What is more valuable than gold?

While gold is one of the most valuable metals on Earth due to its rarity, desirability, and utility, there are a few materials that can be considered even more valuable:

• Rhodium – This ultra rare silvery-white metal is more expensive than gold, trading around $14,500 per ounce currently. Its scarcity and specialized uses in catalysis, transistors, and corrosion resistance impart value.
• Platinum – Platinum costs over $1,000 per ounce, making it more valuable than gold. Its superior catalytic properties, resistance to corrosion, and status as a luxury good underpin its worth.
• Diamonds – High quality large diamonds are among the most concentrated forms of wealth by weight. Exceptional diamond color, clarity, and size can result in prices exponentially higher than equivalent gold weight. The Cullinan or Koh-I-Noor diamonds are practically priceless.
• Californium – This radioactive rare earth element has a scarcity almost unmatched in nature, with global production less than 1 gram per year. It can sell for around $27 million per gram.
• Palladium – Traditionally more costly than platinum owing to automotive catalytic converter demand and limited annual mine production around 200 tons.
• Certain artwork or artifacts – Famous paintings, sculptures, or historical items like da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Faberge eggs can be valued higher than their weight in gold based on cultural significance and rarity.
• Property – Luxury real estate in coveted areas like Monaco, New York, or London sell for dramatically more than their footprint’s equivalent in gold bricks. Location imparts irreplaceable value.

While gold commands immense worth, a handful of substances like rhodium or gems along with certain cultural artifacts and properties stand atop the pyramid as the world’s most concentrated forms of value by weight or size. Their extraordinary scarcity or irreplaceable significance can exceed that of gold.