Geisha Bobblehead

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Edward Champion, has ended. Original price: $1.50. Final price: $56.] The resilient ruffians ran away with the geisha’s canes just after she refused to perform a classless act. While it was … Continue reading

Bar Mitzvah Bookends

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Stacey Levine, has ended. Original price: $4. Final price: $10.50.] I’m not a collector, but really a purloiner, and there’s only a brief backstory to these novelties. When my second wife … Continue reading

Umbrella Trinket

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Bruce Holland Rogers, has ended. Original price: 29 cents. Final price: $21.50.] By my third visit to Dr. Peragua, I had decided on what I was going to steal. There were … Continue reading

Blue Vase

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Lauren Mechling, has ended. Original price: $2. Final price: $30.] It was during Charlotte Sanger and Georgia Howard’s punk period — which actually had nothing to do with music and everything to do with mustard nailpolish and … Continue reading

Amoco Yo-Yo

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Mark Sarvas, has ended. Original price: 25 cents. Final price: $41.] When I was seventeen, I was expelled from high school. My father, reasonably enough, gave me a choice: Get a … Continue reading

Felt Mouse

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Meghan O’Rourke, has ended. Original price: 50 cents. Final price: $62. ] After my mother died, a stranger emailed me. He told me that my mother had been the most important … Continue reading

Cracker Barrel Ornament

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Maud Newton, has ended. Original price: 59 cents. Final price: $24.50.] This astonishing “Cracker Barrel” artifact appears to be a souvenir of modern vintage, representing a down-home North American restaurant-and-country-store chain … Continue reading

Swiss Medal

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Kathryn Borel Jr., has ended. Original price: 50 cents. Final price: $16.] Marc’s room smelled like half-open tins of chewing tobacco. He liked Skoal butternut, and I loved it too. Not … Continue reading

BBQ Sauce Jar

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by (Slate contest winner) Matthew J. Wells, has ended. Original price: 75 cents. Final price: $54.] Booth 106 was the regular table of Evelyn Nesbit — it’s where she was introduced to … Continue reading

Wooden Animal

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Meg Cabot, has ended. Original price: 75 cents. Final price: $108.50.] So Brandon was going to Cabo for spring break and I saved up all my tip money for a year … Continue reading

Alien Toy

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Nomi Kane, here. Original price: 49 cents. Final price: $37. This story is the second in a three-part series produced in collaboration with The Center for Cartoon Studies. ]

Fake Banana

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Josh Kramer, has ended. Original price: 25 cents. Final price: $76. This story is the first in a three-part series produced in collaboration with The Center for Cartoon Studies. ]

Thai Hooks

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Bruno Maddox, has ended. Original price: $3. Final price: $19.50.] Did she love me? Nah. Did I love her? Yeah. So I got her this wooden map of Thailand with four … Continue reading

Fish Spoons

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Mark Doty, has ended. Original price: $2.99. Final price: $76.] As a young man I read a poem I’ve never run across again since. I found it in the school library. … Continue reading

Indian Maiden

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by R.K. Scher, has ended. Original price: 99 cents. Final price: $157.50.] Visitors never fail to ask about my squaw. It’s what I like to call her, although one of those visitors, … Continue reading

Toothbrush Holder

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Terese Svoboda, has ended. Original price: 75 cents. Final price: $15.50.] You are fitting it in between the toilet paper and the shaver accessories, on top of the wart remover and … Continue reading