Try to imagine, if you can, the mind rollercoaster of the couple from Sierra Nevada that found a can of coins on their property. First they're walking the dog and notice the top of a rusty canister poking out from the soil. Okay, they think, let's just get that out of the way. Then they realize that the can is full of old gold discs. Fine, they think. Just someone's penny collection from last decade.
Nope - they're $20 gold coins from the 1890s. Cool, they think, not a bad little find. There won't be more where that came from. Wrong again - there were a further eight cans of the coins in the same area, eventually totaling 1,427 coins, or $27,980 at face value. Which is pretty good for a walk in the field, right? Yeah, except that's just face value. They're actually now worth over $10 million.
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.