Back in the 1980s, there was a movie that everyone's forgotten called 'The Wizard.' The only people paying any attention to it were Nintendo, who used it as a theme to hold the first (and only) ever 'Nintendo World Games' series, which ran from coast to coast in America in 1990. Competitions were played out on all of Nintendo's most famous video games of the era, but to make the occasion special, the cartridges used to load the games were gold.
The winners of the tournament were allowed to keep some of the gold cartridges, which sounds like a fairly terrible prize until you find out that they're now worth an average of $21,000 each. All three winners of the tournament sold theirs long ago (and for less than they're now worth), but more are known to exist in private collections; probably the collections of people who helped to stage the tournaments. To hardcore gaming nerds, they're the holy grail.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.