Look upon the Mona Lisa.
Before her gaze, you will sense enigma that has kindled legend. Today, she lives in the Louvre Museum in Paris and attracts millions of visitors a year.
She is utterly priceless.
How many times do you think she has been refashioned by other artists in the years since the original was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1503?
Thousands? Ten’s of thousands?
Some of the re-paintings have been so well done that they have perplexed even the most experienced art historians.
But only one is priceless. Only the original.
As good as the replicas might be, the all have almost no value in comparison to Leonardo’s painting.
It has been 500 years since the Renaissance, and that period of time in the cultural and art history has been revered more and more with each passing year. The name, Leonardo Da Vinci stands first amongst the figures associated with the Renaissance, and the Mona Lisa is his most famous offering.
The Mona Lisa’s valuation isn’t solely an indication of its standing as a stunningly beautiful painting. It stands as the unquestioned, pre-eminent symbol of an incredibly important artistic period. Secondly, it is one of only very few completed paintings by one of the most enigmatic and esteemed figures in history.
In short, it is a seismically significant & unique piece of history.
If you grew up in the late nineties, you would recognise the image above.
It is a holographic Charizard, from the Pokemon Trading Card Game.
If you were like most kids back then, you too were swept up in the phenomenon that was Pokemon. You too would save up all your pocket money, and beg for additional funds from your parents and grandparents to purchase a booster pack on your next visit to the local newsagent.
Your heart would pound in anticipation as you tore open that foiled packaging to reveal the prize stored within. 10 cards in a booster pack, one of which was rare. You scrolled through the cards, hands trembling in trepidation, whispering your prayers for a holographic card.
Now if you were really lucky you got a holographic card.
But if you were really lucky, and I mean, really really lucky, you didn’t just get a holographic card. You got a Charizard.
But not all Charizard’s were created the same.
The PSA 10, base Set, 1st edition, shadowless, holographic Charizard.
The Holy Grail… The Mother of Dragons.
Depicted in the image above.
This flimsy, easily duplicated piece of cardboard has never gone down in value since it was first printed in the late 1990’s.
This item last sold for $360,000.
Today, 20 years since its inception, the Pokemon franchise is worth close to $100 Billion. It is the biggest IP franchise in the world, bigger than Star Wars, bigger than Harry Potter and bigger than Mickey Mouse.
The demand for these cards doesn’t lie in their utility, they have almost no application aside from their status as collectables. Furthermore, a good printer, by todays standards could create an almost indistinguishable replica.
But such a card would be worthless in comparison.
For, us the Pokemon trading card game takes us back to our childhood. And the Charizard 1st Edition Shadowless is the pinnacle. And since this particular card was in such short supply to begin with, and those that were printed were usually destroyed on the playground when stacked within rubber bands, or in the grubby hands of teenagers. The PSA 10* version is almost impossible to find. In fact there are less than 50 known cards in existence.
There-in lies their value. This specific Charizard card is the pinnacle of an incredibly culturally significant franchise. In that way, it is nostalgic to a whole to whole generation. Moreover, it is incredibly short supply.
These two factors combined give this piece of cardboard its value.
* A measure of the cards quality. PSA is the leading card grading company and ranks card from 10 — Mint Condition to 1 — Highly worn.
The picture above is piece of Digital Art called a CryptoPunk.
Only a week ago, this image sold for the equivalent of $7.58 Million.
The CryptoPunks project were one of the first projects known as NFT’s. Non — Fungible Tokens. An NFT represents the ownership of any Unique Digital Asset, minted on a Blockchain. In the past Quarter alone, the market for these has completely exploded.
Digital Art has been one the first applications for these NFT’s, and CryptoPunks was one of the projects.
So are people paying millions of dollars for an incredibly simple image that you someone could screenshot and send to someone else via whatsapp or i-message?
I does seem absurd no?
Perhaps not.
The Market for these NFT’s has only just been born into the mainstream, and by every indication, this market will continue to explode until it has pervaded every aspect of our popular culture.
So tell me, years from now, when NFT’s are as pervasive and common as websites and social media accounts, and blockchain technology has diffused through every layer of our society, Will an NFT Digital Art from the very first set of NFT’s minted on the blockchain projects be valuable?
We as human beings are obsessed with ownership. More than anything, we are obsessed with owning things that others desire.
In all the art periods in history, there was only one Renaissance, and within the Renaissance, there was only one Leonardo Da Vinci, who in turn painted only one Mona Lisa.
From thousands of trading card games that emerged in the late 1990’s, There was only one Pokemon franchise. And within the Pokemon trading card game, there is only one Charizard base set, shadowless, 1st edition holographic.
Now thousands of NFT projects will come into the creation, projects like CryptoPunk’s had the benefit of being the first into the market.
But first to start doesn’t always mean you win the race over the long run. Just ask Yahoo and MySpace.
If you believe in the technology of the blockchain and you understand NFT’s, there is no doubt that there are some diamonds in the coal mine.
The question isn’t really whether NFT’s in the future will be valuable. Some certainly will be. A few will dear beyond comprehension. The real question is which.
The art is how to spot them now, and perhaps that is enigma only time will reveal.
