an arm and a leg

The loss of an arm and a leg would be a high price to pay for something.

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an arm and a leg (plural arms and legs)

1. (idiomatic) A very high price for an item or service; an exorbitant price; usually used after the verb cost, but also often pay, charge and spend.
   • 1954, me, “them”, in Commentary‎, volume 18, American Jewish Committee, page 448:

     That Polack costs me an arm and a leg, he thought.

   • 1960 March 29, “Slim Waists Prompted New Sportswear Line”, in New York Times, page 44:

     Bangle bracelets in fourteen-karat gold that do not cost an arm and a leg are always in demand.

   • 2008, Jackie Collins, Hollywood Wives‎, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 417:

     Her house was fabulous, her tits perfection – besides – the Beverly Hills Hotel was costing him an arm and a leg.

• pretty penny (cost a pretty penny)

• “cost an arm and a leg” (US) / “cost an arm and a leg” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.
• “cost-an-arm-and-a-leg-a-small-fortune” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.