Missouri Shotglass

[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

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

Lighter Shaped Like Small Pool Ball

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by (Six-Word Story Contest winner) Rob Agredo, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $27.] “You lose,” she puffed.

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

Rooster Oven Mitt

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Victor LaValle, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $51.99.] Who the hell goes to Portugal? In my family? The question arose as my sister and I were going through my … Continue reading

Pink Horse

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Kate Bernheimer, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $104.50.] A long time ago, I was very poor and often traded my body for cigarettes, Chelada, or food (in order of … 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

Jar of Marbles

[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. … 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

Flip-Flop Frame

[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 wreaths becomes transformed … 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

Dilbert Stress Toy

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Betsey Swardlick, has ended. Original price: 25 cents. Final price: $26. This story is the third in a three-part series produced in collaboration with The Center for Cartoon Studies. ]

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. ]