Quick Links

Fire trucks, boats, planes, and cartoon cars—while these might be what a kid’s toy chest would contain in miniature form, they become a billionaire’s plaything once they are life-sized and real. Money sure can’t buy everything, but it does one heck of a job buying unreal (and frankly, really unnecessary) stuff. Here are 15 things that people with gazillions of money have as toys—go ahead and be envious, we would totally understand.

15. 2012 Fisker Karma—Leonardo DiCaprio

The Fisker Karma is no ordinary vehicle. It’s a hybrid car that doesn’t look like a family wagon. That is actually an understatement. It’s a hybrid sports car. A two-door, mean-looking, 125-mph-top-speed, chick-magnet of a car—and did we mention that it’s environmentally-friendly? It even has a gorgeous solar-paneled roof!

And being something that is not ordinary means that it also has an equivalent price tag: a base price of $100,000. Who else could get it first but the ever-charismatic Leonardo DiCaprio? One thing’s for sure: the star of Titanic and Inception did not go for the default configuration; with money to burn, why settle for something that costs only $100,000?

14. Boeing 757 Private Jet with a Gold Interior—Donald Trump

When you have a Boeing 757 for a private jet, you surely have enough reason not to be bothered with fixing your awful comb-over. Mr. Donald Trump bought this monster of a private jet for $100 million. Still not satisfied, he gave the interior a royal treatment: gold seatbelt buckles, gold faucets, and gold bathroom fixtures. He then stamped his logo on the exterior of the plane as well as on almost everything inside.

13. Custom Gold iPhone—Victoria Beckham

Mrs. Beckham is not one to just get an ordinary iPhone. The former Spice Girl and wife of football hottie David Beckham carries a custom-made iPhone plated in gold. And while $36,000 is certainly nothing compared to the other toys we have on this list, the mere fact that a common device such as a mobile phone costs so much merit inclusion in this list.

12. Ferrari Testa Rossa Prototype—Care to Guess?

The 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa is an incredibly rare car: only 21 cars are known to have ever been produced. It is thus not surprising why it is also the most expensive car to have ever been sold for $16.4 million. This happened only last year, in August 2011. And while we still have no idea who bought this magnificent automobile, we do know for certain that he has enough money to buy a car that he probably won’t drive.

11. Cable Car for a Malibu Home—Larry Ellison

Any multi-millionaire can have a tennis court and swimming pool in his or her backyard. But only a multi-billionaire like Larry Ellison would have a big enough property to warrant a cable car connecting his backyard to his main house. The CEO of Oracle owns this $20 million house in Malibu, and is now probably worth more due to the improvements he made. Not to worry, that price probably didn’t even make a dent in Mr. Ellison’s pocket, whose net worth is $26 billion.

10. Virtual Ski Machine—Mikhail Prokhorov

Not content with buying his own sports team for $200 million, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has a few gadgets to quench his thirst for sporty activities. One of them is a virtual ski machine, we guess so he can ski in the comfort of his own home—and what billionaire doesn’t want that? Mr. Prokhorov is also an undeniable daredevil. He once asked a production company to film his jet-ski stunts and set it to music.

9. (Real) WWII Planes Collection—Paul Allen

Billionaires are not content with collecting toy miniatures, as proven by Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen. Allen has 20 real World War II planes in his personal hangar, and probably aims to add more to his collection. He has spent $5 million in restoration alone. Good thing he doesn’t keep these pieces of history to his own: Allen has his own museum called “The Flying Heritage” which the public can visit.

8. Personal Fire Brigade—George Lucas

George Lucas is serious about playing house. Since he spent a fraction of his earnings (i.e., $100 million) on the Skywalker Ranch, he thought that it needed to be secure from everything—including fire. The ranch has its own fire brigade, composed of 12 full-time firefighters, some volunteers, and two fire trucks.

7. Michael Jackson’s Red “Thriller” Jacket—Milton Verret

During a charity auction in June, Milton Verret bested six bidders and gained the right to Michael Jackson’s red jacket from the music video of “Thriller.” The price of the jacket? A staggering $1.8 million, making it the highest amount anyone has ever paid for a Rock&Roll memorabilia.

6. The World’s Biggest Yacht (with Missile Detection System, of course)—Roman Abramovich

Costing $300 million, the world’s biggest private-owned yacht has two swimming pools, a couple of landing pads for helicopters, an in-yacht cinema, a submarine, and anti-paparazzi photo-shield systems. Oh, and did we mention the missile detection systems? Of course, if you’re a controversial Russian billionaire like Roman Abramovich, there’s no reason why you won’t get the biggest yacht a missile detection system.

5. Batmobile from “Batman Returns”—Truett Cathy

The owner of Chick-Fil-A doesn’t think that movie memorabilia should be something as simple as a toy from a kiddie value meal. He bought himself the exact Batmobile used in “Batman Returns” at a price of $250,000—chump change for a man with a net worth of $2 billion.

4. “Rosebud” from “Citizen Kane”—Steven Spielberg

“Rosebud,” the popular sled from the classic Orson Welles film “Citizen Kane,” is now in the hands of another iconic director: Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, who is worth $3 billion, bought the movie memorabilia from a Sotheby’s auction in 1982.

3. Recreational Submarine—Richard Branson

Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group of companies has several cool recreational vehicles under his wing. One of them, the “Necker Nymph” is a three-man submarine which allows passengers to have a 360-degree view of what lies under the sea. And of course, we won’t forget to mention that Branson has his own private spacejet—the only reason that it isn’t on this list is because it’s still on testing phase right now.

2. Da Vinci’s Journal—Bill Gates

Bill Gates sure loves books—he bought one for $30.8 million. Codex Leicester is one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s scientific journals, and perhaps the most famous. Being the good guy that he is, Gates had digitally scanned the notebook for public consumption. It is now available in CD-ROM format for around $30—far, far less than its original price

1. Preserved Shark in Formaldehyde—Steven Cohen

Taking the number one spot just for having the highest weirdness to expense ratio is one of the pieces in Steven Cohen’s art collection. The hedge fund manager bought Damien Hirst’s “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” for $8 million. For those unfamiliar with Hirst’s artwork, it consists of a 14-foot tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde. We are sure of one thing: Cohen sure bought a conversation piece.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEq6CcoJWowW%2BvzqZmnrCgmru0tdWeZKWhlprAtcXLnmZqbV2itq%2BwjJumoJ%2BcnruoecCnm2aikax6pb7Oqaeippdir6q4y6Kmp5mZp7JuwM6yqmg%3D