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WHAT IS THE VALUE OF PRICELESS THINGS?

Deloitte published their assessment of Rome's 2000 year-old Colosseum, which could well cost from $250 million to $1 billion to build today.  You can read the details here, but, ta-da, it is worth $79 billion.  It would rank #14 in the current list of world billionaires.

There are moments and experiences, says Mastercard, that are priceless, but many famous historical artifacts are also in that category, especially those of Leonardo da Vinci.
  • Some of his works do have known values.  A prominent one, and most expensive art piece ever sold, is Salvator Mundi, which was bought by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman in 2017 for $450 million, some say as a gift to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and today has a value closer to $500 million, or half a billion dollars.
  • To the right is how the Leonardo pictured Jesus Christ, but it is still not clear if he finished it in the 1490s while working in Milan on The Last Supper, or in Florence after 1500 while painting the Mona Lisa.
  • Leonardo originally painted SM for the French Royal family, which was brought to England when Queen Henrietta Maria married King Charles 1 in 1625.
  • Went missing in 1763 for 150 years.
  • Mysteries kick up the value of art works.
  • A whole lot of restoration occurred over time.  SM then appeared in the collection of Britisher Sir Frederick Cook at around 1900, and in 1958 sold at an auction for $72.  I could have bought it.  At that time, it was thought to be the work of one of da Vinci's assistants.
  • Then SM reappeared in 2005 at another auction, when New York art dealer Alexander Parish purchased it for $10,000.
  • In 2013, Swiss Yves Bouvier (left) bought the artwork in a Sotheby's sale for around $80 million.
  • That same year, Bouvier sold it to Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev (right) for $127.5 million.  There continues to be a legal feud between them.  Plus more.  The author of that book, The Bouvier Affair, is Alexandra Bregman.
  • That translucent globe is said to symbolize Earth, for Salvator Mundi is Latin for Savior of the World.
  • If you really want to know how much this painting has changed over time, and have 2 hours and 24 minutes, watch this.
  • In 1962, da Vinci's Mona Lisa was insured for $100 million (which is the equivalent of $900 million today).  I went through the Louvre in 2019, and viewed the now glass-covered painting.  Note the reflection of viewers in the bottom left corner.  Previously, some many years earlier, it was just exhibited as most pieces are.
  • da Vinci's Last Supper? One estimate has it at $450 million.  Over the years, it has been vandalized, bombed during World War II and restored multiple times.  It is located at Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie.  In one of my around the world trips, I dropped by to see it.
What about other noteworthy items?
  • The Eiffel Tower is 189 years old and is worth $2-2.5 billion.  Cost $1.5 million to build, but adjusting for worth today, $44 million.  However, National Geographic estimates it would cost $480 million to construct today.
  • British Crown Jewels?  $4-6 billion.
  • From Reddit, if the USA were to sell the State of Hawaii, the nation could get $67 billion.
How much is the USA worth?
  • Land?  $23 trillion.  But that was in 2015.
  • Our country has assets of at least $270 trillion, but debts of $149 trillion, for a net worth of $124 trillion.  But that was in 2014.
  • World Population Review this year had the following list, which is linked to how much people are worth:
  1. United States ($18.62 Tn)
  2. China ($11.22 Tn)
  3. Japan ($4.94 Tn)
  4. Germany ($3.48 Tn)
  5. United Kingdom ($2.65 Tn)
  6. France ($2.47 Tn)
  7. India ($2.26 Tn)
  8. Italy ($1.86 Tn)
  9. Brazil ($1.80 Tn)
  10. Canada ($1.53 Tn)
Finally, how much is Planet Earth worth?
  • $5 quadrillion dollars, or $5000 trillion dollars.
  • Mars?  $16,000.
  • Venus?  One penny.
  • But from BizShifts-Trend:  nearly $7 quadrillion dollars.
  • A long time ago I published an article in The Huffington Post entitled Trillions and Quadrillions.
Much of the above came from Treehugger, which also provided a list of the biggest flowers on Earth.  Largest?  Monster Flower (Rafflesia arnoldii), found in the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia.  Three feet in diameter, weighing in at 15 pounds.  Both this, and #2, the Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanium, to the left), natural to Indonesia, reek of rotting meat, which attract flies to help pollinate them.
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