SortStack #423 — 2027-08-06

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. A new hardcover bestseller $30

   Hardcovers exist partly as price discrimination: publishers sell to eager fans at a premium first, then release the cheaper paperback a year later.

3. A Tesla Powerwall home battery, installed $9.3K

   A Powerwall stores about enough electricity to run a typical US home for half a day to a day — many owners buy them less for savings than for blackout insurance.

4. An average American wedding $33K

   The single biggest line item is usually the venue. Meanwhile the median engagement ring, despite the marketing, costs a fraction of the 'three months salary' rule.

5. A banana duct-taped to a wall, the artwork 'Comedian' $6.2M

   The 2024 buyer, a crypto entrepreneur, ate the banana at a press conference. The artwork is really a certificate — owners get instructions for replacing the fruit.

6. The Oppenheimer Blue, the largest fancy vivid blue diamond ever auctioned $57.5M

   Blue diamonds owe their color to traces of boron and form deeper in the Earth than almost any other gem — only a handful surface each year.

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