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Why has oxtail become so expensive?

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A machine dips red colored pencils in a red varnish coating.

Why professional colored pencils are so expensive

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A close-up of an open mangosteen fruit.

Why mangosteen, the viral TikTok fruit, is so expensive

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An oboe craftsman sands cork pads for the instrument's keys.

How experts craft 14 instruments from around the world

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A Mount Everest Sherpa guide crosses a crevasse on a ladder.

Why climbing Mount Everest is so expensive

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Maple syrup being lifted and stirred

6 of the world's most smuggled foods

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Tubes of pink chalk move down the assembly line in Hagoromo's South Korea factory.

Why mathematicians are obsessed with this luxury chalk

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A bag of white flower shiitake mushrooms being poured into a metal chute.

How Japan's priciest shiitake mushrooms fuel the $740 million global shiitake industry

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Gamtae is pulled from the mudflats in South Korea.

How Korea's gamtae seaweed won over Michelin-starred chefs around the world

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A bare foot pushing into a ball of black ink.

4 of the world's most expensive calligraphy tools

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Water being poured over black ink on a traditional Japanese inkstone.

Why calligraphy inkstones are so expensive

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A worker cuts a piece of wood off of a cricket bat

Why English Willow Cricket Bats Are So Expensive

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A forklift carries a giant French oak wine barrel called a foudre

Why giant oak barrels are key to making some of the world's most expensive wine

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Yellow liquid cement being poured through a funnel into a tile mold.

Cement tiles used to be affordable, but they can cost 10 times more than subway tiles

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A pile of red togarashi peppers in snow.

Why less snow is threatening Japan's expensive Kanzuri chile paste

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A watchmaker uses needle-nose pliers to place a gold tourbillon mechanism.

Why this obsolete mechanism makes watches more expensive

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A Seeing Eye dog trainer takes their puppy out for a walk to learn the ropes.

Why Seeing Eye dogs are so expensive to breed and train

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A worker adjusts the bottom of a pedal harp.

Why pedal harps are so expensive

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A man at Everest base camp points to a container used for collecting human waste.

What happens to Mount Everest's over 110,000 pounds of waste?

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A porter carries a large load on his back.

Inside the hidden hotels that keep Mount Everest running

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Two climbers crossing a ladder over a gap in ice.

Why some Sherpas say there won't be any guides on Everest in 10 years

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Pastemba Sherpa waves to the camera while climbing Mount Everest.

Every piece of gear you need to summit Everest, according to a Sherpa guide

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Strands of red and blue cotton weaving together

Egyptian cotton sheets can cost $900, but the internet is filled with fakes

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A close-up of a hand holding shea butter

10 African businesses making the world's most expensive products

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A quality-control expert checks the inside of a hot-air balloon for leaks.

Why Hot Air Balloons Are So Expensive

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A miner holding raw sulfur.

11 of the most dangerous and expensive mining expeditions in the world

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Anchovies being laid out in a barrel.

How 20,000 pounds of anchovies spend 3 years transforming into expensive anchovy sauce

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Red wagyu beef held up by someone's blue gloves

Matsusaka wagyu is the most expensive beef in the world. It had never been sold outside of Japan — until now.

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Stockfish being hung up to dry on wooden racks.

How the most expensive foods are made around the world

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A Trudon candle being dipped in blue wax.

Why luxury candles are so expensive

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Separating the freshly picked nutmeg nut from the mace flower

How farmers in one Indian village crafted the most expensive nutmeg and mace

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A man stands next to a giant amethyst geode that stretches up to the warehouse ceiling.

How miners find, cut, and transport the most expensive amethysts in the world

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Someone peeling back an ear of corn to reveal huitlacoche.

The US spent millions eradicating corn smut (huitlacoche). Now it's a fine-dining delicacy.

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A wood carver carving a knight for a chess set

10 of the most expensive items made in India

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Martin guitars hang on a rack.

Why American-made Martin acoustic guitars are so expensive

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A man carrying a sack of Bulgarian rose petals on top of his head.

Why Louis Vuitton and Tom Ford spend up to $15,000 for one kilo of Bulgarian rose oil

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A Buddha's hand citron freshly cut open.

Why Buddha's hand citron is so expensive

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A person holding up a fish maw.

How Chinese demand for fish maw (swim bladder) fuels a $52 million industry in Uganda

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Someone dragging a finger through a tray of fleur de sel after it's been smoked.

Why French fleur de sel costs 230 times more than table salt

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A tailor checks a loosely sewn suit on a client during a fitting.

Why clients wait months for a Savile Row suit made by a master tailor