I actually have 3 that would fit that bill, depending on how you define the OP.
First pistol I ever bought, a Browning Buckmark, in 1987, for $179. Accurate, fun to shoot, aesthetically pleasing, and it's a Browning. I've probably pumped 20K rounds through it in the first 15 years or so that I've owned it, and probably about 15K of that was in the first 3 years when I was stationed in Colorado. It was a rare weekend it didn't go to the mountains to graze on a brick or two of Winchester Super-X (bought for .99/box at Service Merchandise... if that tells you how long ago that was.) The .22LR ammo shortage during the First Dark Age parked it on the safe shelf... and, honestly, I haven't touched it since.
I bought a Kimber Pro Eclipse II (4" .45ACP) about the time I parked the Buckmark, it remains the most I've ever paid for a handgun... $1100 or thereabouts... but what a pistol! Yea, it was expensive, but the true value of a firearm, to me, is how it performs, and the Eclipse is All That and more.
In a practical sense, every thing else aside, the Kahr CW9 is probably my most 'value for the money' pistol, however. Truth being stranger than fiction, I actually bought my first one so I could hate it. It was my first poly pistol, and my first 9mm in a very long time... I wanted to try a poly pistol, shoot it a little bit, decide that I hate poly and the 9mm, and go back to my Neanderthal cave of the steel .45 1911. But. I fell in love with the stupid thing. It fits my hand perfectly, is as accurate (at reasonable distances) as anything else, is stone cold 100% reliable... and is light enough to carry... the major defining factor. The CW9 is now my primary carry piece, day in, day out... so it wins the 'practical' award. This is a working gun. I liked it so much, I wound up buying something like 6 MORE of them, plus a CM9, a PM9, a P45, and a CW45... but the CM9 remains my favorite, .45ACP not withstanding. I have given 2 as presents, and my remaining 3 serve in rotation as my carry pieces.