Comic books, coins and antiques can all increase in value over time, and apparently so can a McDonald's cheeseburger.
Dave Alexander, an Ontario farmer living north of London in Staffa, recently listed a 6-year-old McDonald's cheeseburger and fries on eBay for $29.99. Within a day, the price had climbed up to $150.
"I wasn't expecting to make any money off of this at all, I just thought it was a novelty thing," said Alexander, adding that he was shocked to see how much the burger was going for.
Alexander purchased the fast food back on June 7, 2012, to conduct an experiment after hearing that fast food from McDonald's would not decompose over time.
"I unwrapped it, I took the top bun off of it and set it to the side and put them on a shelf, and it sat there [untouched] for the next six years," he said.
Alexander said even after six years the fries and burger buns, surprisingly, look like they were just purchased. However, he added that the buns have become "as hard as a hockey puck".
"With the exception of the cheese slice, this thing looks pretty similar to what you would buy today," he said, adding that it was time to pass on the 6-year-old meal now that he and his wife have decided to sell off their farm. "I've just been selling off my stuff and I thought, you know what, I'm going to sell this cheeseburger and see if anybody would be interested."
Based on the lack of decomposition of the burger after all these years, Alexander said he and his wife haven't touched fast food in years.
Unfortunately for anyone else who wanted a chance to bid on the burger and fries, eBay officials removed Alexander's ad from their website late Friday afternoon. Alexander said he's upset over the decision.
"I've been told that because the item didn't have an expiry date on it, that it was removed," he said. "Seriously? When was the last time you bought a burger takeout that had an expiry date on it?"
While he has no intention of reposting the burger and fries to eBay, Alexander said he did receive an interesting response from eBay users who had questions about 6-year-old burger and fries while the ad was still active. He said one person even offered to make a trade.
"I had a fellow offer me a 2-year-old Timbit for trade, which we politely declined," said Alexander.