The most I paid was $5. This was 25 years ago and I paid that at a thrift store for an Admiral bakelite consolette. There was a larger Admiral with it there, as I recall it had a wood cabinet with the "X" shape wood treatment in front of the speaker fabric--a little newer than the consolette. That one was also $5 and a friend took that one. My consolette sat in an attic until last fall when I came up with a use for it and I contacted a local guy who could recap and do whatever else was necessary to get it going again (my electronic expertise doesn't go much beyond changing out tubes). That set me back $100. So ultimately it cost me $105. It's in a guest room with other old stuff and maybe gets watched a couple of hours a week at most.

The least I've paid is $0. The first TV my family ever owned was a Capehart model 325F, exactly like the one Eric H links you to on the swap board here, and the cabinet is in perfect shape. I bought a new CRT for that one back in the early 70's but can't remember what I paid for it. The set still needed more work as the top of the picture was all stretched out and the bottom compressed, so I forgot about it. A friend said he knew a guy who might be able to fix it so I let him take the chasis and when it came back it was missing the on/off "sound" knob and the channel knob. So it has sat ever since. Maybe it's a good thing. If I ever find the knobs, I think it's going to cost a lot more than $100 to bring this one back to watchable, it's a lot bigger than the Admiral and weighs a ton, so will be harder to find a place in the house to put it.