The decision to include the auction of NFTs has resulted in almost $150 million worth of sales at Christie’s in 2021.
2021 turned out to be a record-breaking year for Christie’s, partially thanks to the sale of NFTs, which contributed nearly $150 million to the total sales figures for the historic and traditional auction house.
Related | Rare Ape CryptoPunk NFT Sells For $10M
Earlier this year, Beeple’s EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS became the first purely digital work of art ever offered at auction. The artwork fetched more than $69 million, setting the record for the most expensive work sold online.
(2/4) Record Year for Private Sales at Christie’s in 2021 with $1.7B USD projected, including four works sold above $50M. Private sales rose by +108% since 2019. pic.twitter.com/XZ72Awn9cl
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 20, 2021
It was sold at Christie’s, along with another 74 NFTs offered by the historic auction house, raking in a total of $140 million in profits this year.
Among the subsequent NFT auctions, Christie’s dropped the hammer on Larva Labs’ CryptoPunks, five digital artworks made by the 18-year-old transgender artist FEWOCiOUS, and the record-setting success of Christie’s first NFT auction in Asia, No Time Like Present, which sold for $15.6 million.
In a Tweet, the auction house announced that 2021 was its most profitable year, with global sales hitting $7.1 billion.
Private sales alone increased by 108%, with four works of art sold for $50 million, contributing toward the total of $1.7 billion in profits for 2021. Two of their most expensive sales, Basquiat‘s “In This Case” and Picasso‘s “Femme assise près d’une fenêtre” generated almost $200 million combined.
As Christie’s points out, it was the first to launch the sale of digital collectibles globally, and has propelled the adoption of NFT sales since the historical sale of Beeple’s EVERYDAYS and HUMAN ONE.
(4/4) Christie’s sold nearly $150M in NFTS in 2021 after launching this new market first on the global auction stage. We are leading the NFT market since our historic sale of @Beeple’s EVERYDAYS for $69M online in March, followed by HUMAN ONE for $29M in November. pic.twitter.com/BO5uo7qu6E
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 20, 2021
The 2021 NFT market is estimated to be valued at around $12 billion, of which Christie’s $150 million sales contribution helped to establish the presence of digital work in traditional art houses.
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