Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2001/11/19/ceci_nest_pas_une_xbox/

Ceci n'est pas une Xbox

X plus box for sale

By James Watson

Posted in Bootnotes, 19th November 2001 17:45 GMT

René Magritte, Belgium's most famous Surrealist artist, painted a picture of a pipe with the caption: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" -translation: This is not a pipe. Quite correct, it's not a pipe. It's a picture of a pipe.

In the same noble tradition, a picture of a box with an X pasted onto the top was put up for sale last week on eBay with the disclaimer below: "This is not an Xbox."

Eager Xbox buyers clicked in the offers, with 16 bids, chasing the box with X price to $130, before eBay officials pulled the plug on the playful prankster.

Sadly, the eBay URL is no longer available, but our thanks to reader Stephen Roberts for pointing it in our direction.

In January, an unlucky buyer picked up a PlayStation 2 box for $425. The seller put up a picture of a PS2 box (the original packaging) and offered it as a: "PlayStation 2 Original Box and Receipt," which is exactly what it was.

Update

And the winner is... As can be seen here, one lucky fellow placed the winning $366 bid for a brand new Xbox, uhh, box.

As the description reads: You are bidding on a brand new Microsoft Xbox box, it does not contain the system, this is just the box and is for collectors only. This is the original box that that the systems will ship in, it's is not a promotional display the box actually contained an xbox unit that was set up at a local retailer for display. Once again for the really thick headed out there, this is just the box, the system is not inside. Shipping will be $7.00 to the 48 continental US states only. I accept Money Orders, Cashier's Checks, Billpoint and Paypal only. Happy Bidding! ®

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