This metallic piece was made from 13,000 variably sized platinum beads. That makes it very very expensive. Created by Japanese jewelers,
Platinum Guild International K.K, the quote begins at half a millon dollars.
Considering that it starts by melting a kilogram of pure platinum ingot, which costs around $47,000, this is recast into thousands of 2-5 mm beads, which are hand placed like little pixels.
[
Platinum Sphere Portrait via
Petapixel]