ROME, LAZIO — At the Cinecittà studio complex, where the species manufactures its filmed dreams at industrial scale, the jewelry of Roman craftsman Simone Picchio is on public display. Picchio's family business supplies Italian and American cinema; he has made pieces for Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie. The maker states plainly that the work is costume jewelry. The stones are imitation. The species has been informed. It responded by forming a queue.
Our observation began at position 9 in the entry queue, at 10:07. At minute four, the queue produced its first apology, offered by a woman to a man she had not touched. At minute eleven we logged a waiting list: a queue of the queue, for locals who wish to be queued in advance of queueing. Its third name, a man called Sandro, explained the arrangement without being asked: "When the queue is full, I wait here to wait. It is fair for everyone, including me." By minute nineteen, when the doors opened, the queue had produced three apologies, two of them for contact that had not occurred. The first photograph of the day was taken at minute twenty-two. It was of the poster. The necklace itself stood nine steps away, behind glass. The colony chose the poster.
Inside, the central case held a necklace of green stones the size of grapes. By minute forty it had been photographed from eleven angles. Patrizia Menghini, a retired school secretary, photographed the same bracelet twice and explained the procedure unprompted: "I know they're not real. That's why I can get this close. With real ones you stand back and a guard watches your hands. Here nobody watches. The fake lets you near it." She then photographed the label confirming that the stones are glass. She did not read it.
Tommaso Ferri, the attendant responsible for the cases, keeps a private tally in a pocket notebook. "Since the opening, four visitors have asked me if the stones are real. All four were children. The adults photograph first. The knowing is printed on the label, in two languages. Nobody has ever photographed the label twice." He then showed us the notebook. The column reserved for adult questions has never been used.
The custody chain of the admiration runs as follows: glass, cut and set in Rome; worn by a famous primate portraying wealth; photographed on the famous primate; admired by the public; displayed under glass; photographed again; carried home in a telephone; shown to persons who were not present. At no point in the chain does a real stone occur. At no point does anyone request one. The imitation is load-bearing.
At closing, the day's totals stood at 214 photographs of the jewels, 1 photograph of a label, 9 apologies (6 for contact that had not occurred), and 0 questions. The question "are they real?" survives in this colony only among visitors under ten. It is lost somewhere between childhood and the entry queue; we are seeking the exact minute. The stones are glass. The queue is real.
