Friday, February 7, 2003

Special Objects, Special Treatment Almost anything, it seems, could be considered 'special.' Like the word art, special it is at least in the eye of the beholder. Special is something that is out of the ordinary, distinct from others of its kind. (dictionary.com) To the casual observer the distinction may not readily apparent. For a quick example. Let's take a free market assumption that things that are special (in a positive way) cost more than others things of its kind. A quick look high and low value (specialness) on ebay turns up: Vases$130,000.00 to $0.01, Mugs $595.00 to $0.01 Plates $4,025.00 to $0.01 Without knowing a lot about the pieces, it may be hard to tell by just looking physically at the them which one are more special (higher monetary value in our free market ebay example.) You could look at the age of the piece, if it was created in rare or valuable materials, the quality of craftsmanship, these may lead you to suppose a certain type of value... However, you could also look outside the piece. How it is presented or displayed. This may also include clues at to its value. Again with our ebay example, the $4025.00 plate (Picasso) includes 4 nicely lighted photos of the work, on a pleasing background, showing different sides, and the ability to enlarge them to make out the details, where as the $0.01 plate (Cute Care Bears Baby Funshine Bear Plate) is dark with a distracting background, with detail available. Curiously, ebay pictures of the expensive and cheap vases and mugs all seem to be of a similar (low) quality. Perhaps this is because the ebay free market example is faulty, and/or, we are seeing how people value their own objects. Despite the price difference, people value their own objects similarly. They treat each with the same degree of 'specialness'. 3:42:32 PM