Dream Homes, Million Dollar Listings

Million Dollar Listings: What Does $36 Million in Gold Really Look Like?

gold1

Worth Your Weight in Gold

We’ve all heard the expression “worth your weight in gold,” but how much would you really be worth if your body were made entirely of gold? Assuming you’re close to the average American weight of 175lbs., your weight in gold would be valued just north of $3 million. With $36 million in gold, you could purchase your own weight in gold 12 times – imagine what the world would look like with a dozen identical copies of yourself running around!

$36 Million in Gold: A Look at the Numbers

Human beings have coveted gold since time immemorial, perhaps most notably because it’s scarce. So just how much gold is there in the world? According to experts, there total dollar value of the world’s gold comes to approximately $8,487,797,102,400. So with your hoard of $36 million, you’d own just about 0.000004% of the total supply. And chances are strong you’d still feel pretty rich, even with less than 1%.

There are 165,000 metric tons worth of gold on the planet, as far as we know. And that’s just what’s been mined out of the ground, and what is known to exist above ground in all of human history. So how much space would your $36 million in gold take up in your house? Many serious investors purchase 10oz gold bars as investment vehicles, because they are easily stored and universally acceptable within the conventional economies of the world. With $36 million dollars, you’d be able to purchase 3,000 of those 10oz gold bars. At the current value, each 10oz gold bar has a value of just over $12,000.

Gold

Legends Are Made of Gold

Midas’s Golden Touch. The Golden City of Eldorado. The Golden Fleece. The Golden Calf. Gold is what legends are made of. Gold is noted in the literature and historic records of nearly all of the earth’s great ancient cultures. The Incas called gold the “tears of the sun.” The Egyptians believed their gods had golden skin. Plato and Aristotle were fascinated with gold, and both speculated on its origins.

Gold: the Noblest of Metals

Our ancestors mined gold long before it was even used as a currency. It was valued not because it could be traded for other things, but because it was enchanting. Before the first gold coin had been minted, wealthy ancients lusted after golden bracelets, statues, pendants, and rings. There’s just something regal and bewitching about this rare element.

Our forebears valued gold first for its beauty, but there were lots of other reasons they hoarded like mythical dragons. It was extremely malleable, and could easily be shaped into opulent adornments. Unlike iron, it does not rust. Silver and copper tarnish, but not gold. Gold is timeless.

So What Can You Buy With $36 Million in Gold?

You can have plenty of fun for $36 million. The most expensive exotic car currently on the market is the Lamborghini Veneno. With a sticker price of $4m, you could purchase a gold one and have enough left over to buy eight more, each painted in one of your other favorite colors.

Want to add some star power to your next business retreat? With $36 million in gold, you can hire Virgin CEO Richard Branson to pump up your executive team every day for the next year, assuming you give him five days off to work on his other projects.

Perhaps you’re an animal lover. With $36 million in gold, you could purchase a very respectable menagerie of creatures, including 20 orcas, 100 elephants, 100 lions, 100 tigers, 100 chimpanzees, and 100 giraffes, and still have enough left over to buy some goldfish to put in your aquarium.

Or maybe you’re into collectibles. With $36 million in gold, you could purchase 900 copies of Spiderman #1, or 225 bottles of 1787 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, or 10 William Shakespeare autographs… too bad there are only six known copies of his signature anywhere around the globe – but with $36 million in gold, they’d all be yours.

If you’re the sort who values life experiences over material things, why not rent a country? That’s right: you can rent the principality of Lichtenstein for a mere $70k per night, and you can invite 150 of your closest friends to accompany you to the party of a lifetime. At that price, you could basically be royalty for nearly a year and a half.

699 Ocean Boulevard, Gold Beach

You can get a lot of wonderful things for $36 million in gold, but why not hold out for something truly spectacular? Something like 699 Ocean Boulevard.

gold3

gold4

This iconic Golden Beach property is undoubtedly one of the finest hideaways in all of Dade County.

Designed by Oppenheim Architecture + Design, 699 Ocean Blvd is a showcase of the very best that life in Miami has to offer, an oasis of luxury and style just a short jaunt from the action of the city, and a perfect place to hide your treasure.

See more posts by this author

The very talented professionals at Homes.com share tips, suggestions, news and more as it pertains to the Real Estate Industry.