["American Anthropologist, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nAffordable Chinese copies of Western brands are ubiquitous in African markets. Despite democratizing consumer access, these goods appear to cement hegemonic value hierarchies that rank Chinese or local products as inferior to Western goods. To unsettle this implicit geography of fakes and dominant politics of authentication, scholars have proposed a continuum of hybrid identities—from genuine fakes to copied originals—seeking to collapse a simplistic dichotomy between originals and counterfeits. This article argues the opposite: Upholding this dichotomy is crucial for Nigerian entrepreneurs operating in counterfeit economies to stake original claims by means other than being “first” or “from the West,” often impossible production conditions to satisfy. Following a well‐known Spanish brand of soaps and lotions, Idole, and other Western cosmetics brands in Nigerian markets and on e‐commerce platforms, this ethnographic study shows how improving quality, concentrating quantity, and expanding the variety of fakes offer new epistemological possibilities for what makes an original original. Counterfeits become originals when performance distorts primacy and where popularity inverts provenance. Informed by Chinese philosophies on copying, the “mutable original” captures sellers’ and buyers’ paradoxical indifference to copying and investment in originals, along with the commercial and cultural contexts that nurture these seemingly counterintuitive interests.\n\nỤMỊ\nNrụpụta ndị Bekee nke ndị Chaina rụgharịrị jupụtara ahịa Afrika. N'agbanyeghị na mmadụ niile nwere ike ịnweta ha, ngwa ahịa ndị a na‐emezi ka‐ahụta nke ndị Chaina dịka ihe na‐erughị nke ndị Bekee. Iji megharịa ndọrọndọrọ nke ná‐abụghị ezigboya a, ndị Ọkammụta asịla ka e nwee ndịnaotu ihe abụọ—site na nke ná‐abụghị ezigboya ama ama ruo ezigboya arụgharịrị arụgharị—ebe ha chọrọ iwepụ ndịiche dị na ezigboya na adịgboroja. Edemede a na‐ekwu ọzọ: ị kwado ndịiche a nwere uru nye ndị Naịjiria na‐azụ ahịa adịgboroja a, ka ha nwee ike sị na ahịa ha bụ ezigboya na‐asịghị na o si n'ala Bekee, ọnọdụ nrụpụta na‐esikari ike imezu. N'itụle ụlọọrụ ndị Speeni bụ Idole na‐arụpụta ncha na ude, na ndị nke Bekee ndị dị n'ahịa Naịjiria na nke ịntaneetị, edemede nchọpụta a na‐egosi ka ịkwalite mma, ịgbanye mgbọrọgwụ n’ọtụtụ, na ịmụba ụdị adịgboroja na‐esi eweta mmụta ọhụrụ banyere ihe na‐eme ezigboya ezigboya. Adịgboroja na‐aghọ ezigboya mgbe arụmọrụ lofiri ọnọdụ mbụ, nakwa ebe ewu ewu tụgharịrị isi mmalite. Site na nghọta ndị Chaina banyere nṅomi, ‘ezigbo nwere mgbanwe’ kowara mmasị ndị orire na ndị ọzụzụ nwere na nṅomi na ezigboya, nakwa ọnọdụ azụmaahịa na omenaala na‐akwalite ụdị mmasị a pụrụ iche.\n\n摘要\n中国制造的西方品牌仿品因价格低廉而在非洲市场广为流行。尽管降低了消费门槛, 这些商品的存在同时巩固了一种现存的价值等级, 即中国产品或本地产品被认为次于西方商品。为打破这种关于“假货”的隐含地理想象, 及其背后关于“原真性”的主流观念, 学者们提出了一系列混合体概念, 如“真实的假货”和“被复制的原作”, 以消解正品与仿品之间的二元对立。本文则提出相反观点:对于活跃于仿品经济中的尼日利亚企业家而言, 正品与仿品间的二元对立至关重要, 因为这使他们能够在既非“最先生产”也非“来自西方”(这些生产条件往往无法实现)的情况下利用“原真性”的主张巩固自身利益。通过追踪西班牙知名香皂与润肤品牌Idole及其他西方化妆品品牌在尼日利亚市场与电商平台上的流通, 本研究发现, 对仿品质量的提升、数量的集中以及种类的扩展, 为“什么是原作”提供了新的认识基础。当表现扭曲了“先在性”、流行度颠倒了“来源性”时, 仿品便转化为原作。借鉴中国哲学对“临仿”的思考, 本文通过“可变的原真”这一概念解释了买卖双方对复制的冷漠与对原作的投入, 并阐明了孕育这种看似反直觉的商业行为背后的文化语境。\n"]