The marketplace will feature a rotating selection of curated artists and will support transactions on Ethereum and Polygon.
Luxury auction house Sotheby’s has been involved in Web3 since 2021, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Yesterday, Sotheby’s Metaverse took to Twitter to announce the launch of a new NFT marketplace that will feature work from a curated, rotating selection of leading artists.
The tweet stated the marketplace will feature “a rotating, curated selection of leading artists hand-picked by Sotheby’s specialists, providing expert guidance and context for each work, from thematic presentations to artist spotlights, for an easy-to-navigate experience designed for discovery.”
Among the illustrious lineup of featured artists are digital visionaries including Sebastio Salgado, Tyler Hobbs and Claire Silver, among others. The marketplace claims to be “artist-first”, featuring in-depth artist spotlights with thematic story-telling descriptions.
The eclectic lineup reflects a positive artistic shift in the NFT landscape and redefines the boundaries of traditional art sales.
The Sotheby’s marketplace will support Ethereum and Polygon-based tokens with fully on-chain transactions. Artist royalties will also be honoured directly on-chain.
Sotheby’s first entered the world of cryptocurrency in June 2021 when it partnered with Coinbase for the auction of Banksy’s “Love is in the Air”. The auction house allowed bidders to make payments for the artwork using Bitcoin or Ethereum, marking the first time a major auction house accepted cryptocurrency as a form of payment. The artwork sold at a hammer price of $16.9 million.
A month later, Sotheby’s sold a 101.38-carat diamond for HK$95.1 million (US$12.1 million) in an unspecified cryptocurrency at an auction in Hong Kong, again showcasing the growing acceptance of digital assets.
More recently, the auction house announced the forthcoming sale of the coveted “GRAILS” art collection. GRAILS was formed as part of bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, and according to Sotheby’s Metaverse, the collection is “unparalleled in its celebration of the prominent artists who helped bring NFTs and digital art to the cultural mainstream through their innovative and conceptual approaches.”
The sale will commence on May 19 during the Marquee Sale Week at Sotheby’s New York.
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