What does it mean to be authentic?

I really enjoyed Sarah's presentation today on Adirondack chairs. These chairs are something that I was familiar with, in terms of knowing what they are, but was unaware of their history and how they came to be about. In her presentation, one of Sarah's discussion questions was "do you think the mass produced/plastic Adirondack chairs have the same connotations as the authentic/wood Adirondack chairs?" This question is hard to answer because in answering it, we have to define what it means to be an "authentic"Adirondack chair...

If you were to ask me, a large part of being authentic has to deal with production - more specifically, who is producing it and where it is being produced. For example, I would not consider an Adirondack chair mass produced in China to be 'authentic.' I would hope that an 'authentic' Adirondack chair was crafted (not produced) in the Adirondacks by someone who knew how to work with wood. For me, another aspect of what defines the word authentic is being crafted using the same building plan and materials that were originally intended for the object. In terms of the chair, this would mean using the same blueprint for the chair, in addition to using the material that would have created the chair back then - wood. For example, I would not consider this Adirondack chair to be authentic:

http://community.pearljam.com/discussion/231344/the-adirondack-chair-appreciation-thread/p2

Yes, it is made of wood and possibly could have been make in the Adirondacks (the website did not specify where it was made), but I can bet you my life's savings that Thomas Lee and Harry Bunnell did not plan or intend for the back of the chair to be crafted in the shape of a human skull. Crafting adaptations and putting modern spins on object invalidates their authenticity. 

Of course, out of all the Adirondack chairs ever produced, the remaining number of chairs that actually fit my definition of authentic would seem to be very few, with the advance of modern day technology and machinery, as well as development of more synthetic, weather resisting materials. But on the other hand, the fact that very few "authentic" Adirondack Chairs actually exists makes them special and gives them some importance to those who possess them. 

After I wrote this post, I looked up authentic just to see how the word is really defined. Merriam-Webster defines the word authentic to be "conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features" as well as "made or done the same way as an original." I would say my homemade definition fits pretty well!