Seattle Man Finds $50 Xbox Worth 400x More at Yard Sale
▼ Summary
– A Seattle man named Emilio purchased an unusual Xbox for $50 at a 2015 garage sale, initially thinking it was just a modified case.
– Upon closer inspection, he noticed official Microsoft and Halo branding, and later discovered it was an extremely rare orange Halo Xbox.
– Only three orange Xbox consoles were ever made, with just one featuring the Halo logo, and they were never sold to the public.
– Emilio confirmed the console’s authenticity by contacting the Microsoft employee who built it for a friend, explaining its origin.
– He sold the rare Xbox to a private collector for $15,000, a significant profit from his initial $50 investment.
A Seattle collector stumbled upon an incredible bargain at a local yard sale, purchasing what appeared to be a standard Xbox for fifty dollars only to discover it was an exceptionally rare prototype valued at thousands. This remarkable find highlights how highly collectible video game items can sometimes surface in the most unexpected places, turning a small investment into a massive windfall.
Microsoft launched the original Xbox console over twenty years ago, way back in 2001. By the middle of the decade, the company had moved more than 24 million units worldwide. While the console itself was common, certain special editions and prototypes are extraordinarily scarce. One of these ultra-rare models was sitting unnoticed at a neighborhood garage sale.
The collector, named Emilio, was browsing the sale in 2015 when he noticed some older gaming hardware. He later shared on the Metal Jesus Rocks YouTube channel that he initially had no idea what he was looking at. He assumed someone had just installed a custom, aftermarket case on a regular Xbox.
Upon picking it up for a closer look, he spotted the official Microsoft and Halo logos. Intrigued, he decided to take a chance and bought it for fifty dollars. The widely released Halo edition Xbox featured a distinctive translucent green shell. The orange case on this unit made Emilio suspect it could be a counterfeit.
His curiosity led him to research the console online, where he made a stunning discovery. The orange Halo Xbox he had just purchased was not a fake but an authentic, extremely limited prototype. Production records indicated only three orange Xbox consoles were ever manufactured, and just a single one of those carried the Halo branding. These units were never intended for public sale.
Emilio eventually contacted the Microsoft employee who had personally assembled the console. The employee explained he built that specific model as a gift for a friend. How such a valuable item wound up being sold for a mere fifty dollars remains a mystery known only to that friend.
Buying the Xbox was a gamble for Emilio, as he wasn’t certain it was genuine or even functional. His risk was rewarded spectacularly. A year after the initial YouTube video was posted, an update revealed the orange prototype had been sold to a private collector for an astounding fifteen thousand dollars. That represents an incredible return on his modest initial investment.
In a separate but related event, a similar rare orange Xbox prototype was sold at a Goodwill auction, fetching more than twenty thousand dollars. These sales demonstrate the immense value that dedicated collectors are willing to pay for unique pieces of gaming history.
(Source: Supercar Blondie)
