The hanging rope that was used in the execution of Saddam Hussein is currently up for auction, with the highest bid coming in at $7 million (or £4.6 million).
Morbid collectors are coming out of the woodwork worldwide to bid on this disgusting historical artifact currently owned by Dr Mowaffak al-Rubaie, an Iraqi national security advisor who displays the rope in his home dangling off a bust of the late deposed dictator.
The website MiddleEastEye is reporting that while the current bid is $7 million the morbid artifact could end up selling for much more, further proving our world is turning to shit:
A senior Iraqi politician who spoke to Arabic news site al-Araby al-Jadeed said Rubaie received numerous demands to buy the rope after he published pictures of the item slung around the neck of a huge bronze bust of Hussein, who was toppled from his 24-year rule in 2003.
The statue, formerly found in Hussein’s Rihab Palace, is now kept in the reception room of Rubaie’s Baghdad home.
The former security advisor has reportedly circulated pictures of himself posing in front of the statue with a number of prominent Iraqi politicians, who were opposition figures during Hussein’s reign.
Prospective buyers of the rope, according to the source, include a wealthy Israeli family, an Iranian religious organisation and a pair of Kuwaiti businessmen.
The bidding currently stands at around $7 million, but Rubaie is reportedly asking for more.
The prospect of the item’s sale has provoked anger among some activists in Iraq, who say that any profits from the bidding should be returned to the public finances.
That’s just a stupid use of money, and a silly amount that we normal people can’t even begin to comprehend. SEVEN MILLION on a fucking rope that was used to kill a person, albeit a murderous dictator.
This got me thinking though, about what other historical artifacts people had spent ungodly sums of money on. Which gross items throughout history did people throw so much money at they should be ashamed of themselves?
So after a quick search I was able to find a few other morbid historical artifacts that could be set in a glass case right along side Saddam’s rope. And while not all of these items are tied to genocide, war, or a dictator, all of them are completely disgusting displays of spending, and the people who spent the money deserve(d) a swift kick to the ass.
$1.76 Million Bluefin Tuna
A SINGLE FISH sold for $1.76 MILLION, and it wasn’t expensive because it was such a remarkable fish. No, the fish sold because it’s believed to be ‘good luck’ to open Japan’s Sukiji Fish Market with a record breaking sale. It’s also a good way of laundering money, in addition to being a stupid publicity stunt.
But just let that sink in for a second before we get to the more grotesque artifacts previously owned by warmongers and dictators: a dead fish sold for nearly $2 MILLION DOLLARS.
A Lock of Elvis Presley’s Hair: $115,000
Yes, a single lock of Elvis ‘The King’ Presley’s hair sold at auction in 2002 for $115,000. In discovering this I also found out that the world has an extremely unhealthy obsession with dead people’s hair. TIME reports:
Apart from his soulful voice and swinging hips, Elvis Presley was known for his hair. So it’s perhaps no surprise that a strand from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s pompadour — surreptitiously hoarded by his personal barber — would bring in more dough than hair from John Lennon ($48,000), John F. Kennedy ($3,000) and Beethoven ($7,300) combined. MastroNet Inc, the Oak Brook, Ill., company behind the Internet auction of such macabre memorabilia, has made a small fortune selling the tresses of celebrities, dead (Mickey Mantle, $6,900) or alive (Neil Armstrong, $3,000). Even former government officials are cashing in. In 2007, an ex-CIA employee sold a tuft of Che Guevara’s hair, along with fingerprints and death photographs, for $119,500.
Adolf Hitlers Mercedes Benz Großer 770k: $9.12 Million USD (£6 million)
Why the obsession with Hitler? Seriously? What is the correlation between people with unfathomable gobs of money and attraction to disgusting dictators? I just don’t get it.
WarHistoryOnline ranks Hitler’s Mercedes Benz Großer 770k as the most expensive war artifact ever sold…I rank it as the most disgusting:
Coming in at the number one spot is an armor-plated 1935 Mercedes 770A Kompressor Cabriolet believed to have been used to shuttle Adolf Hitler through throngs of adoring Germans leading up to and during WW2. Connecting the car to Hitler required careful study of historical photographs and revealed the 770 carrying number plate: 1A 148461 was clearly shown in photographs with Hitler aboard. The sale was to a Russian Billionaire, brokered by German classic car dealer Michael Frohlich.
Mussolini’s Order of Courage Medal: $113,302 USD (£74,000)
Again with the dictators. Except now we have Mussolini and his war medal. Warstuff reports that this medal was stripped from the Italian dictator the day he was deposed in Rome, and sold at auction in 2012 for $113k USD.
Hitler’s Golden Gun
The Walther Model 9 25 ACP pistol owned by Adolf Hitler, plated in gold and covered with ivory grips was sold to the US State Department in 1946 for $18,400 and shipped to the U.S. And while that price tag is in no way remarkable, the fact that this gun wasn’t destroyed is a grotesque travesty. It should have been melted and dumped into the sea.
Outdoor Hub discusses this gun:
The presentation of the piece can only be described as having once been exquisite, with blue enamel medallions standing boldly against the backdrop of ivory. However, the weapon’s journey through the decades has seen most of the gold worn away. An unsigned letter included with the pistol explained that a US State Department official appropriated the gun and many other treasures following the fall of the Third Reich. It was eventually shipped to America and had been in storage since 1946. Included was the original case as well as an extra magazine.
Fucking melt that gun already!
Did I miss any completely embarrassing artifacts that people spent too much money on? Let me know in the comments down below and I’ll add them here…