Historicity

The flood of forged americana in the PSA reminds me of Warren Ellis' novel Gun Machine. The story takes place in modern Manhattan, but spends a good deal of time referring back to the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. The indigenous people of Manahatta used wampum (beaded belts) as their currency. When the Dutch realized this, they began "flooding the market" with forgeries, eventually collapsing the whole economy. Mr. W-M lectures his date on the notion of "historicity"; that is, the history of an object is what makes it valuable, but if someone is lead to believe  an item has history, then it becomes valuable, despite its authenticity.