Top Ten Sales To Date

by Joshua Glenn | Wed, Sep 16, 2009

Out of curiosity, we recently went through our list of published stories so far to see which 10 objects have sold for the most money to date. We long ago proved that this experiment works — the stories we’ve published have increased the value of every insignificant object we’ve put up for sale. But perhaps our hypothesis could be refined if we carefully scrutinize this slice of the data.

Help us out, readers. We welcome your thoughts: Why did these objects/stories sell for more than the others?

1. Russian figure + Doug Dorst story. Talisman, Evidence. Original price: $3.00. Final price: $193.50

2. “4” Tile + Toni Schlesinger story. Fossil. Original price: $1.00. Final price: $88.00

3. Brass Boot + Bruce Sterling story. Evidence, Talisman. Original price: $3.00. Final price: $86.00

4. Porcelain shoe + Sheila Heti story. Fossil. Original price: $4.00. Final price: $77.51

5. Duck Tray + Stewart O’Nan story. Totem. Original price: $3.00. Final price: $71.00

6. Mallet + Colson Whitehead story. Talisman. Original price: 33 cents. Final price: $71.00

7. Cow Vase + Ed Park story. Fossil, Totem. Original price: $2.00. Final price: $62.00

8. Sand Animal + Sloane Crosley story. Totem, Evidence. Original price: 99 cents. Final price: $57.66

9. Rhino + Nathaniel Rich story. Talisman, Totem. Original price: $ 1.00. Final price: $57.00

10. Kneeling Man + Glen David Gold story. Talisman. Original price: $2.00. Final price: $56.50

It is perhaps noteworthy that although relatively few of our objects/stories have fallen into the TALISMAN and TOTEM categories (compared, that is, to the FOSSIL and EVIDENCE categories), the majority of our Top Ten list are talismans and totems.

A totem, of course, is an object from the natural world — animal, vegetable, or mineral — that is a tutelary spirit; all of our animal objects, for example, are totems, even if they also belong to another category. A talisman is an object that has magical power (e.g., Colson Whitehead’s story about the Mallet), is lucky (note that this is difficult to distinguish from magic), or is alive (e.g., Doug Dorst’s story about the Russian Figure).

Object-stories that fall into the FOSSIL and EVIDENCE categories are mementos — they serve to remind, or perhaps warn us of something. A fossil is an object that bears witness to a vanished era or way of life (including childhood); Sheila Heti’s story about the Cape Cod Shoe is an example. If an object played a role in a crime or memorable public event, we consider it evidence. Sloane Crosley’s story about the Sand Animal is a celebrity-oriented example of the latter.

Talismans and totems accomplish something for those who possess them; this might explain much about our Top Ten list. However, it’s important to note that Bruce Sterling’s story about the Brass Boot and Doug Dorst’s story about the Russian Figure make talismanic and evidentiary claims for the objects (nos. 3 and 1 on our Top Ten list, respectively). Hmm…

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About the author:

Joshua Glenn

Joshua Glenn is a cultural semiotics analyst and independent scholar. He is the coeditor of Taking Things Seriously (2007), a collection of ordinary objects with extraordinary significance; and coauthor of The Idler's Glossary (2008). In the '90s, he published the zine/journal Hermenaut; today, he is coeditor of Hilobrow.com.

8 Responses to “Top Ten Sales To Date”

mort Says:
September 17th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

…mementos, eh…perhaps they represent a tangible, playful nexus between reader and author…physical quirks from the silly hall of human nature…embodiments to remind us of that precious, unfailing spirit, if you build it, they will come…crutches four overcoming silence and distance…writing muses for mother’s sons in darkened basements…conversation pieces for conversations that best play out only in our minds…or maybe the buyer of that cow vase just needed a toothbrush holder really bad…and i wouldn’t give you two cents for a bald, old kneeling man ; )

Joshua Glenn Says:
September 18th, 2009 at 9:00 am

Mort — or should we call you Cape Cod Shoe? — thanks for the comments. We might have to quote you in our press materials.

Anyone else have any theories?

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Object + Made-up story = Advertising? says:

September 18, 2009 at 4:41 pm

[...] Long ago, advertising might mean a page of a magazine with a big hunk of text that often read quite a bit like a short story. Nowadays a brand like Axe, or Burger King, tells its “story” in what Henry Jenkins calls a “transmedia” manner: Across multiple platforms, in ways that might sense however you encounter them, but that are simultaneously cumulative. In fact I think marketers are way ahead of the entertainment industry (Jenkins’ focus) in transmedia storytelling, even if the branding version of it basically shrugs off linearity. The Dove Campaign For Real Beauty, for instance, posits a line of facial creams and whatnot as embodying a set of ideas about the nature of beauty itself, expressed via billboards and commercials, but also via text-message voting schemes, media appearances by its participating models, at least one stage play, and other murketing tactics. The “story” has no beginning, and no end. (It will probably stop at some point, but there will be no finale.) But there’s always a story of some kind — and in fact I’ll but the story always fits the Totem, Talisman, Evidence, and/or Fossil categories that my Significant Objects partner Joshua Glenn has defined. [...]

No. 63 — of 100. | Significant Objects says:

September 19, 2009 at 7:37 am

[...] are some remarkable bargains (given past prices) in the shop right now, including objects with stories by author Myla Goldberg, Daily Show writer [...]

Significant Dishware | Significant Objects says:

September 26, 2009 at 12:13 pm

[...] None of the objects pictured in this post are among this experiment’s Top Ten highest-selling objects. Several figurines made it onto that list, but not one piece of dishware. [...]

Update: a note about our classifications | Significant Objects says:

October 23, 2009 at 9:15 am

[...] month, in an update, I explained our Significant Object categorization scheme: a FOSSIL is an object that bears witness [...]

Top Ten Sales — Updated | Significant Objects says:

October 23, 2009 at 10:48 am

[...] Back in mid-September, we paused to assess our list of published stories (and concluded auctions) to see which 10 objects have sold for the most money to date. In part this was to see if the exercise would help us refine our hypothesis about how narrative makes objects Significant. And in part it was because everybody loves a Top Ten List. Here is that list. [...]

St. Eutychus » Significant Objects: How to bump up your eBay sales with a story says:

November 11, 2009 at 2:26 am

[...] out their top ten. Here’s an [...]

mort Says:
September 17th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
…mementos, eh…perhaps they represent a tangible, playful nexus between reader and author…physical quirks from the silly hall of human nature…embodiments to remind us of that precious, unfailing spirit, if you build it, they will come…crutches four overcoming silence and distance…writing muses for mother’s sons in darkened basements…conversation pieces for conversations that best play out only in our minds…or maybe the buyer of that cow vase just needed a toothbrush holder really bad…and i wouldn’t give you two cents for a bald, old kneeling man ; )
Joshua Glenn Says:
September 18th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Mort — or should we call you Cape Cod Shoe? — thanks for the comments. We might have to quote you in our press materials.

Anyone else have any theories?

Object + Made-up story = Advertising? says:

September 18, 2009 at 4:41 pm

[...] Long ago, advertising might mean a page of a magazine with a big hunk of text that often read quite a bit like a short story. Nowadays a brand like Axe, or Burger King, tells its “story” in what Henry Jenkins calls a “transmedia” manner: Across multiple platforms, in ways that might sense however you encounter them, but that are simultaneously cumulative. In fact I think marketers are way ahead of the entertainment industry (Jenkins’ focus) in transmedia storytelling, even if the branding version of it basically shrugs off linearity. The Dove Campaign For Real Beauty, for instance, posits a line of facial creams and whatnot as embodying a set of ideas about the nature of beauty itself, expressed via billboards and commercials, but also via text-message voting schemes, media appearances by its participating models, at least one stage play, and other murketing tactics. The “story” has no beginning, and no end. (It will probably stop at some point, but there will be no finale.) But there’s always a story of some kind — and in fact I’ll but the story always fits the Totem, Talisman, Evidence, and/or Fossil categories that my Significant Objects partner Joshua Glenn has defined. [...]
No. 63 — of 100. | Significant Objects says:

September 19, 2009 at 7:37 am

[...] are some remarkable bargains (given past prices) in the shop right now, including objects with stories by author Myla Goldberg, Daily Show writer [...]
Significant Dishware | Significant Objects says:

September 26, 2009 at 12:13 pm

[...] None of the objects pictured in this post are among this experiment’s Top Ten highest-selling objects. Several figurines made it onto that list, but not one piece of dishware. [...]
Update: a note about our classifications | Significant Objects says:

October 23, 2009 at 9:15 am

[...] month, in an update, I explained our Significant Object categorization scheme: a FOSSIL is an object that bears witness [...]
Top Ten Sales — Updated | Significant Objects says:

October 23, 2009 at 10:48 am

[...] Back in mid-September, we paused to assess our list of published stories (and concluded auctions) to see which 10 objects have sold for the most money to date. In part this was to see if the exercise would help us refine our hypothesis about how narrative makes objects Significant. And in part it was because everybody loves a Top Ten List. Here is that list. [...]
St. Eutychus » Significant Objects: How to bump up your eBay sales with a story says:

November 11, 2009 at 2:26 am

[...] out their top ten. Here’s an [...]

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