How Did a North Dakota Man Sell a 20-Year-Old Jar of BBQ Sauce for $10K?

​Photo Credit: Associated Press

(TheBlaze/AP) --  Who would have guessed that an expired combination of water, tomato paste, brown sugar, and a number of other equally unimpressive ingredients would sell for $10,000?  Well, a man who used to own McDonald's restaurants in North Dakota is about that much richer after selling an old container of McJordan barbecue sauce to a buyer in Chicago.

The special sauce was used on McJordan Burgers, named for basketball icon Michael Jordan, for a short time in the 1990s.  It was at that time that Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships, so Mort Bank saved a gallon jug of sauce after selling his McDonald's restaurants in in 1996.

"It was in my basement and I would look at it occasionally," he told The Bismarck Tribune. "I thought it would be worth something someday."

After talking to his daughter, Bank decided to advertise the product on eBay, writing: "A once in a lifetime chance to own the rarest of rare Michael Jordan and McDonald's collectible!"

​Photo Credit: Ebay

Though the initial offers were around $1,000, Bank said it caught fire on the Internet almost overnight, and the offers just started flooding in.

It sold for $9,995 Monday night to a buyer from Chicago whom Bank has not identified.  However, he did tell the Chicago Tribune that the buyer was not Jordan himself, even though Jordan did open a steakhouse in Chicago last year.

"I'm sure he's a Bulls or Michael Jordan fan, and hopefully he's not going to put it on his ribs or his burger," Bank told KXMB-TV of the buyer. "But it's up to him; he can do whatever he wants with it."

Bank said he has at least three storage units full of McDonald's memorabilia and other collector's items that he has been selling on eBay for three years. He has sold items to buyers as far away as China, Japan, Brazil and Europe, though never for as much money as the sauce garnered.

"I'm pretty ecstatic," he told the Bismarck Tribune. "You never know what is going to be a hot item."

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