Significant Objects

I like the idea behind Significant Objects: buy a piece of crap from a rummage sale, write a fictional story about it, and then sell the item and story on eBay. I'm not sure how seriously the actual bidders are taking this--although the Missouri shot glass is already up to $76 at the time of this post--but it's an interesting way of attempting to add value to a physical object through text and creativity. After all, we value books, not because of the materials they are constructed of, but because of the imagination and learning they inspire. Why couldn't objects that have an imaginative story behind them give us the same value and joy? Are you paying for the story or the shot glass? Or something else?

Honestly, this whole gimmick is probably worthless, but the means of thinking behind it have real value. In the end, there are people writing and creating, and harnessing physical and textual environments to bring the two together. That's always a good thing no matter which way you slice it.