SortStack #479 — 2027-10-01

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A banana at a US grocery store $0.25

   Nearly all export bananas are one variety, the Cavendish — adopted after a fungus wiped out its tastier predecessor, the Gros Michel.

2. Manhattan Island, as the Dutch paid for it (in goods, at the famous valuation) $24

   The Dutch paid 60 guilders in trade goods in 1626 — a sum 19th-century historians famously converted to about $24. Manhattan real estate is now worth well over a trillion.

3. A round-trip economy flight from New York to London $700

   In 1939, a one-way transatlantic ticket on Pan Am's flying boat cost $375 — several months of an average American salary at the time.

4. A new hot-air balloon with basket and burner $40K

   The envelope fabric slowly degrades with UV exposure — most balloons retire after a few hundred flight hours, making cost per flight surprisingly high.

5. The rarest Pokemon card, the Pikachu Illustrator, in mint condition $5.3M

   Logan Paul bought it in 2022, setting a Guinness World Record — then wore it around his neck into a WrestleMania match.

6. One M1 Abrams main battle tank $10M

   The Abrams runs on a gas turbine — essentially a jet engine — and can burn through roughly four liters of fuel per kilometer.

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