye West was reported to have bought his then-wife (interesting how many times the word ‘then’ precedes the spousal term on this list…) Kim Kardashian the rights to 10 separate Burger King branches across Europe as part of her wedding present. Think about that. There’s barely a city on the continent that Kardashian couldn’t walk into a Burger King and have a meal made for her on the spot, no questions asked. While there is no official word on how much that may have cost, I think it’s fair to say, no price could’ve been too high for a genius present like that.