A Canadian blogger who hit the headlines with his online swapping scheme has achieved his dream of getting his own house for nothing more than his original offering of a big red paperclip.
Today Kyle MacDonald, aged 26, will become the proud owner of a three-bedroom, 1,100 sq ft home in Kipling, Saskatchewan.
He began his mission a year ago, trading the paper clip first for an equally lowly fish-shaped pen.
That became a ceramic knob, which in turn was swapped for a camping stove, next a generator and then a beer keg with a Budweiser sign which he dubbed a "party pack".
With the value of his trades creeping up, MacDonald then got his hands on a snowmobile, which became a trip to the Canadian Rockies, a supply truck, and a recording contract.
In April he got tantalisingly close to his objective, with the promise of a year's rent-free stay in Phoenix.
It was at that stage that the venture started making the news around the world, and actor Corbin Bernsen got in touch to say he was writing and directing a film and could offer a role to trade.
MacDonald, however, was not prepared to exchange it for anything Bernsen did not really want.
Instead, he shocked followers by swapping the year's rent for an afternoon with rocker Alice Cooper.
He defended his decision with the words: "Alice Cooper is a gold mine of awesomeness and fun."
In a seemingly even wackier move he bartered the time with the fearsome musician for a snow globe depicting the band Kiss.
But there was method to his madness. Bernsen has a collection of 6,500 snow globes, and was delighted to exchange the Kiss model for the role.
