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Finer Things
Pricey Sports Toys
By Staff Writer
If you have the money (lots of money!), you can play games like soccer or pool in style.
Kick it with Diamonds
Check out the world’s most expensive soccer ball. This ball is more than just a ball of air. South Africa is hosting the FIFA World Cup and local jewelry house Shimansky is celebrating with the world's most expensive soccer ball.
The ball took three months to design and is still in production. When finished, it will be festooned with 6,620 white diamonds and 2,640 black diamonds, for a total of 3,500 carats of South African diamonds. It will be the size of a standard soccer ball, but will weigh 4.8 lbs.
The ball is intended to entice wealthy tourists and soccer aficionados into purchasing some of Shimansky's South African gemstones. Shimansky is also producing crystal replicas of the ball to be displayed in their local stores and auctioned off for charity.
The Shimansky diamond soccer ball is valued at a phenomenal 20 million South African rands-that's US $2.59 million!
Aside from the ball, Shimansky has also created a 9.3 carat World Cup dome ring worth nearly $16,000 and a pair of silver commemorative World Cup cufflinks worth $129.
Play Pool Like a Mogul
How much do you love the game of pool? Do you love it more than your car? More than your house? Well, thanks to Vincent Facquet, you now have the option to really vote with your wallet by buying the world's most expensive pool table.
The Luxury Billiard is a 117-by-67-inch table with a 100-by-50-inch playing surface made of Iwan Simonis 860, the same cloth used on tables at any major billiards event. Surprisingly, the sights -a. k. a. "diamonds"-on the most expensive billiards table aren't made with diamonds. You heard that right-someone actually managed to resist the urge to deck out an ultra-luxury item in precious gems. Instead, they're inlayed with gold or platinum. Gold or platinum are also used in leaf-form to create the exquisite pattern on the table's legs.
The Luxury Billiard is just as functional as it is beautiful. It features an automated drawer that can hold a set of pool cues and balls. Additionally, the triangle is built into the table so that you need only push on it-like the CD-ROM drive on a laptop-to eject it from the table.
The most expensive pool table in the world can be had for a mere $177,000. It comes in three models-Noblesse (18k gold), Majesté and Royal (platinum)-but custom configurations are available.
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