SortStack #1172 — 2029-08-24
By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.
- A US Forever postage stamp $0.78
Forever stamps never expire and stay valid even after rate hikes — buying sheets before an increase is one of America's tiniest investments.
- 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.
- A dozen red roses from a florist $55
Most US roses are flown in from Colombia and Ecuador — around Valentine's Day, cargo jets full of nothing but flowers land in Miami daily.
- The average new car in the United States $48K
The average new-car price has nearly doubled since 2010, driven by buyers abandoning sedans for loaded SUVs and trucks.
- A Sixties Ferrari 250 GTO sold at auction $48.4M
Only 36 were built, and the owners' club is so exclusive that some sales are vetted. Private GTO deals have reportedly topped even the public auction record.
- The production of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides' $379M
It remains among the most expensive films ever made — partly due to star salaries and shooting on water, which filmmakers consider a budget black hole.