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Sotheby's wrapped up another successful auction on Thursday, selling non-fungible token (NFT) artwork confiscated from the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) for a staggering $10.9 million.
The thrilling live auction unfolded in New York, featuring an exquisite selection from the coveted "Grails" collection. The assemblage boasted an impressive assortment of 37 masterpieces crafted by renowned generative artists such as Dmitri Cherniak, Tyler Hobbs, Jeff Davis, and numerous others.
Notable highlights from this auction included Dmitri Cherniak's Ringers #879, a piece often nicknamed "The Goose" due to its resemblance to the bird. The artwork had an estimated value of $2-3 million, but after intense bidding, it ultimately sold for a staggering $6.2 million to a prominent NFT investor known as 6529. Sotheby's, in a tweet following the sale, declared it as the second-highest sale ever recorded for a generative art piece.
In August 2021, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the co-founders of <3AC, acquired "The Goose" for approximately 1,800 ETH, which was valued at around $5.8 million back then. According to Michael Bouhanna, the head of digital art and NFTs at Sotheby's, this artwork holds great significance in Cherniak's collection and stands out as one of the most important pieces from the generative art movement.
In an official statement, 6529 emphasized that The Goose possessed immense cultural significance within the NFT community.
"On-chain long form generative art is an act of faith by the artist and the minter. Once the algorithm is committed to the blockchain, nobody knows what outputs it will produce. The Goose represents this more clearly than any generative NFT. We could have run the Ringers mint thousands of times without producing anything like it again. The Goose has had a historic journey so far through key moments in NFT history and I suspect its journey has just begun."
Some notable moments from the auction were Tyler Hobbs' Fidenza #479, fetching an impressive $622,300, while Snowfro's Chromie Squiggle #1780 sold for an astounding $635,000. Larva Labs' Autoglyph #218 and Kjetil Golid's Archetype #397 both achieved a remarkable price of $330,200 each. It is worth mentioning that the majority of NFTs in the auction exceeded their estimated values, adding to the excitement of the event.
In the previous month, Sotheby's initiated a series of auctions featuring NFTs sourced from Three Arrows' substantial NFT collection. This collection was predominantly assembled in 2021 as an integral component of 3AC's asset portfolio. Following the Singapore-based hedge fund's declaration of bankruptcy in July, its liquidator, Teneo, has outlined plans to sell the extensive inventory of NFTs, which is estimated to hold a value amounting to millions of dollars, with the aim of recovering funds.
During the inaugural Grails auction, Sotheby's reported an impressive revenue of almost $2.5 million. Additionally, a separate selection of artworks from the Grails collection was recently sold privately, generating a cumulative sum exceeding $3 million.
Up to this point, the Grails collection liquidation sales have generated an impressive sum of almost $17 million.
Sotheby's has described the Grails collection as a compilation of "some of the most significant digital artworks ever assembled."
"From groundbreaking works that have transformed the art world to culturally significant pieces, this collection is poised to redefine the way we think about and appreciate digital art," the website reads.
The Sotheby's auctions scheduled to take place do not have any connection to the remarkable NFT portfolio of Starry Night Capital. This portfolio was established by 3AC in collaboration with the renowned NFT collector Vincent Van Dough in August 2021.
