Most Expensive CSGO Skins Ever Sold

• Karambit | Case Hardened - Pattern 387
• AK-47 | Case Hardened - Pattern #661
• AWP | Dragon Lore - Souvenir Factory New
• M9 Bayonet | Crimson Web - Factory New StatTrak
• M4A4 | Howl - Contraband Rarity

With private traders and crypto selling increasing in 2022, it is hard to know for certain which CSGO skins and items truly hold the most value or have sold for the highest price over the years. Some may be listed for high prices on third-party sites and are never sold, but below are some of the most expensive skins ever sold, offered for or listed at a value other traders confirm is accurate or fair.

Karambit | Case Hardened - Pattern 387

This particular knife has a float of 0.048 and is in the hands of a Chinese collector known as ‘Blue King’ who rejected an offer of $1.2 million in Bitcoin back in September 2021, with the middleman in the trade telling ohnePixel that the offer was ‘too low’ for the owner.

Case Hardened pattern Karambits are not the rarest knives in CSGO, with 11 cases at the time of writing having a chance of dropping them, but the particular pattern is what gives it value. Most Case Hardened skins are a mix of golds, purples and blues but the most desirable patterns are ones that feature a lot of blue. These are dubbed ‘Blue Gems’ and are a prized item for many collectors.

A private collector currently holds the Stattrak Minimal Wear #269 98% Blue Karambit that was once owned by Hiko all the way back in 2014. With blue covering the play side and back side of the knife, this was once one of the most sought-after Blue Gems in existence and was sold privately at an unknown value. Estimates placed it at around $55,000 in 2019.

Other professional players have been associated with Blue Gems over the years too including NBK’s #634 75% Blue M9 Bayonet.

AK-47 | Case Hardened - Pattern #661

Another Case Hardened skin on this list is a very specific AK-47 with the seller looking for offers over $400,000. This item not only has the best Blue Gem pattern for the gun (#661), but is also StatTrak and Minimal Wear. While it is possible that a Factory New version could be unboxed in the future, with none currently in existence, there is one big factor that makes this particular AK especially valuable.

Four Titan Holo stickers from the Katowice 2014 Major, with each sticker currently selling anywhere between $60,000 to $70,000 unapplied, puts an insane premium on the weapon. Anyone looking to try unbox these holos from unopened EMS Katowice 2014 Legends capsules would need at least $12,000 to buy each one. The chances of getting a Titan Holo are slim and getting the cheapest of the regular paper stickers from the capsule would only enable a few hundred dollars of recouped cash.

An in-person trade that took place in China in June 2021 saw $780,000 change hands, with a ST MW #661 AK Case Hardened with the same stickers (~530k of the total deal) and the AWP mentioned below being the two items exchanged.

AWP | Dragon Lore - Souvenir Factory New

The Dragon Lore is one of CS:GO’s most iconic skins. Featured in the tapestry found on Cobblestone, the rare golden serpent is notoriously seen by many as the ultimate flex of wealth. With Cobblestone out of the competitive map pool, the prices of old souvenir packages including the skin have skyrocketed as well as the Dragon Lore itself in both regular and gold stickered varieties.

As part of the trade mentioned above, the specific Souvenir Dragon Lore, Factory New with the #1 float in the world, with the gold Cloud9 and Ninjas in Pyjamas Major stickers scrapped in favour of four Titan Holos was likely worth $250,000 at the time. Currently, sites listing Souvenir FN Dragon Lores have prices starting from $280,000 for apEX, pashabiceps, MSL and JW variants.

Back in 2018, a Skadoodle MVP FN Souvenir Dragon Lore sold for $61,000 the weekend after Cloud9’s iconic victory at the ELEAGUE Boston Major and became the most expensive Dragon Lore ever.

M9 Bayonet | Crimson Web - Factory New StatTrak

Skins have not always been flashy, sometimes a simple cobweb pattern in red and black was all anyone needed, and the M9 Bayonet Crimson Web was a cut above the rest. Not only were the design and knife style popular from very early on in CS:GO, multiple professional players held their own variants during their careers before Butterfly Knives became the latest fashion such as shox, Happy and stavn all wielding one.

Unlike a Doppler which only comes in Factory New and Minimal Wear, the Crimson Web can span the entire range of finishes all the way down to Battle-Scarred. To find an M9 with low amounts of scratching, you want to be as close to Factory New as possible or get lucky with a Field-Tested float. For perfectionists looking for a StatTrak Factory New Crimson Web, there is good and bad news. The good news is that they exist. The bad news is that they are exceptionally rare. Only a couple have ever been unboxed, with the first one selling back in 2014 for $23,850.

M4A4 | Howl - Contraband Rarity

No other CSGO skin is quite like the M4A4 Howl, as the only skin with the yellow Contraband rarity. This rarity is not due to being an exceptionally rare drop, it was the same as any other red Covert skin, but it no longer drops from the Huntsman Weapon Case. The original creators of this skin used stolen artwork in the original fiery wolf design, forcing Valve to step in to replace the visuals thanks to a DMCA takedown notice and punish the creators, banning them from ever submitting skin designs or being involved in any future skin designing on their Workshop.

While the initial cost of a Howl rose up to a few hundred dollars in the aftermath of the news, a StatTrak Factory New version of the skin is now rare to find for anything less than $12,000. Now that professional players and collectors hold on to many thanks to its limited edition nature, you will almost never see Howls on the Steam Market and they are an increasingly rare sight on third-party selling sites too.

The Howl today has legendary status among CSGO skins, with the design featuring in a patch, an equally rare sticker called Howling Dawn, as well as the new Baby Howl sticker, and one of the Extraordinary Collectibles from the CSGO Series 3 pin collection.