Million-dollar objects

Could you guess which Marilyn Monroe's object sold for $4.6 million?

Could you have a gold mine right in your own home and not know it? Everyone keeps a vintage concert ticket, a family heirloom, or some collectible tucked away in a drawer somewhere. But imagine finding out that what you think is clutter is actually worth thousands of dollars. A lock of Elvis Presley’s hair was auctioned for over $100,000, a violin from the Titanic brought in $1.7 million, and even a banana taped to a wall reached an astonishing $6.2 million. These unbelievable sales prove that when nostalgia, fame, and history come together, people will pay jaw-dropping money for the strangest objects imaginable.

You grew up listening to Elvis’ songs and watching his movies. You know from the highlights in his life to trivia details only true fans have. The man was larger than life, and so was his hair.

In November of 2002, a lock of Elvis’ hair sold at auction for a staggering $115,000. The hair had been carefully saved by his longtime barber, Homer Gilleland, who worked with Elvis for over 20 years and kept the trimmings in a plastic bag after giving him haircuts before television appearances and movie shoots. In order to prove its authenticity, Elvis’ associate Tom Morgan Jr. and memorabilia expert John Reznikoff both signed an authenticity certificate that backed the auction for which the anonymous avid fan paid thousands of dollars.

Few movie moments are more recognizable than Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate with her iconic white dress blowing up in The Seven Year Itch, the 1955 film_._ Marilyn was a representation of the golden age of movies, which is why items of hers were valued at such a high cost. And the white dress was, probably, the most expensive of them all.

The iconic ivory piece belonged to fellow actress, Singin’ in the Rain star, Debbie Reynolds. Funny enough, she had bought it directly from 20th Century Fox for only $200. Reynolds had spent decades gathering costumes and props from classic movies and hoped to open a dedicated museum. Her project was rejected five times by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and, due to personal debt, she had no other choice but to auction some pieces of her collection. Marilyn’s dress was one of those pieces and was auctioned in 1999 in Los Angeles for no less than $4.6 million dollars.

You’ve learned about the RMS Titanic tragedy growing up, and watched the tragic romance of Jack and Rose in the 1997 movie. More than a century after the sinking, people are still fascinated by this event, and for good reason, considering that we still hear fascinating stories about it.

In 2025, the gold pocket watch belonging to businessman Isidor Straus, co-owner of the Macy’s department stores, sold at auction for an astonishing $2.3 million, setting a new world record for Titanic memorabilia. The previous record had been set just a year earlier in 2024 by a Tiffany & Co. watch gifted to Captain Arthur Rostron of the RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued more than 700 survivors from the icy Atlantic. Three wealthy widows who survived the sinking presented him with the watch as a thank-you for his bravery.

The paintings hanging on your walls have been selected among thousands of pieces, only responding to your personal taste, and that’s because art is subjective. But when you hear that a banana taped to a wall was auctioned and brought in $6.2 million, the conversation takes a fun turn.

Comedian is a duct-taped banana piece of art created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan in 2019, which immediately became the most talked-about artwork in the world. In 2024, the artwork sold at Sotheby’s, New York, for an astonishing $6.2 million to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, who later joked he planned to eat the banana himself. The buyer was really paying for a certificate of authenticity and instructions on how to replace the 35-cent-worth banana whenever it rotted. Modern art is not for everyone.

You probably still know the words to plenty of Beatles songs by heart. The Fab Four changed music, fashion, and pop culture forever, and fans have spent decades collecting anything connected to them. Old records, concert posters, sure. But few people expected one of John Lennon’s toilets to become part of history, too.

John Lennon lived in Berkshire, England, from 1969 to 1972, where he recorded part of the Imagine album. But that’s not the only highlight of the apartment. In there, there was also a porcelain toilet, which was handed to his contractor, John Hancock, after the house was remodeled. Instead of getting rid of it, he stored it in a shed for nearly 40 years, and, in 2010, after his death, the unusual piece went up for auction in Liverpool, during the annual Beatles Convention. Organizers were expecting it to sell for $1,300, but instead collected almost $13,000 from an unidentified private overseas investor.

Most people have old notebooks filled with recipes, reminders, or random thoughts. Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, instead, changed the way people understood science and nature. One of his most famous journals, the Codex Leicester, dates back to the early 1500s and contains da Vinci’s sketches and scientific observations. The pages explore everything from astronomy to the movement of water.

In 1994, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates purchased the manuscript at auction for a staggering $30.8 million, making it the most expensive book ever sold at the time. But it wasn’t for his private library. Gates loans the Codex to museums around the world so visitors can see da Vinci’s work up close.

The new millennium was defined by technology, pop style, and boy bands. Justin Timberlake was part of NSYNC, one of the most popular bands at the time, and fans followed him everywhere. In 2000, during an interview at New York radio station Z-100, Timberlake left behind a partially eaten French toast. Most people would have cleared the table, but one clever DJ saw an opportunity.

The leftover toast was auctioned on eBay, where a 19-year-old superfan from Wisconsin paid $1,025 to own it. Over the years, rumors claimed the toast sold for even more on a second auction, but the original auction price remains one of the strangest celebrity purchases ever recorded.

Most people remember Einstein as the wild-haired genius behind the theory of relativity, but one of his most valuable possessions was not a scientific formula at all. It was a simple handwritten note about happiness.

In 1922, while staying at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo during a lecture tour, Einstein received news that he had won the Nobel Prize in Physics. When a courier arrived at his room with a delivery, Einstein realized he had no cash for a tip. Instead, he handed the messenger two signed notes. One of them read: "A calm and humble life will bring more happiness than the pursuit of success and the constant restlessness that comes with it." Decades later, the message was sold at auction in Jerusalem for an astonishing $1.56 million. The note remained in the courier’s family before being sold by his nephew, proving Einstein’s prediction was right after all.

Chances are, your kids or grandkids have read the worldwide phenomenon, Harry Potter. From the very beginning, the wizard created by English writer J.K. Rowling became an obsession for millions of people around the world. But for Rowling, things weren’t so easy. She was a struggling writer, working on her stories in a small apartment with mismatched secondhand furniture.

One of those chairs, a worn wooden dining chair from the 1930s, became the place where she typed the first two books of the saga. She later painted messages directly onto the piece, including the line: "I wrote Harry Potter while sitting on this chair." Rowling first auctioned the chair in 2002 to raise money for charity; years later, it resurfaced again and was sold at auction in New York for $394,000. The sale included a personal letter from Rowling explaining that the chair was the comfiest she had at the time.

A MEAL FOR YOUR BRAIN

Did You Know These 10 Mouth-Watering Idioms Related To Food?

Image: Frank Holleman

A cookbook isn't the only type of book that can make you hungry: We guarantee that at least one of the ten idioms on this list will make your stomach rumble. While you might expect these idioms to mostly involve eating, they prove that food is an incredibly versatile linguistic resource.

These are ten of the most interesting and down-right baffling food-related idioms we could find. Looking for something fun to say at the dinner table? Keep on reading and enjoy!

Image: Michelle @Shelly Captures It

We’ll start with one of the most baffling ones. In case you are not familiar with this idiom, to "bring home the bacon" means to be the top earner in a society or organization, whether in your job or family. Why this particular cut of pork symbolizes earning a decent living remains a mystery.

The origins of this idiom are not completely clear. Many state that it comes from an English tradition that dates back to at least the 12th century, on which a local couple was awarded a flinch of bacon for their devotion. However, most historians agree its modern use comes from a 1906 boxing match between Joe Gans and ‘Battling’ Oliver Nelson: Before the match, Gans' mother sent him a telegram urging him to win the fight and "bring home the bacon".

Image: Fa Barboza

This one is rather self-explanatory. One of the defining features of a good pancake (which applies to pretty much all pancakes, given how delicious they are) is its flatness. After all, one of the most enjoyable things to do with a plate of pancakes is to stack them on top of each other before eating a massive multi-layered piece.

In that sense, since this idiom’s meaning is abundantly clear, it is particularly hard to trace back its origins. Most linguists agree it arose simply from common usage, owing to the widespread popularity of pancakes as a breakfast choice.

Image: Lars Blankers

The first derogatory idiom in this list, this phrase is typically uttered by disgruntled mothers complaining about their teenager’s lack of physical activity. If you happened to enjoy lazing on a Sunday afternoon indoors watching your favorite movie, then you were at risk of being called a "couch potato" by discontented parents.

This idiom is closely associated with excessive television watching. One possible origin can be traced to a 1979 article published in the LA Times, which talked about "Couch Potatoes who will be lying on couches watching television". Another theory states that the first appearance of this idiom was in a '70s comic book about two anthropomorphized potatoes lazying on a couch.

Image: Waldemar

You might think being called "cheesy" would be as derogatory as being labeled a "couch potato", but let’s face it: There’s something charming about a particularly corny, cheesy one-liner. The term 'cheesy' describes anything that is overly sappy or romantic, to the point of being either extremely off-putting or weirdly endearing.

The origins of this idiom are obscure. While we don’t have a definitive answer, some believe that it comes from the 20th century, in which cheap or tacky things were considered appalling and shocking, in the same way that some types of cheese have unpleasant odors.

Image: Wouter Supardi Salari

This idiom sounds slightly goofy, doesn’t it? Especially when you consider its meaning, which refers to something particularly difficult to understand or solve. For example, let’s say that Sherlock Holmes leaned over a trail of notes and, after taking a long drag from his pipe, said "This is a hard nut to crack." Don’t you feel this would make the image of the world’s most famous detective a little sillier?

But the truth is, this idiom makes perfect sense: Some nuts are particularly hard to crack open. In that sense, the origins of this idiom seem only logical and are rather hard to trace. However, some believe that the first recorded use of this phrase comes from none other than Benjamin Franklin: Apparently, this Founding Father used it in a letter written in 1755.

Image: Vyshnavi Bisani

Have you ever had some chocolate chip cookies and thought "These are the brainiest and wittiest snacks I ever had"? Of course, you haven’t- no one has. While delicious, cookies are not particularly known for being smart (And for that matter, no food is known for its intelligence), so the origins of the idiom "one smart cookie" are not as clear-cut as we would like.

However, while we can’t give you a definitive answer, most linguists agree that this idiom comes from America during "the Roaring Twenties". According to this theory, the term "cookie" was used to describe someone particularly delightful and sweet, as you would expect from this sugary snack. Therefore, a smart cookie is someone who is not only appealing and lovely, but who also shines through its intelligence.

Image: Luke Pennystan

Is it really surprising that pancakes made it to this list twice? They are the quintessential breakfast comfort food and have evolved into an American cultural icon. Bearing that in mind, this next idiom perfectly capitalizes on pancakes' popularity: Whenever something is extremely successful and profitable, you can say it is "selling like hot cakes".

Apparently, this idiom comes from church bake sales: Known as "hot cakes" or "Johnny cakes", these pancakes sold extremely fast since they were much better eaten hot. This phrase can be traced back to at least the 1830s when it was used in an article published in The Buffalo Bulletin.

Image: Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦

This one seems to come straight from the world of "Snow White". This fairy tale princess is not the only one who should be wary of apples, at least according to this idiom. You might be surprised to learn that the phrase "one bad apple" is actually an abridged version of another idiom, which states "One bad apple spoils the whole barrel".

This is rather interesting because, in modern times, this idiom is used to signify that the actions of a single individual don’t reflect the actions of the rest: A single "bad apple" is not a faithful representative. However, what’s curious is that this idiom’s original intent seems to suggest the exact opposite, and it rather describes how someone’s bad behavior can influence everyone in a group.

Image: Henry & Co.

This idiom is a rather roundabout way to suggest that someone is pregnant. The imagery is quite clear: In this picture, the "bun" represents the baby growing metaphorically in the "oven" that is a woman’s womb. Should you want to tell someone about a pregnancy while avoiding the ears of a noisy child listening, this phrase is perfect for you.

Curiously, the very first recorded use of this idiom comes from literature. In his 1951 novel The Cruel Sea, British author Nicholas Monserrat uses this phrase to describe the pregnancy of a sailor’s wife.

Image: Nathan Dumlao

We’ll end with what we believe to be the most interesting origin story in this list. The idiom "to butter someone up" means to flatter and treat someone nicely, often with an ulterior motive. At first glance this phrase is utterly flabbergasting: How could covering someone with this greasy milk product award you anything but their contempt? However, many historians suggest it might actually originate from an ancient Indian custom.

According to this theory, many believers throw balls of ghee (a type of clarified butter used in Indian cooking) at the statues of Hindu gods to gain their favor. While this origin has not been completely confirmed, it appears this literal act may have inspired the popular idiom.