The Most Expensive Perfume in the World, per Guinness

What is the most expensive perfume in the world?

The short answer

Clive Christian No.1 holds the Guinness World Records title for the most expensive perfume commercially available. Its November 2005 edition, No.1 Imperial Majesty, was priced at 115,000 pounds, then 205,000 dollars, per 500 ml. The famous Dubai bottle Shumukh was billed higher, but its Guinness record is for diamonds, not price.

By the Fragnatique team2 min read3 sourcesUpdated 11 November 2026

Key facts

November 2005Clive Christian creates No.1 Imperial Majesty, a ten-bottle edition.
115,000 poundsThe Guinness record price per 500 ml, then 205,000 dollars.
Five-carat diamondSet on a Baccarat crystal flacon with an 18-carat gold collar.
BentleyDelivery in a Bentley was included in the price, Guinness says.
3,571 diamondsShumukh's Guinness record, presented in Dubai on 12 March 2019.
1.295 million dollarsThe price Shumukh is described at, which is not a Guinness price record.

What made Clive Christian No.1 Imperial Majesty so expensive?

Guinness records that the perfume was presented in a Baccarat crystal flacon decorated with a five-carat white diamond and an 18-carat gold collar, and that the price included delivery in a Bentley. Only ten bottles were made. It was launched at the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie in Harrods, London, and sold over Christmas there and at Bergdorf Goodman in New York.

Is Shumukh the most expensive perfume in the world?

Not officially. A Guinness World Records news piece from April 2019 says Shumukh, made by Spirit of Dubai Parfums, part of Nabeel Perfumes Group, is described as the world's most expensive at 1.295 million dollars and stands 1.97 metres tall on its pedestal. That is a description, not a record. The Guinness price record page still names Clive Christian No.1.

What record does Shumukh actually hold?

Guinness lists it under most diamonds set on a perfume bottle: 3,571 diamonds on Shumukh of The Spirit of Dubai, designed by Asghar Adam Ali Ibrahim of Yemen and presented in Dubai on 12 March 2019. That record page mentions no price and does not call it the most expensive perfume. Most of its cost sits in the bottle, not the liquid.

How much did the record perfume cost per millilitre?

Dividing Guinness's own figures, 115,000 pounds for 500 ml, gives 230 pounds per millilitre at the 2005 price. That is a record price for a ten-bottle edition, not today's shop price. The Guinness category covers perfumes that were commercially available, so one-off auction pieces are a separate matter.

The full storyThe Most Expensive Perfume in the World, According to Guinness8 min read in the Fragnatique Journal

Sources

Primary sources only. Every statement on this page restates one of them, read by the Fragnatique team.