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Price tags · Puzzle #2 · Thursday, October 1

Price tags: the answers

Four questions, each with one true number. Here they are with their answers, how to reason each one out, and where the number comes from. Play today's Price tags.

  1. 1. Inverted Jenny stamp: What did an 'Inverted Jenny' stamp (position 49) sell for at Siegel Auctions in New York in November 2023?

    Photo: U. S. Postal Service, Public domain
    What
    A 1918 US airmail stamp with the plane printed upside down
    Rarity
    Only 100 were printed; it cost 24 cents
    Sold
    Siegel Auctions, New York, 2023

    The answer: $2 million. It set the record for the most expensive single US stamp ever sold.

    Napkin math: With 100 copies around, it's far less rare than a unique stamp; collectors have paid around $1 million for good ones before.

    Source: BBC News, US stamp sells for a record-breaking $2m

  2. 2. Twitter: What was the announced value of the 2022 deal for Elon Musk to buy Twitter?

    Photo: Tobias Kleinlercher / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
    Buyer
    An entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, April 2022
    Premium
    38% over the share price before Musk's stake was disclosed
    Paid in
    Cash

    The answer: about $44 billion. Shareholders got $54.20 a share in cash, and Twitter became a privately held company.

    Napkin math: Twitter was a mid-sized public company worth roughly $30 billion; add a 38% premium and you get to the low-to-mid forties of billions.

    Source: Twitter, Inc. press release (SEC Form 8-K exhibit), Elon Musk to Acquire Twitter

  3. 3. The Apple Vision Pro: What was the starting price of the Apple Vision Pro headset when Apple announced it in June 2023?

    Photo: Miyako Fujimiya, CC BY-SA 4.0
    Announced
    June 2023
    Available
    Early 2024, US first

    The answer: $3,499. Apple sold it at Apple Stores, where customers could try it on and get a personalized fit.

    Napkin math: Apple priced it well above a top-end iPhone or a laptop, more like a high-end pro computer.

    Source: Apple, Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple's first spatial computer

  4. 4. SLS and Orion launch: What did NASA's inspector general estimate one SLS rocket and Orion capsule launch costs to produce and operate, for Artemis I through IV?

    Photo: Joel Kowsky, Public domain
    Program
    NASA's Artemis Moon missions
    Hardware
    Space Launch System rocket plus Orion crew capsule

    The answer: about $4.1 billion. The inspector general named sole-source, cost-plus contracts among the reasons for the high cost.

    Napkin math: The rocket is thrown away each flight and built on cost-plus contracts, so think many Shuttle launches' worth: billions.

    Source: NASA Office of Inspector General, NASA's Management of the Artemis Missions (IG-22-003)

All of puzzle #2 · The archive