10 Remarkable Things That Sold for One Dollar
What can you buy for one dollar today? Maybe a few eggs, a fast food hot dog, a candy bar or yogurt. Not much. One dollar is very little, but this is where the irony of life begins. There have been enormous and remarkable things that sold for one dollar. The transactions that fall under this category have to be the most notable in history. These are ten remarkable things that sold for one dollar.
Related: 10 worthless items sold for an insane amount of money
10 Coca-Cola bottling rights
In 1886, the Coca-Cola Company was founded when Dr. John S. Pemberton led him to discover the tasty drink that is popular all over the world today. What many people don’t know is that for many years it was only available as a fountain drink, and Pemberton was convinced that this was the best way to enjoy the drink. Pemberton would eventually sell Coca-Cola, and the person who bought the majority stake was Asa G. Candler.
Candler had a knowledgeable cousin who advised him to sell the drink in bottles, but Candler rejected the idea and stuck with Pemberton’s original idea of turning Coca-Cola into a fountain drink. When Candler was approached by businessmen interested in bottling the cola drink, he was convinced the idea was dead on arrival. So he sold the bottling rights for $1 and didn’t even bother to collect the $1.
Today, the Coca-Cola Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and is usually sold in bottles or cans.[1]
9 Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine. The magazine was acquired by The Washington Post Company in 1961 and remained in its portfolio until 2010. However, due to declining sales, The Washington Post Company chose to sell it, mainly to Sidney Harman. It was sold for one dollar on the condition that Harman would assume the magazine’s obligations.
Much to WaPo’s dismay, I’m sure Newsweek is currently one of the most popular American news magazines.[2]
8 Insulin patent
Insulin was discovered by Sir Fredrick G. Banting at the University of Toronto in 1921 and later purified by James B. Collip. It remains one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in history, as millions of lives would be saved by the discovery, and it also led to discoveries regarding the treatment of the disease.
On January 11, 1922, insulin was used for the first time to treat a person with diabetes, with remarkable results. Fredrick Banting refused to put his name on the patent because he felt it was unethical for a doctor to profit from a medical discovery that could potentially save lives because it would reduce the number of people who would have access to the treatment.
Banting’s co-inventors, James Collip and Charles Best, sold the insulin patent to the University of Toronto for just $1. The irony of this situation is that Banting, Collip and Best would be rolling in their graves because their intentions didn’t work out the way they wanted. Insulin is expensive these days, forcing some diabetes patients to reduce or skip their dose due to the cost.[3]
7 Rights to the Terminator script
James Cameron is perhaps the most iconic film director in the world. But it hasn’t always been that way for him. There was a time when James Cameron was an unknown film director and no one wanted to bet big money on him. Cameron wanted an investor who would produce The terminatorbut since no one wanted to take a chance on him, he sold the rights to the film for $1, on the condition that whoever bought the film rights would allow him to direct the film.
The most amazing thing about this particular sale is that some other studios loved the idea The terminator and were willing to pay reasonable money for the scripts, but none of them would give Cameron the chance to direct the film. Cameron eventually found a studio that agreed to his terms. The film was made in 1984 and is still popular in 2023. To top it all off, Cameron became a successful film director.[4]
6 TV Guide magazine
The sale of TV Guide magazine is another surprising occurrence in the world of notable items that sold for $1. This was exactly how much Open Gate Capital acquired the company from Macrovision. Ironically, the cost of one magazine issue at the time of the sale was $2.99. Yet the entire company was sold for $1, which is less than half the price of one magazine. Macrovision even loaned Open Gate Capital $9.5 million to help it get off to a flying start.[5]
5 The Dollar Baby Program
The Dollar Baby Program is an arrangement in which American author Stephen King gives students and aspiring filmmakers or theater producers permission to adapt one of his short stories for one dollar. However, there are certain provisions. One of the stipulations is that the film cannot be longer than 45 minutes and cannot be distributed to anyone without King’s permission, unless it is for a non-profit film festival or a school project. King sees the Dollar Baby Program as a way to help the creative industries.
One of the notable people who have benefited from the Dollar Baby Program is French-born American filmmaker Frank Darabont. Darabont was 20 years old when he made his Dollar Baby Adaptation, The woman in the room. It was eventually released on VHS in 1986 by Granite Entertainment Group Interglobal Home Video as part of Stephen King’s Night Shift Collection.
Darabont later wrote adaptations and directed three feature films based on Stephen King’s novels: The fog, The Shawshank RedemptionAnd The green mile. The last two films were nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including ‘Best Picture’. The Dollar Baby program was disbanded on December 1, 2023.[6]
4 DuPont’s plutonium-producing nuclear site
The Met Lab scientists had the technical expertise to design a production pole for the Manhattan Project, but industrial-scale construction and operation required an outside contractor. Specifically, they needed someone with the expertise to carry out plutonium enrichment on the scale of the Manhattan Project. The Dupoint Company was the logical choice.
At the outbreak of World War II, the company was one of the largest and most experienced industrial organizations in the country. The problem here was simple: Dupont as a company was still reeling from the scandal caused by its claim that it had made a profit during the First World War. Because another accusation would not be good for its image, the Dupont Company agreed to be the prime contractor for plutonium-related work, but the company would receive no more than one dollar for each service provided. By doing this, history would be kind to the company that they were only being patriotic.[7]
3 Chocolate chip cookie recipe
Ruth Graves Wakefield was a chef best known for inventing one of the most iconic desserts in American history: the chocolate chip cookie. Wakefield was born in 1903. She was a chef, dietitian, teacher, business owner and cookbook author. Wakefield and her husband opened a tourist lodge called ‘The Toll House Inn’, where she cooked all the food served at the inn.
Ruth quickly gained a reputation for her inventive and uniquely delicious desserts. Wakefield accidentally made the chocolate chip cookies, and that was the birth of the beloved recipe. The popularity of the chocolate chip cookie skyrocketed during World War II when soldiers stationed abroad received and shared packages of the treat. Wakefield gave Nestle the rights to her recipe for just $1 and a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate.[8]
2 A house in Chicago
When you hear that a house sold for one dollar, you may be tempted to believe that it was a toy house. We have disappointing news. This is a real two bedroom house. The owner of the house has remained the same since at least 1990, only changing ownership when the owner was hit with a foreclosure lawsuit in 2010. The outcome of the lawsuit is that the bank seized the house.
This was the beginning of the process that led to the house being sold for $1. Chicago wasn’t the only city hit by the 2010 housing crisis. Around the same time, Detroit had the same problem. The situation in Detroit was made worse by the fact that the city had been in steady decline since the 1960s. By the time the mortgage crisis hit, it was like lighting a matchstick next to a barrel of gunpowder.[9]
1 Radio rights for Star Wars
The Star Wars franchise includes films, cartoons, books, television series, comic books, theme parks and merchandise with an estimated value of $70 billion. It all started as the ‘1977 film of the same name’, but quickly grew into a global pop culture phenomenon. It is one of the most profitable media franchises of all time.
The Star Wars franchise made its creator, George Lucas, a very wealthy man. It also made Disney a richer company. In 1983, National Public Radio (NPR) wanted to take its turn Star Wars turned into a radio drama, and it approached George Lucas for the rights. Lucas himself was a fan of NPR and he soon gave out the rights for one dollar. If we consider the value of the franchise, it is not difficult for us to conclude that this is the most expensive product ever traded for one dollar.[10]