Is the nature of the item or the item itself interchangeable? If the item is of great value - and is desirable or important solely because of that value, rather than any properties of the item itself - there is little difference between a diamond, a priceless painting, or an exotic statue, as the objectives surrounding it would differ only trivially: The plans surrounding its theft would be largely the same, the mission to transport it to a specific place would be largely the same, and the investigation to locate it would be the same.To determine if an object is a MacGuffin, one can ask certain questions:

It usually takes the form of a mysterious artifact, package, or weapon that everyone in the story is chasing, though in some cases it won't even be shown. It won't pop up again later, it won't explain the ending, and it won't do anything except possibly distract you while you try to figure out its significance. McGuffin or maguffin) is a term for an object or element in a story that drives the plot, but serves no further purpose.

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