Somewhat related thought: A museum may proudly display a work for many years, but the moment it is revealed to be a forgery — be it a Vermeer or an ancient sculpture — it is deemed worthless and is cast into the outer darkness, never to be seen again by any but scholars and students.

The work is objectively no less beautiful than it was when it was thought to be authentic, and yet it is now deemed to be valueless.

Artists who paint or sculpt in the style of a predecessor are not much respected, although much original art is trash: Jeff Koons? Roy Lichtenstein? Sharks in formaldehyde?

Authentic originality would seem to be all.

Similarly, in academia originality is valued over all else. Work which is not original is dismissed as derivative. Teaching is held in low esteem, in contrast to earlier times when educating the young was seen as a chief function, and perhaps the most important because new learning is valuable making a new generation of good citizens is indispensable.

Most digital copies are not distinguishable without e.g. chemical analysis of the ink. They’re so good as to be a window through space and/or time.