Stars are not born - they are made. This applies not only to sports or the entertainment industry, but also to museum objects. For which the art world offers multifaceted examples. But this also pertains to items collected in ethnological museums: some of them have a career, achieve a certain fame, or even become international icons, while others spend their "life in the museum" largely overlooked in storage. How this comes about and what factors are decisive in whether an object becomes a star or a loser is the focus of this research work. Based on well-known and unknown objects from Africa and Oceania in the collection of the Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich, it addresses the question of their "making-of," as well as the dynamics related to their perception, interpretation, and appreciation.