Skins have become an essential part of gaming and gaming companies’ free-to-play business models. In CS:GO, players can not only buy skins to embellish their weapons, they can also trade them for cash on the steam market. There is also an entire mini-industry of skin betting, separate from real-money CS: GO betting, where players can wager on competitive matches using some of their collection.
For those of you that are unfamiliar, skins in Global Offensive are cosmetic items (commonly available in purchasable item crates) that change the appearance of your weapon – and there are hundreds of them. Item skins in CSGO don’t grant a competitive advantage, but they have been a major factor in keeping the game afloat through the years.
Of course, not all skins come equal. All of them boast different designs, but what sets their price apart is a combination of factors, the most important of which are appearance and rarity. Without further ado, let’s have a look at the most expensively sold skins in CS:GO.
The Dragon Lore – AWP – $61,000
The Dragon Lore is generally one of the most expensive skins at any given time on the market, generally hovering around the $4000 mark, but this specific variant fetched $61,000 in January of 2018.
This Dragon Lore variant is special for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it holds the autograph of Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, who was MVP in Cloud9’s win of the ELEAGUE Boston Major of 2018. The event marked a historic occasion as Cloud9 became the first NA team to triumph in a CS:GO Major.
Moreover, the item is marked as a souvenir skin (coming from souvenir chests, only sold during Valve majors), “factory new” with “unscratched stickers”. All this may not mean much to your average joe, but in the CS:GO world this bad boy is as rare as it gets, so much so that one CS:GO enthusiast decided to splash over $61,000 to add it to his collection. Previously, the item had been purchased for $35,000 by a collector named Drone.
Howl – M4A4 – $1500-2500
The Howl didn’t come out at a special skin nor was it related to any special event, but it was stripped from the shop shortly after its release due to a minor copyright controversy. Valve didn’t remove the item from players’ inventories, however, meaning there’s a very finite set of Howl skins roaming around the market, only increasing in value over time.
Karambit: Lore – Knife – $1400
The Lore doesn’t have any lore behind it; it’s just a badass looking knife with a patterned golden blade and dark camo grip resembling a steel knuckle. The Lore has been rising in value ever since it came out. Even if you opt for the lesser-valued Battle-Scarred and Field-Tested variants of the Lore, it will still cost you upwards of $200.
Fire Serpent – AK47 – $2000-3000
The Fire Serpent was released during the Operation Bravo: Ruins map event, and it is by far the most expensive AK47 skin you can come across on the market. If you want one of those in your collection, you’ll have to dish out no less than $2000 – twice the price of the weapon’s real-life counterpart!
Akihabara Accept – AUG – $500
There really are no creative limits when designing CS:GO skins, which is best highlighted when looking at the Akihabara Accept for the AUG. The skin has been consistently holding its $500 price tag since release date, and I don’t see it dropping anytime soon. Not everyone will agree that it looks good, but it is definitely one of a kind.
The Hyper Beast – Five-SeveN – $200
They Hyper Beast is a series of skins released for the AWP, M4A1-S and Nova, but none fetch a high price like the Five-SeveN. Splattered in great detail with a vividly colored dragon pattern, this bad boy will set you back about $200 if you opt for the factory new version.
