A print newspaper from 1945 heralding the end of World War II. (Source: Etsy)

Picasso’s beret. Mark Twain’s notebook. John Lennon’s glasses. If you’ve ever gazed at a relic once owned by a notable historical figure, you know the feeling that follows: a sense of peering into history, the sum total of your knowledge of that person hitting you at once, made real by the remarkable plainness of the artifact.

In his alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle, famed author Philip K. Dick posited the idea of wu – the sense of historicity embedded in an object that elevates Twain’s notebook from a common pad, or Lennon’s glasses from a similar pair bought on the street corner.

Physical objects of extraordinary significance like these are obviously unique. But on the flip side, what does this mean for virtual goods? Would Picasso’s favorite TF2 hat be capable of exuding the same borderline mystical properties? Or does the recent shift towards virtual goods indicate a loss of authentic historicity in our objects, and summarily, our world?