I say “sorta” because although there really is a contest, the winning story won’t be posted to eBay. Why not? Because the Scottish Doll was thrown away, and therefore can’t be sold on eBay. Read about the Scottish Doll’s fate … Continue reading
After several days of scrutinizing price data, it’s time to scrutinize the stories themselves. While Josh added “tags” in real time describing each object, lately we’ve decided it might be useful and interesting to add tags that describe narrative elements … Continue reading
In cleverly devising a way of dealing with the Duration Factor, Josh addressed the potential effect on prices of both increased demand (as more people learned about the project) and dwindling supply (as we ran out of objects). It’s assumed … Continue reading
We’re having fun geeking out over the quantitative aspects of Significant Object’s experimental phase, and this coming week we’ll offer more tables and charts and graphs. We’ll also kick off the qualitative analysis (i.e., analyzing the stories’ style, mood, voice, … Continue reading
Some of you have speculated that the Significant Object experiment’s duration affected sales prices — that is, you’ve speculated that objects auctioned off in the experiment’s first weeks no doubt sold for less, on average, than did objects auctioned off … Continue reading
We’ll be back with a savory table stuffed full of data tomorrow. In the meantime, please enjoy these holiday-appropriate tchotchkes. *** Oh, and if you want to get a jump on the Xmas-shopping crowd tomorrow, why not pick up a … Continue reading
Here’s another way to parse the data from the experimental phase of the Significant Objects project. After the jump, you’ll discover a table that not only lists the 100 objects, the authors of the 100 stories associated with those objects, … Continue reading
In response to email and queries in this site’s comments about buying a Significant Objects Mug (i.e., because of our project’s mug logo, which Joe Alterio whipped up for us in a hurry when we suddenly decided to retire our … Continue reading
Well, folks, here it is. A comprehensive rundown of the entire S.O. 100, ranked by final selling price. Thanks to this neat-o plug-in, you can also adjust the chart to see it ranked by the price we paid for each … Continue reading
As announced last week, we’re busily retooling Significant Objects as a charitable fundraising effort. We’ve assigned half a dozen objects to new writers, and we’ve already lined up a couple dozen more contributors, new and returning, too. Later this week, … Continue reading
A few moments ago, the auction for our 100th item (the Missouri Shotglass, story courtesy of Jonathan Lethem) ended. Moment of silence, please. The research phase of the Significant Objects experiment is over; next, we’ll analyze the data. And while … Continue reading
Today’s installment of Dorothy Gambrell’s popular webcomic Cat and Girl riffs on significant objects:
It’s really weird to look at our store and see just one item! But there it is: Missouri Shot Glass + Story by Jonathan Lethem. And the auction closes in less than 24 hours … who will end up with … Continue reading
Shown above: ready-to-mail boxes containing the last three objects from the Significant Objects experiment, along with a few odds and ends that didn’t end up being assigned to a writer during the duration of the experiment. There are currently two … Continue reading
Check it out. There are only three items remaining in Significant Objects’ eBay shop. Once the bidding for these objects ends, the Significant Objects experiment will be over… But the Significant Objects project — of which the experiment was only … Continue reading
In the months before we published the 100th story in our Significant Objects experiment, many of you clicked on an author’s name — in the Contributors list, at the right-hand side of this page — and found yourself directed to … Continue reading
Just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for visiting, reading, and spreading the word about Significant Objects. Yesterday we posted our 100th and final (for now) story — one by Jonathan Lethem. We couldn’t be happier with how it’s … Continue reading
[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Jonathan Lethem, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $76.] Listen, friend, forget about the bartender, you could wait all day in this dive, we might as well be invisible over … Continue reading
