It’s worth noting that this is nothing new; photographic prints have been sold for millions, despite them being trivially replicable. In this case, the uniqueness of what counts as the “original” is constrained by legal contracts as opposed to cryptography. In fact, it’s not unheard of for an artist to print some number of identical “originals” instead of just one. According to Wikipedia’s list of most expensive photographs, the most expensive photo ever sold was Rhein II. This photo has six original editions, of different sizes.
To be fair, though, when dark room work as necessary to develop photos there actually was an original print generated from the negative that might have desirable features that would lead to it being copied rather than the original negative, though then again there was still that original negative to go after as the true “original”.
It’s worth noting that this is nothing new; photographic prints have been sold for millions, despite them being trivially replicable. In this case, the uniqueness of what counts as the “original” is constrained by legal contracts as opposed to cryptography. In fact, it’s not unheard of for an artist to print some number of identical “originals” instead of just one. According to Wikipedia’s list of most expensive photographs, the most expensive photo ever sold was Rhein II. This photo has six original editions, of different sizes.
To be fair, though, when dark room work as necessary to develop photos there actually was an original print generated from the negative that might have desirable features that would lead to it being copied rather than the original negative, though then again there was still that original negative to go after as the true “original”.