Significant Objects

Jar of Marbles

Monday, November 2, 2009

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Ben Ehrenreich, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $50.] I pull a marble from your skull each time we kiss. “Give it back,” you say, each time. “Darling,” I say. “Baby,” I say. “No.” I put the marble in my pocket. Later, I will hide it with the [...]

Cracker Barrel Ornament

Friday, October 30, 2009

6 Comments

[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 that upholds Christian values by refusing to hire gay people. In fact, the object dates to [...]

Flip-Flop Frame

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

2 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Merrill Markoe, has ended. Original price: 59 cents. Final price: $21.80.] Any image that has been carefully placed in an antique gold frame embossed with angels and laurel wreathes becomes transformed in to something elevated and celestial. “All you need to know about this old person/building/animal/plate of [...]

Clown Figurine

Friday, October 9, 2009

1 Comment

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Nick Asbury, has ended. Original price: $2. Final price: $11.61. ] Kenny is a funny clown Kenny is a funny clown. He sees the whole world upside-down. Kenny is my best friend. The day before Kenny was born, he said “I bet I can live life standing on me ’ead!” Kenny is from [...]

Wave Box

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

3 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Teddy Wayne, has ended. Original price: 50 cents. Final price: $20.50.] At the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, on a June weekend in 2007, eighty-two men and women from Sealy, the mattress giant, converged for their national sales meeting. Sealy was falling behind [...]

Maine Statutes Dish

Monday, September 28, 2009

5 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Ben Katchor, has ended. Original price: 50 cents. Final price: $42.] This beautiful, but slightly worn, example of early 20th century porcelain “bookware” was manufactured and distributed free-of-charge along with newly printed copies of the “Maine Revised Statutes Annotated” — a dreary compendium of state laws. This example, [...]

Duck Vase

Friday, September 25, 2009

4 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Matthew Klam, has ended. Original price: $1.99. Final price: $15.75. ] I acquired this object at a flea market in the parking lot of a bilingual high school. Its little hands are smooth flippers. I believe it to be quite valuable, possibly antique, based on dates of [...]

Rainbow Sand Animal

Friday, September 4, 2009

2 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Sloane Crosley, has ended. Original price: 99 cents. Final price: $57.66.] Alec Baldwin never had a Bar Mitzvah. The non-fact of this, the bloated lack in the calendar of his mind, haunted him. How could he be a sterling example of manhood to little Billy, Danny and [...]

Device

Thursday, August 27, 2009

3 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Tom Bartlett, has ended. Original price: $4. Final price: $15.50.] From June 1996 to February 1999 I worked as a manager at a well-known electronic supply retailer in a mostly vacant strip mall on the outskirts of a medium-sized metropolitan area located in the southeastern United States. [...]

Russian Figure

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

10 Comments

[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 [...]

Foppish Figurine

Thursday, July 30, 2009

7 Comments

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Rob Baedeker, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $17.82.] Baron Von Blauheimer “Muscle Dove” Statuette This is a porcelain statuette of the Baron Von Blaueheimer holding a “peace dove” on his cocked fist. The statuette dates from the 1980’s, but it is modeled after a real historical [...]

Nutcracker with Troll Hair (or something)

Friday, July 17, 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 [...]

Tag Archive | "funny"

Jar of Marbles

Cracker Barrel Ornament

Flip-Flop Frame

Clown Figurine

Wave Box

Maine Statutes Dish

Duck Vase

Rainbow Sand Animal

Device

Russian Figure

Foppish Figurine

Nutcracker with Troll Hair (or something)

S.O. v1 — the EXPERIMENT

S.O. v2 — for 826 National

S.O. v3 — for Girls Write Now

Special Epistolary Week