Once upon a time, I was an eBay junkie. I have hockey jerseys from every NHL team (including the defunct California Golden Seals and Atlanta Flames) to prove it.

I gave it up that habit when we had kids, but that doesn't keep me from going back from time to time to see if I can score any $20 iPod, rare music CDs on the cheap or the granddaddy of them all - a game worn Tommy Williams NHL hockey jersey. But what I really enjoy doing on eBay is checking out the South Dakota and Black Hills based goods up for online auction.

Of course, there's the general variety of old pennants, police patches and badges, and old time postcards. But the story is told in the unique items and what they sell for. I remember seeing an old Fairmont Hotel poker chip with a cartoon image of the irrepressible Ron Russo on the cover up for auction and then thinking to myself why I hadn't put a few of those away.

Here are a few of the items up for auction from the Rushmore State.

Property, property, property

Somehow, I usually don't think of Mobridge as being even remotely related to the Black Hills other than they are both in South Dakota and share a telephone area code.

But alas, I forgot about Black Hills Gold Jewelry. For a cool $250,000, you could own a whole lotta Black Hills Gold, plus a store in which to sell it. And it looks like a house might be thrown in for good measure. all in the wonderful river community of Mobridge.

If South Dakota living is for you and you somehow have survived the real estate market meltdown with a spare quarter million in your pocket, this is the deal of a lifetime.

Especially when you consider that buying a piece of the actual Black Hills could cost you upward of $2 million. This campground on the outskirts of Sturgis along Interstate 90 requires some serious capital, but it looks like the current owners have a mere two week per year work schedule.

Of course, if you're able to plunk down more than $2.5 million on such an investment, you might have some other forms of income that would allow you not to have to worry about rally related work schedules.

If this all seems to rich for your blood, there is always this fully furnished home in Lemmon for a mere $15,000. Oh, yeah, Lemmon's pretty remote, but it's hard to buy a used car for that kind of money.

Dollars on the cents - does it make sense?

Rare currency isn't so rare on eBay, just expensive.

My favorite of the bunch is this $5 bill issued by a Deadwood bank back in the day that has a starting bid of $45,000. I mean, it doesn't mean it will go for that, but the estimate for the old currency is $75,000 to $100,000.

Needless to say, I won't be bidding. But if you want proof that currency - old or oddly misshapen - can go for a pretty penny, go no further than this South Dakota quarter that apparently has some form of deformity that makes it very valuable.

Can I see it? Not really. But hey, I can take the seller's word for it. I mean, they are an eBay seller, right?

Where the buffalo roam

Now, I've had my share of buffalo burgers in my day, so I understand that they are raised to be eaten. I just didn't know that they were raised to be hunted.

When I think of bison being hunted, I think of western South Dakota tribes of days past herding them in a stampede over the Vore Buffalo Jump in nearby Wyoming. What is hard for me to imagine is a guy in orange camo with rifle in hand scouting one of these enormous beasts out on the prairie and then knocking it down with a shot or two. It seems as easy to image the same hunter in a field sneaking up on a dairy cow.

Of course, dairy cows never gore fascinated spectators (they have neither the horns nor the spectators) like bison have been known to do from time to time out here in the Hills, but I never knew buffalo were still hunted.

Well, they are, and for $3,000 you can take your shots at a young buffalo, or spend a little more (up to $5,199) if you want a slightly more mature bison.

First images of the Hills

Like I said in the introduction, items such as photos and postcards are found everywhere on eBay. This photo, however, is different.

Taken from the first expedition into the Black Hills, it shows Gen. George Armstrong Custer's encampment as it heads for the Hills. These photos are the first images ever of the area, and aside from historic relevance, I always find it fascinating that our history here in western South Dakota - at least history of the white settlers and the European descendants - all happened after the advent of photography.

Do I find it at least $300 worth of fascination? Probably not, but it's still interesting.

Old school rules when it comes to dropping plates

One of the great lost artifacts from my childhood was a cereal box mini license plate that my father had obtained as a young child. The plate was a replica of a South Dakota license plate with the image of Mount Rushmore from sometime in the early 1950s.

Alas, I lost it somewhere along the way, but I could have the real thing thanks to eBay. This classic 1956 license plate may not be the exact plate upon which the lost treasure of my youth, but it's darn close.

And it is oh so more pretty than some of those that followed, which are also available on eBay. Of all the designs of plates through the years, the early 1990s gold and green plates were among my least favorite. And if given the choice between paying $20 for the bugly 1992 plate or about $50 for a classic 1950s plate, there's no question which one I would choose.