Glittering Monopoly set
October 16th 2010 11:59
If you think the picture above looks like a solid gold Monopoly set, with some diamonds, rubies, sapphires and topaz thrown in for decoration, you're right.
The set was made in 1988 by San Francisco jeweller Sidney Mobell, now aged 84. Mobell was inspired by a World Monopoly Tournament in London that year, and Monopoly maker Parker Bros commissioned him to realise the inspiration.
It took a year to make.
It hasn't been seen a lot since than, although Mobell did play a game with it against former British Prime Minister Edward Heath. Heath won easily. "I’m a terrible player," Mobell said.
The board itself is 23-carat gold plate. All the hotels, houses and players pieces are solid 18-carat gold, as are the dice, which are studded with diamonds to mark the numbers. The house chimneys are topped with rubies and the hotel chimneys are topped with sapphires.
The light bulb on the Electric Company is a topaz, and the drip escaping from the tap on Water Works is another ruby.
The set is worth an estimated US$2 million. Its value has risen a lot lately - when Mobell built it, gold cost about $300 an ounce; today it sells for more than $1,300 an ounce.
In 2003, Mobell donated the game to the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian is affiliated with the Museum of American Finance in New York, and the Mobell Monopoly set has just gone on public display there.
No need to hurry - they will have it on show for two years.
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