by Simon Coates
Articles and items of history have always been of interest to people, with a vibrant industry existing to serve this need. As always, items with important heritage or interesting history have always been sought after. Jewellery made from precious metals command high prices, with older items worth considerable sums of money. In the 23rd century, objects that attract high value are those that have contributed in some way to modern society, dependent on where they are. For people living on Mars or the Moon, anything related to spaceships is in high demand, with items with great historical significance gaining high value, as without spaceships being developed, life could not exist on these celestial objects.
For Earthites, antiques that have a large following are items that date back many more years, as humans have come to live on Mars and the Moon relatively recently. For these people, antiques relating to art and jewellery are highly sought after, as well as items such as documents dating back centuries that had some sort of significant impact on the population at the time.
On Mars especially, there is a huge interest in spaceships, purely down to the fact that without a spaceship industry, life on Mars would not have been possible. Early examples of ships can attract huge prices, especially if they have proven provenance of having travelled during the time of the terraforming project. Items such as inventory rosters or other documents used in this time can command high prices, purely because it was all part of the time of making Mars safe to live. There is also a huge interest in Formula X racing on Mars, in particular there is a very vibrant classic spaceship scene, where privateers own and run their own spaceships. Values of these machines can run into millions of credits, dependent on how successful they were when they raced in the championship. As such a ship represents what an 'ultimate' spaceship is, being purely designed as a machine to go as fast as possible without compromise, they are highly sought after.