SortStack #1704 — 2031-02-07

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A single steel paperclip $0.02

   Norwegians wore paperclips on their lapels during WWII as a quiet symbol of resistance against the Nazi occupation.

2. 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.

3. The annual permit for the hot dog cart spot outside the Met museum in New York $289K

   Prime NYC park vending spots are auctioned by the city — the pitch outside the Metropolitan Museum has commanded more per year than most American homes cost.

4. A new Ferrari 296 GTB $340K

   Ferrari deliberately limits production below demand — the company makes more profit per car than almost any automaker, and the waitlist is part of the product.

5. 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.

6. The Pink Star diamond, sold at auction in Hong Kong $71.2M

   A previous buyer defaulted after bidding $83 million, forcing a re-auction — the 59.6 carat stone took two years just to cut and polish.

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