Sale of the century

I read with some interest the other day about one of the largest land deals in history.

By a treaty dated 30 April 1803, the United States agreed to buy the Louisiana Territory (modern day Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Oklahoma) from the French Republic. Thomas Jefferson led the negotiations with France and altogether agreed to buy some 2,144,000 sq km (828,000 sq mi) of real estate. With one sweep of a pen, Jefferson doubled the size of the United States.

Why did this transaction capture my imagination so much? Well, there was a lot of land involved. And this was an important, historic step in the development of the United States as a country. But that wasn't it. What really captured my imagination was the price Jefferson agreed to pay to France - $15 million (60 million francs) - roughly 3 cents per acre.

Yes - 3 cents per acre!

There are few things in life more satisfying than bagging a bargain. I have spent hours using comparison websites to track down the cheapest widgets – and then looking for discount codes to save even more. 3 or 4 hours online to save £20 on a hotel booking is not uncommon. At those rates I'm working at below minimum wage, but it's immensely gratifying nonetheless.

The Louisiana Purchase (as Jefferson's real estate shopping spree later became known) got my mind racing about some of the other greatest bargains in history. And there have been some absolute gems:

In October 1987, stock markets crashed across the world. A year later, legendary investor, Warren Buffett, started buying up a lot of Coca-Cola stock on the cheap and many of Wall Street's finest thought "he was downright crazy" to do so. Buffett eventually bought up 7% of the company. He would see his $1 billion investment grow into a $10 billion stake generating more than a quarter-billion dollars a year in dividends. Buffett once said, "If you gave me $100 billion and said take away the soft drink leadership of Coca-Cola in the world, I’d give it back to you and say it can’t be done."

A lucky shopper bagged himself an extraordinary bargain whilst rummaging around a flea market in Philadelphia. He bought a ghastly painting by an unknown artist for $4 because he liked the picture frame. When he got the picture home and prised off the back so that he could discard the painting, he found that a piece of folded paper had been used as padding. Upon unfolding that loose page, he discovered an original printing of the Declaration of Independence. It was sold at auction in 1991 for $2.42 million.

It looks like I'm not alone in my quest for a bargain. The ongoing 'credit crunch' has put a squeeze on the finances of many, and an unexpected side effect has been a growth in the popularity of car boot sales. While the idea of wading through a muddy field examining junk arranged in the back of an old banger is some people's idea of hell, others can't get enough of it. When you see some of the bargains to be had, a pretty strong case for donning your wellington boots and getting out there can be made:

• An 18th-century painting of cats by the artist Henrietta Ronner-Knip cost £0.50 and was sold at auction for £22,000
• An autographed Rolling Stones album bought for £2.00 made £4,000
• A certificate awarded to an officer who rescued Titanic survivors in 1912 was bought for £10 and is worth £3,000
• A Fabergé vodka cup bought for £0.20 sold at auction for £2,000
• A letter from Abraham Lincoln bought for £1 is estimated to be worth £500,000

I'm off to start swotting up on the Antiques Almanac. Happy bargain hunting!