What to buy a billionaire: Christmas gifts for the ultra rich
Deciding what to get for that super wealthy friend or relative is always a headache, so – for anyone willing to abandon the budget – here are a few suggestions
Life’s luxuries may make sense for most of those on your shopping list, but there’s always one person who seems impossible to please. That’s why we’ve tossed the budget in the bin and have gone out in search of the most rarefied experiences and exotic goods. Consider these 10 items your best chance at gaining the upper hand in any gift exchange.
Utopian vision of Mars
Elon Musk can’t have all the Martian fun. As the king of futurism whips up excitement for sending SpaceX colonists to the red planet by 2024, your billionaire can take a more contemplative approach with a historic globe that imagines what life is like out there: “Mars efter Lowell’s Glober 1894-1914.”
The hand-inked and -coloured manuscript orb was made by Emmy Ingeborg Brun, a Danish socialist and astronomer, from mistranslated drawings by Giovanni Schiaparelliwhich interpreted “canali” (natural channels) as man-made canals, evidence of a now-dying Martian population.
In those lines, Brun saw evidence of a cooperative society and promoted Mars as a potential site for a socialist utopia (not so unlike today’s space race). To spread the gospel, she started sending copies of the globe to museums and academic institutions around the world; only eight, including this one, have endured. The varnished, papier mâché globe comes on a bronze base inscribed with the words “Free Land. Free Trade. Free Men.” and would make a handsome mantelpiece to any earthbound corner office.
Cost:US$80,863
Expedition to the North Pole
Naughty or nice is beside the point when you can skip the letter to Santa and go straight to the source instead. For those short of time, there’s a three-day helicopter flyover (from US$20,995); for those long on insanity, the North Pole Marathon will take place on April 9, 2018 (entry fee: US$21,398). For everyone else, Quark Expeditions offers two-week, all-inclusive trips aboard a Russian, nuclear-powered icebreaker to the geographic North Pole. (True magnetic north is a different point that constantly wanders and is best left for the on-board scientists to explain.)
What to expect? Blissful days unplugged from the internet, 24-hour sunshine, the surreal seascapes of Franz Josef Land, an occasional, helicopter-borne scouting mission, and the chance to spot polar bears, walruses, seals, and narwhals. Daily lectures by marine biologists, climatologists, and glaciologists will address the region’s essence. Once at 90 degrees north – there’s no land here, just forever shifting, metres-thick sea ice – Quark will arrange a barbecue, Champagne toast, and (weather permitting) a hot-air balloon ride. The truly brave can even dunk in frigid water.