President Joe Biden received a number of unique gifts worth thousands of dollars from world leaders in his first year in office in 2021, according to an annual report from the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Chief of Protocol.
The gifts, worth more than $46,000, range in value from $433 to $12,000, reported Bloomberg.
The most expensive gift Biden received was from Russian President Vladimir Putin during their in-person meeting in Geneva in June 2021. Putin gifted his American counterpart a $12,000-worth “Kholuy Lacquer Miniature Workshop Desk Writing Set and Pen.”
Biden also didn’t show up empty-handed. He gave Putin a pair of his trademark Aviator sunglasses and a crystal sculpture of an American bison.
The $12,000 writing set, like most of the presidential gifts, was transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration. These expensive gifts belong to the U.S. government but the president can keep them by repaying the amount.
Federal employees are legally required to report gifts valued at $415 or more received from foreign leaders or officials. The U.S. president, first lady, vice president and secretary of state are usually the ones who receive the most foreign gifts due to their titles.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken bought back the gifts he received from Pope Francis by paying $1,457 in 2021.
Gift-exchanging has been a long-held diplomatic tradition and reveals a lot about both the giver and the receiver, according to the Washington Post. Some of the unique gifts Biden received in 2021 include a pair of dog bowls from former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a pen drawing of his childhood home in Pennsylvania from ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Here are some of the other expensive gifts Biden received in 2021:
- The president received a silk carpet worth $9,600 from the former president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, before the Taliban takeover of the country.
- Former Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc gifted a $2,700-worth sand painting artwork of Biden in a presentation box.
- The POTUS received a hand-painted icon in an oak frame valued at $2,400 from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
- King Abdullah of Jordan gifted a Mother-of-Pearl jewelry box valued at $2,400 while meeting the first couple.
- Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in gifted Biden a Mother-of-Pearl plaque, white linen napkins with hand embroidery and a photo album, which were valued at $2,282.
- Queen Elizabeth gave Biden a $2,200-worth photograph of herself in a silver frame.
- Biden received a Locman of Italy Wristwatch in a presentation box and a Salvatore Ferragamo G20 black leather briefcase, which were together valued at $2,052, from Italy’s Mario Draghi.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted Biden a Kadam wood statue of Buddha worth $1,400.
- He received a Bernini fountain pen by Stipula of Florence worth $1,306.00 from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See.
- Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, gifted the president a brass and lapis lazuli jewelry box worth $1,150.
