Grain Thing

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Joanne McNeil, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $20.50.] Among the many misconceptions that prevail about my great-grandfather, Hartford Townes Hastings, the most infuriating is the idea that he was … Continue reading

Russian Figure

[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 … Continue reading

4-Tile

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Toni Schlesinger, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $88.] “I have something for you,” she says. “For me?” he asks. “For you!” she says. “Wait, waiter, I’ll have a pale … Continue reading

Elvis Chocolate Tin

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Jessica Helfand, has ended. Original price: 50 cents. Final price: $24. This story was part of a special collaboration with Design Observer, where it was co-published here.] Harriet squeezed the last … Continue reading

Porcelain Scooter

[The auction for this Significant Object, with song (MP3, and lyrics, below), by Teddy Blanks, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $2.38. This was part of a special collaboration with Design Observer, where it was co-published here.] CLICK BUTTON … Continue reading

#1 Mom Hooks

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Rachel Berger, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $5.50. This story was part of a special collaboration with Design Observer, where it was co-published, here.] In the fall of 1991, … Continue reading

Marines (Upside-Down) Logo Mug

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Tom Vanderbilt, has ended. Original price: 75 cents. Final price: $37. This story was part of a special collaboration with Design Observer, where it was co-published here.] If he had a … Continue reading

Star of David Plate

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Adam Harrison Levy, has ended. Original price: $2. Final price: $15.50. This story was part of a special collaboration with Design Observer, where it is co-published here.] Now that Budd Schulberg … Continue reading

Rope/Wood Monkey

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Kevin Brockmeier, has ended. Original price: 50 cents. Final price: $41.] I was more or less in love with this girl, and her name was Samantha. I thought I was ugly, … Continue reading

Small Stapler

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Katharine Weber, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $10.50.] Thirty-two years ago I was sent by the Smithers Employment Agency to interview with the worst client in the history of … Continue reading

Unicorn Figurine

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Sarah Weinman, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $26.] A week after the shiva, still not quite used to seeing my own reflection in the uncovered mirrors, I mustered up … Continue reading

Pabst Bottle Opener

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Sean Howe, has ended. Original price: 25 cents. Final price: $20.51.] It’s difficult work, wooing Donna. For one thing, the rhythms of my courtship are constantly interrupted by the lustful swarm … Continue reading

Rhino Figurine

[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 … Continue reading

Cow Vase

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Ed Park, has closed. Original price: $2. Final price: $62.] If you came of age in the ’70s and ’80s, you probably have some sense of what the fantasy game Dungeons … Continue reading

Ireland Cow Plate

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Sarah Rainone, has ended. Original price: $1. Final price: $41.] As my husband and I were driving back to New York after my mother’s funeral, I spotted a general store on … Continue reading

Idol

[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 … Continue reading

Kneeling Man Figurine

[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 … Continue reading

Meat Thermometer

[The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Nicholson Baker, has ended. Original price: 75 cents. Final price: $51.] Everything had a temperature in those days.