[ExI] Antiques as a store of value

[BillK]

On Feb 12, 2008 7:19 PM, PJ Manney wrote:
> Your 2 cents are correct.  The psychology is rife in any form of
> collecting.  It could be art, cars, stamps, etc.  In fact, the
> reproduction often raises the original's value because the fame of the
> object is heightened and therefore it's more desirable as an object.
>
<snip>
>
> The prices reflect the knowledge that these things can be sold at any
> time to another person just like the buyer.  They are valued
> commodities and investments in a psychology that is unlikely to
> change, as long as there are a small group of people with unbelievable
> amounts of money and many more without.
>


Agreed 100%!  That is exactly the way the art and antique market operates today.

My point is that (still to be invented nanotech) molecular copying
will produce another absolutely identical specimen. Not a copy, not a
print, not a similar object, but an object that is atom by atom
identical.
Put two in the same room and nobody will be able to tell the difference.
They will both have the same spots of the artist's blood where he cut
his finger, etc. Every test you can do, x-rays, carbon dating,
chemical paint testing, will all come up with the same results.

If you cannot know which is the original, where is the added value?

BillK