Glass -- Who would have thought it could be so expensive? Sure, you can complain about dropping a grand on a lens, but you can't put a price on the precision of an artfully crafted, hand-built lens made by tiny German women. What's that you say... Money is no option? How does over $2 million sound? Uhh...
Meet the *Deep Breath* Leica APO-Telyt-R 1:5.6/1600mm lens *And Exhale*. This bazooka is infamous for being the world's most expensive lens made for civilian use... not counting that military grade lens they've been hiding in [REDACTED]. If the public only knew!
Imagine this scenario: "Hello. Yes, I'd like to order a lens. This lens has to have extreme focal length that will give me a severe case of vertigo. It has to weigh so much that my personal servant will get a hernia from carrying it around. It must also be constructed out of the same materials of a Silver Porsche 911 Carrera S and have a sight scope not-unlike a gun Rambo would have...What do you mean you don't make one like that? Here's 2 Million dollars, now chop chop!" That must have been the conversation between Leica and a very rich "hobbyist" named *deep breath again* Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani *ugh* of Qatar. I guess when you have the money, any decision can be considered a sound decision.
It may be a one-of-a-kind lens, but one can still view its prototype at Leica's showroom in Solms, Germany. Although much of the detailed specs are hush-hush, what is known is that it is extremely heavy and almost four feet long with a 16.5 inch barrel diameter. Given that it has a standard bayonet mount for Leica's R-Series manual focus cameras, theoretically you could couple this big-boy with a 1.4x or 2x APO-teleconverter for 1:8/2240mm and 1:11/3200mm optic systems. No need to worry about chromatic aberration. True to the Leica name, the veracity of color throughout the lens is a non-issue, and for that price, it had better be.
The icing on the diamond frosted cake is that the buyer reportedly commissioned a specially-made Mercedes Benz with the sole purpose of transporting the world's most expensive lens. Although I'm sure it's a pretty accessory, I think an armor-plated tank that doubles as a sturdy tripod would be a better fit.