Crown jewels, Old Master paintings, vast swathes of territory: nothing is off the table when a nation's finances are stretched. From hard-up monarchs flogging land to fund costly wars, to modern-day governments offloading heritage to help balance the books, history is packed with examples of countries cashing in on some of their most iconic assets.

Read on to discover the extraordinary things nations have put on the market to raise funds, and the surprising stories behind these sensational sales. All dollar amounts in US dollars.

In one of the most significant land deals of all time, France sold over 820,000 square miles of North American territory to the US in 1803 for just $15 million, about $388 million (£290m) in today's money.

Napoleon needed fast cash to fund his European campaigns, and with the emperor's focus on the Old Continent, the Louisiana Territory, which stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, was a distant burden he was all too willing to part with. The purchase doubled the size of the young US and laid the foundation for westward expansion.

The US scored another stunning bargain in 1867 when it snapped up Alaska from Imperial Russia for just two cents an acre, totalling $7.2 million, the equivalent of around $154 million (£115m) today. Reeling from the costly Crimean War, the Russian Empire was crying out for hard currency and could no longer defend its remote North American outpost.

Spearheaded by Secretary of State William Seward, the deal was ridiculed as 'Seward’s Folly'. But the laughter stopped when massive gold deposits were discovered in 1896, followed by enormous oil reserves, turning one of history’s most mocked deals into one of the most profitable.

In the mid-1870s, Egypt was in financial crisis under Khedive Ismail Pasha, burdened by huge debt from the leader's modernisation and military campaigns.

To avoid bankruptcy, the country sold 44% of its stake in the Suez Canal to the UK for £4 million, which translates to $536 million (£400m) today, with France retaining the majority share. The sale didn’t resolve Egypt’s financial woes, and it gave the UK considerable strategic leverage, paving the way for its occupation of Egypt in 1882, which lasted until the 1956 Suez Crisis. In that pivotal moment, Egypt gained full control of the canal.

France’s Third Republic, deep in debt and wary of a royalist revival, auctioned off nearly its entire collection of crown jewels in 1887. Several standout pieces, like Empress Eugénie’s tiara (pictured) and the famous La Régente pearl brooch, were offered intact, but many were dismantled, with around 77,000 loose stones and pearls sold separately.

The sale raised over $30 million (£22m) in today’s money, though the gems are now worth far more. Tiffany & Co. bought about a third of the lot. In a full-circle twist, Tiffany is now owned by French luxury giant LVMH, though the jewels are stored unceremoniously in a warehouse in New Jersey.

In 1917, Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to the United States for $25 million, about $657 million (£489m) today, renaming the territory the US Virgin Islands.

The islands had been a financial burden for Denmark since the mid-19th century, and with the US seeking to secure a strategic naval base in the Caribbean, the sale seemed a pragmatic no-brainer for both parties.

In the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution in Russia, the Bolsheviks murdered the Romanov royal family and seized their imperial jewels. While some pieces had been smuggled out by relatives, the majority ended up in Soviet hands and became known as the Diamond Fund.

Stony broke, the Soviets offloaded over 70% of the 773-piece collection in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and even settled a debt to Poland in gemstones. The Imperial Nuptial Crown, royal diadems, Catherine the Great’s jewels, and other treasures were sold to Western buyers for a relative pittance, with the items likely worth billions of dollars today.

Among the royal treasures seized by the Bolsheviks were around 40 of the 50 completed Fabergé Imperial Eggs, the bejewelled Easter surprises commissioned by Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II for their wives and mothers.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviets sold at least 14 to Western collectors at knockdown prices, including the Third Imperial Egg, which last changed hands in 2014 for an estimated $33 million, around $45 million (£34m) in 2025. Today, 44 Imperial Eggs survive. Of the six that were lost, three vanished after Soviet confiscation, with their whereabouts an intriguing mystery.

Alongside selling off Romanov jewels and Fabergé Imperial Eggs, the Soviet Union liquidated more than 250 priceless Old Master paintings from the Hermitage Museum in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Masterpieces by Raphael, van Eyck, Rembrandt, Titian, and others were sold to generate the hard currency required to bankroll the first Soviet Five-Year Plan and repay foreign debts, and while some went for a song, others realised record-breaking prices.

The most valuable painting sold during the Hermitage liquidation was Raphael’s Alba Madonna.

The Renaissance masterpiece was purchased by American financier Andrew Mellon in 1931 for $1,166,400, around $25 million (£18.6m) when adjusted for inflation. It was the highest price ever paid for a painting at that time. Mellon later donated the artwork to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, where it remains one of the institution's most cherished possessions.

The Alba Madonna isn't the only Raphael masterpiece sold by an indebted government. In 1648, during the English Civil War, King Charles I had his head chopped off and assets seized, including his art collection. The Commonwealth then put the whole lot up for sale, over 1,000 pieces, including works by van Dyck, Titian, and Raphael.

Raphael’s The Holy Family was deemed the most valuable picture. It fetched £2,000, equivalent to several million today, but one Rembrandt went for just £6. Bought by a Spanish collector, the Raphael passed to Spain's King Philip IV, who nicknamed it La Perla since he considered it the pearl of his collection. It now hangs in Madrid’s Prado Museum.

Discovered in India in the 17th century and once part of the French Crown Jewels, the legendary Hope Diamond vanished during the French Revolution and later resurfaced in Britain, where it was reportedly acquired by King George IV.

After his death in 1830, the 45-carat blue gem was sold to help settle his substantial debts. Though technically a private sale, the monarch’s finances were deeply intertwined with the state's. Now valued at a breathtaking $350 million (£260m) and housed in the Smithsonian, the diamond is infamous for its alleged curse, having been blamed for a series of misfortunes that befell its former owners, including bankruptcies and violent deaths.

In 2001, the Australian government privatised Melbourne’s General Post Office building by leasing it to private developers. Ownership of the Victorian-era property remained with the government, but control and management were transferred to ISPT, which redeveloped the site into a retail and dining precinct.

With H&M later the flagship tenant, the development, which was completed in 2004, reflects a trend of governments leasing heritage assets to build up funds instead of selling them outright.

Flush from a phosphate mining boom, the tiny Pacific Island nation of Nauru went on an international property spending spree in the 1970s. Nauru House, a skyscraper the country built in Melbourne in 1977, was its most prized asset and ranked as the city's tallest building for a time.

By the 2000s, the mining boom was truly over, with the nation on its knees financially and facing an ecological disaster. To help tackle the country's skyrocketing debts, the skyscraper was sold to Queensland Development Corporation in 2005 for the equivalent of $196 million (£146m) in today's money and subsequently revamped.

Similar to the Melbourne GPO deal, the US government sold the rights to operate Washington DC’s Old Post Office in 2012. The Trump Organization secured a 60-year lease after committing $200 million (£150m) to renovate the building, which reopened as the Trump International Hotel in 2016.

In 2022, the Trump Organization sold the lease to CGI Merchant Group for $375 million (£279m), marking a lucrative exit. Following the sale, the hotel was rebranded as the Waldorf Astoria.

Echoing the latest Washington DC Old Post Office deal, Admiralty Arch, the monumental Edwardian-era gateway linking The Mall to Trafalgar Square, was leased for 125 years in 2012 for £60 million, $115 million (£86m) in 2025 money, as part of a UK government cost-cutting drive.

The landmark building is being transformed into London’s first Waldorf Astoria hotel, set to open in 2026. Like the Old Post Office’s bold reinvention, this lease deal hands over day-to-day control while keeping the government firmly in the ultimate ownership seat.

Another Edwardian-era London landmark, the Old War Office on Whitehall was the UK's nerve-centre of operations during both World Wars. Declared surplus to Ministry of Defence requirements, the sprawling building, which has 1,001 rooms and two miles of corridors, was sold in 2016 on a 250-year lease for more than £350 million, about $645 million (£481m) today.

After a $1.76 billion (£1.4bn) renovation, the Old War Office reopened in 2023 as Raffles London hotel and residences. Among the highlights is Winston Churchill's former office, which is now a $34,000 (£25k)-a-night suite.

In 2014, France offloaded its swish Park Avenue duplex, the official residence of its ambassador to the UN. The elegant 18-room residence, which boasts amazing views of Central Park, was put on the market as part of a government-wide effort to trim costs.

The property sold for a jaw-dropping $70 million, around $95 million (£71m) today, far beyond the initial asking price. The buyer? Israel Englander, the billionaire hedge fund magnate behind Millennium Partners. But this wasn’t just a savvy investment. Englander reportedly bought the property for his kids to serve as their chic Big Apple pied-à-terre.

Greece’s largest harbour and its major shipping hub for over 2,500 years, the Port of Piraeus is now owned by China's Cosco. In 2016, under pressure to address its crippling debt crisis, the Greek government sold the firm a 51% majority stake in the ancient port, and the company has since increased its ownership to 67%.

The deal pumped hundreds of millions of euros into state coffers and has modernised the port, making it the largest in the Eastern Mediterranean. But while some view the sale as a resounding success, others argue it has left Greece vulnerable to a potentially hostile foreign power.

In a pioneering move in 2018, the Seychelles launched the world’s first 'sovereign blue bond', raising $21 million ($27m/£20m today), by selling conservation rights to its ocean waters.

The funds were used to both reduce the country’s debt and finance the creation of marine protected areas, safeguarding huge stretches of ocean. A shrewd move, the innovative deal allowed the island nation to deal with pressing financial pressures while taking an important step in ocean conservation.

Last year, the Egyptian government sold off seven historic hotels, including the Marriott Mena House near the Pyramids and the Sofitel Winter Palace in Luxor, as part of a move to quell its escalating debt crisis.

The deal, valued at $800 million (£596m), saw Egypt’s leading property developer Talaat Moustafa Group, which is backed by Emirati investors, acquire a significant stake in the storied properties.

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