May 4: $2 Picture Frame and Brain Hologram

Friday, May 4, 2012 - Posted by 366 White Elephants at 10:52 PM
Given to John from Michael.

A couple of months ago, a South Carolina man bought a $3 painting at Goodwill and sold it at auction for $190,000.

Last September, a man bought a photo of Robert E. Lee at Goodwill for $4 and sold it for $23,000.

And in 2009, a man bought an original Picasso for $2 at a garage sale, which is valued to be worth hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of dollars.

I'm guessing that if John went to appraise this frame, he'd find it was worth $0.54.  But that girl's hula-hoop sure does look like hours of fun.

John
-Profession: Financial Accountant

-Favorite recyclable material: Plastic

-Do you ever feel sorry for the PC guy in the Mac/PC commercials?:  I do a lot of work on PCs and I rebuild them.  But, yeah, I sometimes feel for the PC guy.  To cheer him up, I'd take him out for a drink, but someplace quiet because he looks like he wouldn't like the attention.

-You've spent a fair amount of time traveling nationally and internationally.  What's been your most memorable mis-encounter?:  I was in Shanghai walking down the street and a guy asked if I wanted my shoes shined.  I said that I didn't, but he kept following me and asking me.  Then I stopped at a stop light and he started shining them.   He did a good job, but he wanted money for them.  I gave him $1, but he wanted $5.  I ended up giving him $2.  It was a scam.

-You're one of three triplets?:  We got a lot of publicity about this back when we were all born.  I have an identical brother and a sister.  My brother's a little shorter than me, but we have very similar mannerisms.  My sister's outgoing, but doesn't look like us.