Why the most expensive CSGO knife costs more than $1.5 million

The most expensive knife skin in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is worth almost as much as a Bugatti Veyron luxury sports car. But why?

A Factory New Karambit | Case Hardened with a perfect blue gem pattern is currently the most expensive knife skin in all of CSGO. Valued for at least $1.5 million, the skin is the single most valuable skin in the entire game. The skin is currently owned by Chinese collector 青い王, whose name is Japanese for “blue king.” The particular combination of skin, pattern, and wear value is a perfect storm of rarity.

The skin itself is a Karambit | Case Hardened with pattern number 387 and a float value of 0.048. The approximate value of the skin is determined by an offer made for it in late 2021. A private collector used a middleman to offer $1.2 million Euros worth of Bitcoin, but was turned down with the owner stating “1.2 is low.”  

It’s important to note that ohnepixel incorrectly offered $1.2 million in United States dollars instead of Euros. It’s possible that the mysterious owner would have accepted the proper offer, as Euros are worth a bit more than dollars and thus the offer was actually higher than stated. Also, the knife in question hasn’t actually sold for $1.5 million and that number is only an estimate of its worth. The owner, who also goes by the name Newb Rage, has held onto the knife for at least one year. If this knife ever does sell, it may go for an even higher price.

The most expensive CSGO knife is a perfect storm of rarity

The first thing to note is the fact that the knife is a karambit. Karambits are generally considered the best knives for almost every pattern, though some exceptions exist. The Case Hardened pattern is also rare, but those two traits are just the start.

The biggest factor for this $1.5 million price tag is the pattern. The visible side of the knife is entirely blue, which makes it a certified blue gem. There are around 13 different Karambit blue gem patterns, but 387 is the absolute best with no visible gold at all. The entire play side, which is usually visible to the player, is ocean blue with only a few dark spots.

To put into perspective how rare the most expensive CSGO knife is, CSGOFloat states that there are only eight Karambit | Case Hardeneds with the 387 blue gem pattern. Out of all of them, this particular example is the absolute best.

The skin’s low float is the icing on the cake. At just 0.048, this Karambit | Case Hardened is the absolute lowest float for its blue gem pattern. The second-cleanest example is Field-tested at 0.165. Low floats can turn even a cheap skin into a hidden gem, but they also turn an insanely expensive skin into a one-of-a-kind treasure.