This is pretty cool: Significant Objects is a project from Rob Walker (Buying In) and Joshua Glenn (Taking Things Seriously) wherein writers are paired with a cheap garage sale/thrift shop item chosen by the curators. The writers compose a short story about the item, and the item is put up for auction on eBay. "Invested with new significance by this fiction," write Walker and Glenn, "the object should – according to our hypothesis – acquire not merely subjective but objective value." The contributors list includes a ton of names with which you're probably familiar. How's it going so far? "As of Monday morning, 57 thrift-store objects purchased for a total of $77.07 have sold for $1,851.45," says Walker, noting that the money goes to the authors. Anyway, check it out.