SortStack #45 — 2026-07-24

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A single supermarket tea bag $0.05

   Tea bags were popularized by accident: a New York merchant shipped samples in silk pouches, and customers dunked the whole pouch.

2. LEGO's giant Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon set $850

   At over 7,500 pieces it is one of the largest LEGO sets ever sold — sealed originals of the 2007 version have resold for several times the new price.

3. A McLaren F1 supercar at its original Nineties sticker price $815K

   The engine bay was lined with real gold foil for heat reflection. The same cars now trade for over $20 million — among history's best car investments.

4. The record bluefin tuna sold at Tokyo's New Year fish auction $3.1M

   The 278 kg fish was bought in 2019 by a sushi chain owner known as the 'Tuna King' — the first auction of the year is partly a publicity ritual.

5. Banksy's 'Love is in the Bin,' the painting that shredded itself at auction $25.4M

   The hidden shredder jammed halfway, leaving the work half-intact. Three years after the stunt, the 'ruined' piece resold for roughly eighteen times its pre-shred price.

6. Twitter, when Elon Musk bought it $44B

   Musk tried to back out and was sued into completing the 2022 deal — he walked into headquarters carrying a sink, posting 'let that sink in.'

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