Why a cherry costs $810

A bottle of Lost Cherry costs about $810 per 100ml. That is more, millilitre for millilitre, than almost anything else we track — and it is one of the most copied fragrances in the world. Those two facts are connected.

The most expensive smells we track

Ranked by retail price per 100ml, among fragrances that have at least one twin. The number on each bar is dollars per 100ml.

1. 01 Lost CherryTom Ford · 2018 810 $ per 100ml
2. 02 Bitter PeachTom Ford · 2020 810 $ per 100ml
3. 03 Rose PrickTom Ford · 2020 810 $ per 100ml
4. 04 Fucking FabulousTom Ford · 2017 810 $ per 100ml
5. 05 Cherry SmokeTom Ford · 2023 810 $ per 100ml
6. 06 Alexandria IIXerjoff · 2012 760 $ per 100ml
7. 07 Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait de ParfumMaison Francis Kurkdjian · 2017 707 $ per 100ml
8. 08 Oud MaracujaMaison Crivelli · 2023 700 $ per 100ml
9. 09 Black AfganoNasomatto · 2009 650 $ per 100ml
10. 10 Aventus for HerCreed · 2016 613 $ per 100ml

Two Tom Fords

Tom Ford sells two kinds of fragrance. Its "Private Blend" bottles — the cherry, the peach, the rose — sit at around $688 per 100ml in our data. Its signature line averages about $240. Across the house, 801 twins are listed against Tom Ford originals. The pricier the bottle, the bigger the gap a copy can live in — and a cherry-almond-liqueur accord is loud, sweet and recognisable, exactly the kind of smell that is easier to reproduce than to justify at the counter.

What the gap looks like

The cheapest twin we can price properly is Lovely Chèrie from Maison Alhambra, at about $28 per 100ml. Slide to see it over a year.

What you would keep

If you get through 2 × 100ml a year

Tom Ford Lost Cherry

$1,620

Lovely Chèrie

$56

Back in your pocket

$1,564

Cheapest is not the same as closest. Before you buy, open every twin of Lost Cherry — the ones that have been worn and scored say how close they get.