One of Tampa Bay's most luxurious palaces just got cheaper.

Gold dealer Mark Yaffe dropped the price of his 29,000-square-foot estate from $17.5 million to $14.9 million. That's a bargain from his original $25-million price tag in 2008.

The 6-acre Avila spread, modeled after a 17th century British royal palace, has 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Completed in 2004, the ornate Jacobean-style manor home took about seven years to build. The estate has another 15,500 square feet of open and covered terraces.

Yaffe agreed to sell the home as part of a bankruptcy agreement from late 2009, after falling behind on $36 million in debt. At the time, he headed National Gold Exchange, one of the world's largest precious coin wholesalers. He filed bankruptcy in July 2009. The case is still active.

Even with the price cut, the home is still the most expensive on the market in Hillsborough County, but it no longer is that in greater Tampa Bay. Yaffe shares the $14.9-million price tag with a 15,000-square-foot mansion on Clearwater Harbor owned by Christine Barsema.

In Central Florida, four homes are priced higher. That includes a 67,000-square-foot estate under construction on 10 acres in Orange County modeled after the 17th century royal residence of Louis XIV.

The price tag for the "finished estate" with 13 bedrooms, 23 bathrooms, a 20-car garage and 10 satellite kitchens: $100 million. Or the buyer can take it "as is" for $75 million.

That makes Yaffe's digs a steal.