The 10 Most Expensive Liquids in the World in 2024

You may think the most expensive liquid in the world is some type of rare 100-year-old wine sitting in a climate-controlled cellar. But even the priciest booze is nowhere near as expensive as the most expensive liquids in the world.

Here are the top 10.

10. Human Blood

You’d think that human blood would be rather cheap since it’s easy to donate and most people have at least some to spare. But blood can be surprisingly pricey depending on where, when, and how quickly it’s needed. With that in mind, a gallon of human blood can cost as much as $1,500.

9. GHB

Gamma hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, is another substance that is made by the human body. Indeed, it is found in the central nervous system and is a depressant. When taken out of the body, people use it as a party drug. It causes the user to feel relaxed, sociable, and euphoric. Used medicinally, it treats narcolepsy, a sleep disorder. Doctors also prescribe it to treat depression and insomnia and use it as an anesthetic. The price for a gallon of this substance is $2,500.

8. Black Printer Ink

If you think you pay more for your printer’s ink than you paid for your printer, you are right. The reason for the expense of the ink is that printers are cheap, and the manufacturer loses money whenever someone buys one. To make up for this, they up the price of ink and other supplies your printer needs.

Another, somewhat less cutthroat reason for expensive ink is that money has to be spent on research and development. Each type of printer has a certain type of ink it uses, and most customers want to use the ink made for their printer, as opposed to a substitution, even if that substitution is cheaper.

Printer ink is also surprisingly complicated to make, and printing is a surprisingly complicated process. So, the cost of a gallon of ink averages out to about $2,700 and can go as high as $9,000.

7. Mercury

This fascinating element is one of the few metals that is a liquid at room temperature. The others are gallium, cesium, and rubidium. Mercury is toxic, but it is valued for its usefulness in medical instruments, such as thermometers. It’s also good at conducting electricity and is found in fluorescent lightbulbs, streetlights, and float valves.

Mercury used to be used in tooth fillings. Interestingly, its symbol is Hg, from hydrargyrum, Greek for “water silver.” A gallon of mercury runs about $3,400.

6. Insulin

Another natural bodily substance, insulin is a hormone that regulates your blood sugar. The pancreas produces it. Some people are either born with a condition where their pancreas doesn’t produce insulin, or they develop an autoimmune disease that attacks the pancreas and destroys its ability to make the hormone.

This is called Type 1 diabetes. People with this type of diabetes must take insulin to regulate their blood sugar. Some people with Type 2 diabetes also have to take insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas produces insulin, but it doesn’t work as it should.

There are two problems with insulin that make it one of the most expensive liquids. It can’t be taken orally because the digestive process destroys it, so it must be injected. It’s also expensive to synthesize. Insulin used to be rather inexpensive, but the price has spiked in the last 20 years.

This is due to the shenanigans of insulin manufacturers, insurance providers, and other interested parties. Because of this, the official price of a gallon of insulin is $9,400, though it’s almost certainly much higher.

5. Chanel No. 5

In 1921, fashion designer Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel launched her first perfume, which was compounded by the chemist Ernest Beaux. It was named No. 5 because the number was one of significance for Chanel. Born into a poor family, she entered a convent orphanage when she was about 12 years old.

The walkways that took the orphans to the cathedral for prayers were arranged in patterns that repeated the number five. Chanel associated the beautiful gardens of the abbey with the number as well. The number five had such a hold on Chanel’s mind that when she became a couturier, she always presented her new dress collections on May 5.

In 1920, Beaux presented Chanel with sample vials of the scent, and she, of course, picked the fifth one. The simple, elegant design of the bottle hasn’t changed since 1924, and the perfume is still one of the most popular sold today. It’s also one of the most expensive liquids in the world. If you buy a gallon of Chanel No. 5, it will set you back $26,000.

4. Horseshoe Crab Blood

The blood of the horseshoe crab, one of the oldest animals on earth, is blue thanks to hemocyanin. It also has amebocytes, which act like the white blood cells in vertebrates. Scientists use the amebocytes in horseshoe crab blood to find bacterial toxins.

Fortunately, the animals don’t have to be killed to collect their blood, and they’re returned or should be returned, to the sea once their ordeal is over. Though about half a million horseshoe crabs are harvested every year, the need for their blood is declining since a substitution has been discovered. Still, a gallon of horseshoe crab blood costs $60,000.

3. LSD

It doesn’t take much LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, to launch a user on a memorable “trip” for good or for ill. Since you only need to take between 40 and 500 micrograms for a trip to commence, a gallon is good enough for about 55,000 people. Hallucinations, which are visual, auditory, and psychological, happen about half an hour after taking the drug and can last between eight and 20 hours.

In the 1960s, LSD, or “acid,” was the drug of the counterculture and was and still is listed as a Schedule I substance. This means it is of no medical use and is illegal to use both medically and recreationally. Still, if you could get your hands on a gallon of LSD, it would cost $123,000.

2. The Venom of the King Cobra

The king cobra is not technically a cobra, but it still produces some of the most powerful venom on earth. This venom is a soup of neurotoxins and cytotoxins, which means it attacks both your nervous system and the cells of your body.

A king cobra is capable of producing 420 milligrams of venom when it bites. The venom first attacks your nervous system, which eventually leads to paralysis. This can progress to heart failure, coma, and death. If the snake injects enough venom, you’ll be dead within half an hour if not treated.

On the other hand, king cobra venom is a source of a protein called ohanin. This protein was shown to be 20 times more powerful than morphine when used as a painkiller, and it had no side effects. Interestingly, when ohanin was injected into mice it slowed them down physically but made them more, not less, sensitive to pain.

At any rate, a gallon of king cobra venom costs about $153,000.

1. Scorpion Venom

All scorpions are venomous, but out of 2,500 species, only 25 have venom powerful enough to hurt humans. Like cobra venom, scorpion venom is rich in neurotoxins and may have medicinal uses. Because the neurotoxins affect muscle contraction and the nervous system, they might be useful in treating disorders like multiple sclerosis.

Scorpion venom may also prove useful in easing the pain of rheumatoid arthritis and for combating pathogens. Clinical trials are underway using chlorotoxin, a peptide that binds to glioma tumors and might be useful in treating a type of brain cancer. As can be expected, scorpion venom is a bit fiddly to collect, and a gallon of it costs $39,000,000.

Summary of the Top 10 Most Expensive Liquids in the World

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