History Main / PigInAPoke

You've just happened onto an absolute steal of a deal. Seriously, the guy apparently doesn't know what he has, and his asking price is ''far'' too low. So you buy it, sight unseen. Or it's simply something that you want, and the price is decent. Again, you buy it, sight unseen.

Then you unwrap it and take a closer look. And it's not what you thought you were buying. Maybe it doesn't work nearly as well as the seller said it would. Maybe it doesn't work at all. Maybe it isn't even close to what was described. You just bought a [[TitleDrop Pig in a Poke]].

Purchasing one may make you a UnwittingPawn, if [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness some evil organization]] is involved. A Pig In A Poke usually doesn't do any harm to the buyer, excepting of course for his wallet. For objects that actually ''do'' harm the purchaser, see [[ArtifactOfDoom Artifact of Doom]] and [[ArtifactOfDeath Artifact of Death]].

The old Latin saying "Caveat Emptor"[[labelnote:*]]Buyer Beware[[/labelnote]] goes to show that this trope is OlderThanFeudalism. Fables about fools purchasing worthless junk at a premium can be found around the world.

The [[TropeNamer Trope Namer]] is a Middle Ages confidence trick wherein a con artist would sell somebody what is supposed to be a suckling pig in a sack or poke. In fact the hidden meat would be a cat. The same con gives us the phrase "to let the cat out of the bag". Known in Spanish as "dar gato por liebre" (giving a cat instead of a hare) after the Medieval practice of selling cats instead of hares for food. Unlike the pig, hares and cats look quite similar when skinned (and yes, ThatPoorCat).

If the seller ''shows'' you what he's selling, but then uses sleight of hand so that isn't what you actually ''get'', its GoodForBad.

[[ButWaitTheresMore But Wait, There's More]]: available for a limited time only at your local HonestJohnsDealership!

SuperTrope to LiteralMoneyMetaphor. Compare ViolinScam, where the buyer is convinced that ''he's'' scamming the seller by the seller's confederate. See MockGuffin when the hero discovers that the MacGuffin is a worthless and/or insignificant object.

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!!Examples:

[[AC:Comic Books]]
* [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Doctor Doom]] often did this to Latverian nobles in his early years, with help from his GadgeteerGenius qualities. For example, he sold a device that he claimed was a violin that played amazing music regardless of the player's skill, but was actually a remote-controlled radio.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* The basic plot of ''Film/BurnAfterReading'' is that a few morons discover a manuscript for the written memoir of a former intelligence agency employee and, falsely believing it to contain [[CompromisingMemoirs classified information]]. After trying and failing to ransom it back to the author, they try to sell it to the Russian government. The Russians can't be fooled though and reject what turns out to be useless drivel.
* At the end of the 2007 ''Film/{{St Trinians}}'', Flash Harry sells "Girl With A Pearl Earring" to Carnaby for £500,000... which turns out to be a reproduction painted by Miss Fritton. The girls "find" and return the original, getting another £50,000 reward.
* ''Film/HouseOfGames'': Two con artists show the protagonist a nickel-and-dime version that involves pretending to seal a $5 bill into an envelope in front of a cashier and then using the envelope to make change, having already slipped the bill out before sealing it.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', leprechaun's gold vanishes shortly after you pick it up, rendering it completely worthless except for screwing over people you owe money to (which is exactly what it gets used for). It does have other uses - namely, some magical creatures are attracted to gold, which means leprechaun gold can be a cheap substitute.
* Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/AmericanGods'':
** [[ConversationalTroping Conversed]] when Wednesday is talking about some of his favorite [[TheCon grifts]], one of which involves a [[ViolinScam violin, two grifters, and an upper-class waiter]] as the mark.
** In another, a bishop in all his official finery enters a jewelry shop and purchases a magnificent brooch, paying for it in cash. A short while later, a cop enters the shop with the bishop in handcuffs, and explain to the jeweler that the bills are all fake: the counterfeiter was counting on no one daring to question a high official of the church or his money. He then explains that he needs the bills and the brooch as evidence and leaves a receipt. While the bills are fake, so is the cop, and the jeweler hands over the incriminating evidence of his own free will.
* In ''Roughing It'', Creator/MarkTwain describes a type: combing an otherwise worthless mine for one tiny chunk of rock containing silver or gold, presenting it to the assay office as an "average" sample, then selling shares in the now grossly overvalued mine.

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]
* In ''Series/{{Haven}}'', Duke presents a chef with a box containing an exotic ingredient and names a price. The chef then has to decide if he wants to buy the item without seeing it first. Duke knows what the item is worth but he is not really scamming the chef. They are old friends and it's a game they have been playing for years. Sometimes Duke will overprice the item and sometime he will underprice it making sure that his friend will not feel taken advantage of.
* Twice in the first episode of ''Series/TheStevenBanksShow'', titled "Rock Auction." During a PBS fundraising auction Steve buys what he thinks is Music/JohnLennon's guitar but it's only the case...and it was ''Julian'' Lennon. Meanwhile [[Music/TheMonkees Peter Tork]] is there too, having bought one of his own Monkees shirts (which a fan had ripped off of his body years earlier). But when they show it to him it's much too small: "That one is Davy's!"
* A particularly notorious ''Series/JudgeJudy'' case involving an ebay scammer had the scammer advertise that she was selling two mobile phones, and what the marks actually received were two pictures of the phones, with the scammer being very careful to say on the advert that the buyers are bidding on "what [they] see in the photo" [[LoopholeAbuse allowing her to claim she hadn't actually deceived the marks]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for the scammer, between appearing on the show (where Judy can do pretty much whatever she wants and isn't as vulnerable to LoopholeAbuse as another court might be,) slamming down hard on Judy's known {{Berserk Button}}s (not having a job, making working people lose the money they've earned, and treating Judy herself as if she's an idiot,) and being less careful with the product description (she gave the weight of the product as 4.90 oz, and since the two photos the marks got sent obviously weighed far less than that, the LoopholeAbuse itself had a gaping loophole,) [[LaserGuidedKarma the scammer simply got one of the most vicious humiliations in the show's history in front of 10 million viewers while the marks got compensated the maximum $5000 Judy's allowed to rule]].]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]
* This comes up in the folk song [[http://www.contemplator.com/england/qbrye.html "Quare Bungle Rye."]] Jack thinks he's getting good whiskey, but the seller slips him a baby in a basket instead and runs off.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', a salvager tries to sell you a holocron for 500 credits. When you ask to see it, he says that it doesn't work that way: he doesn't know the item's real value, so you would both be gambling on this deal. It turns out to be fake.
* This comes up twice in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'':
** At one point, you're offered a Farfetch'd, which can't be found nowhere else, for an incredibly common Spearow. The catch is that Farfetch'd's battle potential is nowhere near what Spearow's is, especially when you factor in that Spearow can evolve into the much stronger Fearow. This was entirely intentional by the developers, as Farfetch'd is based on a proverb about a duck with an onion leek, which can refer to either a stroke of luck (finding a meal that comes with its own seasoning) or being an easy mark for a con (being the duck itself).
*** Subverted if you're going for a GottaCatchEmAll OneHundredPercentCompletion, as this is the only way to get a Farfetch'd. There's also nothing that's preventing you from catching another Spearow.
** Much earlier, you're offered the chance to buy a Magikarp long before you'll be able to catch one yourself, but Magikarp is absolutely worthless in battle. But this one gets subverted; it's the TropeNamer for MagikarpPower for a reason...
** Many in-game trades throughout the series seem to count as this, mostly due to the fact that their stats, genders and nature are usually fixed. The only thing that varied was the level, which will be the same as the Pokémon you just traded (This is also fixed in Gen V as well). Generally, these stats are mediocre at best. One trade in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' promises you a Haunter (which evolves into Gengar by trading) in exchange for a Medicham, which can be found right nearby; but when you trade the Medicham for the Haunter, it doesn't evolve because it is holding an Everstone, an item used to specifically ''prevent'' evolution.

[[AC:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/MarcoAndTheGalaxyDragon'', Tera once spent five million yen on something from Galaxy Auction that turned out to be a worthless pebble. The deliveryman held her at gunpoint to make sure she paid up, mocking Earthlings for being so easy to fool.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' when the boys are involved in a tooth fairy scam, one of the boys working for Cartman buys what he was told were Chinese teeth, but are actually cat teeth.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheHectorHeathcoteShow'' had an episode called "Pig In A Poke," which dealt with the Louisiana Purchase. Heathcote and his dog Winston are sent to meet Lewis and Clark to see if the deal is worth it. The villain Benedict and his stooge pretend to be Lewis and Clark in attempt to scuttle the Purchase.
-->'''Winston:''' There's one thing that's puzzled me from the very beginning.
-->'''Hector:''' What's that, Winston?
-->'''Winston:''' What ''is'' a pig in a poke?

[[AC:RealLife]]
* There are plenty of stories on the internet about stuff like this happening, either via eBay or Craigslist. It mostly revolves around either sporting games tickets (which can be worth hundreds depending on the game) or especially hot items (such as a tablet or video game console.) Thankfully if you're swindled like this eBay will normally pay you back what you paid to get the item.
** Sometimes the item in question is just the packaging that the hot item originally came in. Foolish people might try to pay for the item's full price, even though what's being sold is just the box or package it came in.
** In some cases, sellers are deliberately selling just the packaging (usually of rare or old games). Complete in box collections of classic games tend to be fairly rare (and expensive), and it's often cheaper to buy just the cartridge only, and get the packaging separately. And there are collectors who are specifically looking for just the packaging to complete their collection. Some people see the comparatively lower price for just the packaging and think it's the whole game without reading, even if the seller advertised the item correctly and didn't intend to scam anyone.
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* A particularly notorious ''Series/JudgeJudy'' case involving an ebay scammer had the scammer advertise that she was selling two mobile phones, and what {{The Mark}}s actually received were two pictures of the phones, with the scammer being very careful to say on the advert that the buyers are bidding on "what [they] see in the photo" [[LoopholeAbuse allowing her to claim she hadn't actually deceived the marks]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for the scammer, between appearing on the show (where Judy can do pretty much whatever she wants and isn't as vulnerable to LoopholeAbuse as another court might be,) slamming down hard on Judy's known {{Berserk Button}}s (not having a job, making working people lose the money they've earned, and treating Judy herself as if she's an idiot,) and being less careful with the product description (she gave the weight of the product as 4.90 oz, and since the two photos the marks got sent obviously weighed far less than that, the LoopholeAbuse itself had a gaping loophole,) [[LaserGuidedKarma the scammer simply got one of the most vicious humiliations in the show's history in front of 10 million viewers while the marks got compensated the maximum $5000 Judy's allowed to rule]].]]

** [[ConversationalTroping Conversed]] when Wednesday is talking about some of his favorite grifts, one of which involves a [[ViolinScam violin, two grifters, and an upper-class waiter]] as TheMark.

* [[ConversationalTroping Conversed]] in Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/AmericanGods'': Wednesday is talking about some of his favorite grifts, one of which involves a [[ViolinScam violin, two grifters, and an upper-class waiter]] as TheMark.

A Pig In A Poke that specifically uses illegal items, resulting in the buyer having no way to involve the authorities without getting in trouble themselves, is a BeatBag.

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII'' a salvager tries to sell you a holocron for 500 credits. When you ask to see it, he says that it doesn't work that way: he doesn't know the item's real value, so you would both be gambling on this deal. (it turns out to be fake)

** At one point, you're offered a Farfetch'd, which can be found nowhere else, for an incredibly common Spearow. The catch is that Farfetch'd's battle potential is nowhere near what Spearow's is, especially when you factor in that Spearow can evolve into the much stronger Fearow. This was entirely intentional by the developers, as Farfetch'd is based on a proverb about a duck with an onion leek, which can refer to either a stroke of luck (finding a meal that comes with its own seasoning) or being an easy mark for a con (being the duck itself).

Compare ViolinScam, where the buyer is convinced that ''he's'' scamming the seller by the seller's confederate. See MockGuffin when the hero discovers that the MacGuffin is a worthless and/or insignificant object.

* The basic plot of ''Film/BurnAfterReading'' is that a few morons discover a manuscript for the written memoir of a former intelligence agency employee and, falsely believing it to contain [[CompromisingMemoirs classified information]], try to sell it to the Russian government. The Russians can't be fooled though and reject what turns out to be useless drivel.

** Many in-game trades throughout the series seem to count as this, mostly due to the fact that their stats, genders and nature are usually fixed. The only thing that varied was the level, which will be the same as the Pokémon you just traded (This is also fixed in Gen V as well). Generally, these stats are mediocre at best. One trade in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' promises you a Haunter (which evolves into Gengar by trading) in exchange for a Medicham, which can be found right nearby; but when you trade the Medicham for said Haunter... It doesn't evolve because it is holding an Everstone; an item used to specifically ''prevent'' evolution.

[[ButWaitTheresMore But Wait, There's More]]: available for a limited only at your local HonestJohnsDealership!