E is for 'expensive'

As the world waits for jury selection to be finished in the trial of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, news outlets are doing everything they can to come up with pre-trial Enron content. And once you sift through the personality stories, the legal jargon, the jury stuff, one burning question remains: What happened to those flashy metal E's that used to decorate Enron headquarters?

Turns out the E that fetched the most at auction — $44,000 — went to a Houston computer store, Microcache, where it's on display. John Tran, a Microcache employee, said people who come into the store seem surprised to see the E, but aren't "amused" by it. If you want to check it out, head to 6302 Gulf Freeway.

The most famous E, the lighted, revolving one called the "Disco E," sold for $33,000 to a man who indicated he planned to give it as a gift. But perhaps the highest-profile of the E's, the one that stood in front of the Enron building on Smith Street downtown, went for $10,500 to Ken Massey of Houston, who planned to use it as the base of a coffee table (which definitely beats the plastic crates Houstonist uses). Turns out that E was too big for the Masseys' living room, so it was sold again — but there the trail gets confusing. ABC News reports it ended up in the offices of Stan and Lou Advertising on the West Loop (and you can see a picture of it here), but the Chronicle says it's in the office of a Boston investment manager.

So four Enron signs sold for tens of thousands of dollars, but no one could muster up enough pocket change to buy the original Gilley's sign? Where are our priorities?