Gold has been used for all sort of strange things throughout the years. Here are three of the strangest.
A five-tonne, £134m Buddha
Source: Kushal Das (from Wikipedia)
This is the largest solid gold Buddha statue in the world. You can find it Wat Traimit in Bangkok, Thailand.
The statue stands an impressive three metres tall and weighs a staggering 5.5 tonnes. So, at current gold prices of $1,280 an ounce, it’s worth around £134m.
Now, golden Buddha statues aren’t all that rare. But the incredible thing about this one – other than its size – is that it was lost for hundreds of years in an abandoned temple. It had been covered in plaster to hide its true value, and was then forgotten.
Thought to have been made during the 13th to 14th centuries, it wasn’t until the statue was moved (and dropped) in 1955 that some of its plaster fell off to reveal what was hidden beneath.
The world’s rarest camera
Source: Bonhams auction house.
In 1932, Leica produced four golden Luxus II cameras. This one was discovered on The Antiques Roadshow in 2001. The whereabouts of the other three remains unknown.
At the time The Antiques Roadshow’s ‘experts’ estimated it to be worth around £5,000. It was sold at auction in November 2013 for £380,000.
A gold-plated barbecue
Source: BeefEater Barbecues
If your barbecue is beginning to rust away and wasn’t quite up to the job on the last bank holiday, then why not replace it with this one?
It’s the world’s most expensive – £97,700 – and most golden barbecue. All gold-plated everything (except for the cooking surfaces).
It’s hand-made by the Australian company, BeefEater Barbecues, who recommend it to people “who want to make a statement with their barbecue and have the money to burn”.