Significant Objects

Russian Figure

25. August 2009

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Doug Dorst, has ended. Original price: $3. Final price: $193.50.] Figurine of St. Vralkomir (glass cover not included) This is an icon of the fourteenth-century saint Vralkomir of Dnobst, the patron saint of extremely fast dancing. Handcrafted in a snowbound convent by the nimble-footed Sisters of the Vralkomian [...]

Rhino Figurine

10. August 2009

1 Comment

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Nathaniel Rich, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $57.] Do you ever struggle to remember insignificant facts? Facts so small and irrelevant to the natural course of your life that you wonder how you ever learned them in the first place? And yet your inability to [...]

Idol

5. August 2009

2 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Andrew Ervin, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $51.] Several weeks ago I was biking around the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, or what’s left of it, and shooting photographs of the rebuilding process. I have been hearing the same two descriptions over and over [...]

Kneeling Man Figurine

4. August 2009

2 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Glen David Gold, has ended. Original price: $2. Final price: $56.50.] Hell, of course, has a hierarchy; it is by definition all hierarchy. As James Blish noted, any act of magic requires harnessing the work of one demon at a time. Those who answer the call are [...]

Metal Boot

31. July 2009

7 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Bruce Sterling, has ended. Original price: $3. Final price: $86.] In early 1861, before the Union blockade closed the port of New Orleans, four ships arrived from distant Naples. They bore eight hundred and eighty-four Italians, soldiers under the command of a little-known Louisiana adventurer: [...]

Dome Doll

28. July 2009

5 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Jason Grote, has ended. Original price: 99 cents. Final price: $16.49.] I wish to reassure anyone who is considering purchasing me that it is not my look of need, afflicting though it may be, that is responsible for the fate of my last three owners. For [...]

Tin Ark

22. July 2009

1 Comment

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Rebecca Wolff, has ended. Original price: 50 cents. Final price: $19.50.] There was this family, and their eight-year-old son developed a tumor on, or in, his jaw. They had it removed, and treated with radiation and chemotherapy, but a short while later it came back. They had [...]

Nutcracker with Troll Hair (or something)

17. July 2009

8 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Adam Davies, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $14.50.] Authentic MR. YODELS Love Totem The “Sylvia St. Etienne” edition This is the only witness to — or, some say, the cause of — the tragic death of legendary chanteuse and muse to famous Ecuadorian footballer Francisco Chavarria NOT AN IMITATION! Condition The artifact [...]

Toy Toaster

9. July 2009

6 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Jonathan Goldstein, has ended. Original price: $2. Final price: $6.25.] Twenty years after the man’s death, I still can’t rightly say whether my uncle Dwayne was a benevolent old-timey Grandpa Walton type or a secret sadistic performance artist. By the time I met him, Dwayne was a [...]

Toy Hot Dog

8. July 2009

6 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Jenny Davidson, has ended. Original price: 12 cents. Final price: $3.58.] I blame it on the book: a pocket-sized lined notebook with a black matte cover, bound at the left-hand margin and with a band to hold it shut. I used to tuck a pen inside, a [...]

Miniature Bottle

7. July 2009

5 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story Mark Frauenfelder, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $23.] Matt saw the tiny blue bottle on the third step of the main entrance to the Los Angeles Central Library. It was next to a sleeping man, obviously homeless. A $100 bill, rolled-up, was protruding from the [...]

Candyland labyrinth game

6. July 2009

7 Comments

[The bidding on this Significant Object, with story by Matthew Battles, has ended. Original price: 29 cents. Final price: $11.50.] You had passed him at the entrance to the subway station countless times before, not so much sitting as thrown into the corner, his plump bulk indistinct beneath the rags he wore. What was different about [...]

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Russian Figure

Rhino Figurine

Idol

Kneeling Man Figurine

Metal Boot

Dome Doll

Tin Ark

Nutcracker with Troll Hair (or something)

Toy Toaster

Toy Hot Dog

Miniature Bottle

Candyland labyrinth game

* S.O. v3 — for Girls Write Now

S.O. v1 — the EXPERIMENT

S.O. v2 — for 826 National