When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It?

It’s often said that money isn’t everything, but it sure does make life more fun. Here are 10 of the most over-the-top and yet oddly impressive ways people threw away their wealth.

10 E. Berry Wall And His Leather Boots

Evander Berry Wall was a fashion icon who strolled the streets of New York toward the latter quarter of the 19th century. Born in 1860, Wall became a millionaire by the time he hit 18 and a multimillionaire by the time he reached 22, when he inherited a million dollars from his father and grandfather respectively.

[amazon asin=B001AQO3SS&template=*lrc ad (left)]From the second he inherited the money, Wall began spending it all on clothes, famously buying 5,000 neckties and 300 pairs of gloves. Wall also supposedly refused to ever drink anything but champagne, was the first man in America to wear a tuxedo, and once changed his outfit 40 times in a single morning for a bet.

Wall’s incredible vanity soon attracted the attention of a reporter named Blakely Hall, who wrote incredibly popular newspaper articles about Wall’s various outfits. These articles aroused people’s curiosity and massaged Wall’s already tremendous ego, but they also drew the attention of other snappy dressers. Eventually, a gentleman’s bet was arranged between Wall and an actor named Robert C. Hilliard to see who could pull off the most[amazon asin=B000784WRW&template=*lrc ad (right)] ridiculous outfit.

After a few weeks of turning up to various parties wearing things like “checked suits” and “entirely tweed outfits,” Wall’s standout moment came when he walked into a bar in the middle of a blizzard “clad in gleaming boots of black patent leather that went to his hips.”

9 Caligula Literally Swam In Gold

We’ve discussed before how Emperor Caligula was an awful human being, and nothing we’re about to mention here will change that. That said, the man sure knew how to spend his money. As you’re probably aware, Caligula [amazon asin=B001DWNUCO&template=*lrc ad (left)]was fond of wild sex parties, but what’s less well known is that Caligula had a fetish for gold that bordered on the absurd.

This culminated in Caligula forcing his servants to pile up his impressive gold reserves purely so he could roll around in the gold because he enjoyed the feel of it on his skin. Caligula also reportedly fed his favorite horse oats mixed with gold, and he’d often serve his guests loaves of bread made of solid gold just to show off how rich he was. When he wasn’t rolling around in gold, Caligula would sometimes throw it on the floor just so that he could walk across it. He also had little to no regard for the fashion sense of the day and it wasn’t unusual to see the Emperor walk around wearing women’s clothes covered in jewels.[amazon asin=B00H9KKKAY&template=*lrc ad (right)]

It’s reported that in the few years he reined, Caligula spent over 27 million gold pieces doing whatever he pleased.

8 Edward Hughes Ball Hughes And His Gambling Problem

Edward Hughes Ball Hughes was an early 19th-century dandy who began making a name for himself in upper social circles when he inherited £40,000 per year in 1819 at the age of 23.

[amazon asin=B005S28ZES&template=*lrc ad (left)]Using his newfound wealth, Hughes began styling himself as a gentlemen by buying as many fancy clothes as he could afford and cramming them all inside a giant house. Even when he was enjoying the pursuits of the leisure class, like hunting, Hughes was rarely seen without “an army of servants carrying guns, wine, and food behind him.”

Unfortunately for him, Hughes’s favorite pastime was gambling. Hughes would reportedly bet thousands of pounds on something as simple as the flip of a coin and wouldn’t bat an eyelid when he lost. He was such a prolific loser that the locals published a pamphlet in 1824 purely to warn the young man about the company he was keeping and how much they were taking advantage of his wealth and naivety, warning him that he’d lose his entire fortune if he wasn’t careful.

In response, Hughes went right ahead and lost £45,000 in a single evening. In today’s money, that was the equivalent of Hughes losing £37 million. After that night, Hughes fled to Paris to avoid paying his debts and lived the rest of his days in quiet comfort.

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