Hello Aluxers, thanks for joining us as we take a peek at the shady underworld of luxury items.  The black market has existed for as long as there have been regulations on trade. Smuggling restricted items can be an extremely lucrative business if you don’t get caught.  Modern pirates and bootleggers run high-risk, high-reward operations usually at the expense of any moral obligations.Whether it be the trafficking of endangered species or the smuggling of drugs, wherever there’s a demand there will be those that are willing to put everything on the line for a big payout.  It’s estimated that the black market is, in fact, the second richest economy on the planet after the United States of America. Trafficking of illegal drugs alone is a business estimated to be worth upwards of $200 billion dollars a year. Of course, when considering the price of things on the black market, all figures are the result of educated guesses.  Since the practice is illegal, specific transactions are kept as secret as possible. So if you’re ready, let’s begin the countdown but, be warned, some of the items on this list are not for the faint hearted.

Number 10 - A Tibetan Antelope Scarf - $10,000 dollars

The Tibetan Antelope, also known as the chiru, is renowned for the fascinating quality of it’s fur.  Since being placed on the endangered list over a decade ago, the prices of shawls and scarves have skyrocketed on the black market.  It is estimated that it takes about 10 murdered antelopes to make a scarf and people are willing to pay $10,000 dollars for one. Like many other forms of illegal poaching, those profiting from these murders will hope that the chiru goes extinct because it will further increase the price of these scarves.

Number 9 - An Elephant Tusk - $180,000 dollars

Over the last 8 years the price of elephant ivory has increased by 1800%. This is mainly to do with how successful conservationists have been and catching and prosecuting poachers.  Since less elephants are being killed, there has been a growing scarcity of ivory on the market whilst demand remains high. This creates a new problem for conservationists because poachers will take increasingly higher risks to attain more lucrative rewards.  Ultimately, the demand for ivory must be curtailed in order to drive down its value on the black market.

Number 8 - A kidney - $262,000 dollars

Organs are the most pervasive items found on the black market in the last decade. With waiting lists stretching far beyond life expectancy in many cases it seems natural that individuals turn to more desperate solutions in order to save their lives or the lives of loved ones.  Poor and vulnerable individuals, often women forced by men, are lined up in countries like India and China in order to have one of their kidneys harvested. The individuals, or most likely their patriarchs, will usually be paid around $5,000 dollars. In the U.S a single kidney has been known to sell for as much as $262,000 dollars on the black market.

Number 7 - A White Rhino Horn - $300,000 dollars

Traditional Chinese medicine uses ground up rhino horns to treat illnesses such as fever and rheumatism.  The principle compound in rhino horn is keratin which is exactly the same as what makes up fingernails. So if you believe in the healing powers of Chinese medicine then it would be a lot cheaper to chew on your fingernails.  It would also help to prevent this barbaric trade from exterminating such majestic beasts. In Yemeni culture, daggers are traditionally given to 12 year old boys to signify their coming of age. The handles of these daggers are made from the ivory of rhino horns.  Other cultures, carve horns into highly coveted ornamental pieces. However, since 1982 Rhinos have been listed as endangered species and all trade in their ivory is illegal. This has hugely inflated prices on the black market. Furthermore, many poachers hope to make the species entirely extinct to make the horns worth even more.

Number 6 - A Silverback Gorilla - $400,000 dollars

Gorillas are some of the most endangered species on the planet.  And out of all types of Gorilla’s, the Silverback, native to the rainforests of East and Central Africa are the most endangered of all.  Catching a live silverback is not an easy task. Rangers have the legal right to shoot trespassers dead in places such as the Virunga National Park or the Impenetrable Rainforest of West Uganda. Indeed, some tourists have actually been mistaken for poachers and shot because they decided to venture into conservational zones without permits or guides. Silverback Gorillas are also incredibly strong and, while docile most of the time, can erupt with a brutal temper when threatened.  For all these reasons, plus their high demand amongst private buyers, they are the most expensive live animals to be traded on the black market.

And that’s the halfway point. Feeling queasy and horrified yet? Brace yourself, there’s a lot more dark things to come.  If you’re enjoying this video then why not check out some more of our top 10 countdowns. Top 10 most expensive whiskeys is highly recommended.

Number 5 - Highly Enriched Uranium - $500,000 dollars per pound

Uranium is a radioactive element capable of creating nuclear grade weapons.  It is the single most restricted element on the planet because it is capable of eliminating all known life forms except for cockroaches.  In 2010, two Armenians were put on trial for smuggling uranium across the borders of the former Soviet Union. This led to investigations about how much is actually in circulation on the black market and it’s estimated that there could be well over a ton on sale. Just one pound of uranium could kill tens of thousands of people if it fell into the wrong hands.  The wrong hands would have to be highly skilled, well funded, evil minded nuclear physicists, however, because it’s not that easy to turn uranium into a functioning nuclear bomb.

Number 4 - A Holland & Holland Deluxe Double Rifle - $1 million dollars

A Holland & Holland double rifle will cost an American with a gun license around $228,000.  However, once purchased, they can be sold to on the black market for over four times that amount.  Such sales have remained entirely incognito up until now but there is no doubt that such transactions have taken place.  Rich gun aficionados from all over the world would have no qualms parting with so much cash in order to add this hand-made weapon to their collections.  Each gun takes 850 hours to be made by master craftsman.

Number 3 - A Blood Diamond - $4.3 million dollars

The difference between a legal diamond and one sold on the black market is demarcated by international law.  Most people have seen or heard about the film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In the film, he plays the character of a black market diamond trader.  The reason that the diamond he’s trying to smuggle is a blood diamond is because it was found in a disputed area where unregulated militia employ methods of slavery in order to extract the precious stones.  Since diamonds bought on the black market are entirely illegal, and therefore difficult to resell, their value is around 10% of a legally traded diamond. The most expensive legal diamond in the world was recently sold for around $43 million dollars.  By following that logic, experts estimate that extremely large blood diamonds could be sold for over $4 million dollars.

Number 2 - Heroin - $350 million dollars for one shipment

The largest single seizure of Heroin by the DEA in 2017 was 1.5 tons. Experts believe that smugglers would rarely risk higher quantities than that in a single transaction.  The street value of 1.5 tons of heroin is close to $400 million dollars. It’s also estimated that the DEA only manages to seize about 1% of all the heroin coming into the U.S each year.  As a result, it seems highly likely that some drug dealers have paid as much as $350 million dollars for a single shipment of the regulated narcotic.

Number 1 - Cocaine - $500 million dollars for one shipment

Most people have watched Narcos and they know that Pablo Escobar dies.  That’s not a spoiler, it’s just historical, like the fact that the Titanic sinks at the end, so don’t be a baby if you were planning on watching it and now it seems ruined.  Watch it anyway, you won’t be disappointed. Nonetheless, the death of Escobar certainly didn’t bring an end to the most lucrative item on sale on the black market. In 2017, the Colombian Government seized over 12 tons of cocaine with a value of $460 million dollars.  Like heroin, this highlights the scale of such illegal operations. With less than 1% of cocaine actually being prevented from reaching it’s buyers, chances are as much as half a billion dollars has changed hands for a single transaction.

And that’s the end of a terrifying list of the most expensive items on the black market.  And now a question for you:

Which item on this list made you most horrified and why? Leave your comments below.

Thanks for watching Aluxers, we couldn’t do it without you. We truly appreciate  your continued support. To show our gratitude, here’s a bonus fact:

The black market for exotic animals, living, dead or dismembered is estimated to be worth about $20 billion dollars.  The more conservationists do to prevent these operations, the higher the prices become because the demand is still there.  As a result, desperate individuals will be willing to risk their lives in order to make a quick fortune on a rhino horn or a captured gorilla.