Sotheby’s, one of the world’s leading auction houses, hosted its fourth metaverse auction from March 30, 2022, to April 4, 2022, featuring 24 NFTs from the “LFC Heroes Club” series launched by Liverpool F.C.
The ‘Legendary’ 1/1 auctions and the ‘Hero’ limited edition sale included 24 unique “Legendary” 1 of 1 NFTs and a series of generative “Hero Edition” NFTs.
All 24 lots for the “Legendary” NFTs sold during the auction, with final prices for each piece ranging from $10,710 to $88,200. Total sales for this latest auction were $745,290. The biggest sellers were Mohamed Salah's NFT at $88,200, Jurgen Klopp's at $81,900 and Trent Alexander-Arnold's at $69,300.
The sale also included a series of generative “Hero Edition” NFTs. A total of 9,721 of the potential 171,072 generative NFTs were sold, bringing the total event sales to $1,474,365.
See also: NFT Release Calendar
Owners of the NFTs have access to an LFC community forum, unique experiences, virtual hang-outs, competitions, guest appearances, updates from the LFC Foundation and LFC retail discounts.
NFTs and the Growing Global Art Market
Digital art NFTs have been making a significant impact on the global art market. The major auction houses, including Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips, all introduced NFTs into their auctions in 2021, with total auction turnover for the year landing at $232.43 million.
While making up only a small fraction of a total $17.1 billion auction turnover in 2021, NFTs are attracting a new pool of buyers into the art market. The pandemic also forced the top auction houses to accelerate their digital transformation, bringing many of the once exclusive art auctions to an online platform and further broadening the buyer pool.
The expanding marketplace made 2021 a record-breaking year in terms of total auction turnover for fine art and the total number of lots sold. The Mei Moses All Art Index, which tracks re-sales of artworks at auction, registered a 17% increase, its highest gain since the financial recovery in 2010.
The ability to invest in fractionalized assets has also made waves throughout the art market, with online platforms allowing individuals to purchase shares of iconic paintings from artists like Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Banksy and others.
See also: Benzinga’s top art offerings
This article has been corrected to clarify that the total amount of the NFT sale was $1,474,365.
Photo: Courtesy of Liverpool F.C.
