SortStack #1081 — 2029-05-25

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A plain slice of pizza in New York City $3.00

   The 'Pizza Principle' holds that a NYC slice and a subway ride have cost roughly the same for decades — when one rises, the other tends to follow.

2. A pair of Apple AirPods Pro $249

   AirPods alone generate more revenue than Spotify, Twitter, and Shopify each did when analysts ran the comparison — earbuds as a Fortune 500-scale business.

3. A PlayStation 5 console $500

   The PS5 sold out so fast at launch during the pandemic that scalper bots became a news story — resale prices briefly doubled the sticker.

4. 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.

5. The Mona Lisa's insurance valuation for its world tour in the Sixties $100M

   It was the highest insurance valuation in history at the time — but the Louvre skipped the premium and spent the money on security instead.

6. 'Salvator Mundi,' the painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci $450.3M

   The most expensive artwork ever sold was bought for about $1,000 at a 2005 estate sale. Since the 2017 auction, it has not been publicly seen.

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