Rise of Alternative Investment Asset Class | Oleg Tselkov Painting Auction as NFT Art at Sotheby’s

November 10, 2021 – Vilnius, Lithuania

In an upcoming NFT auction taking place on November 12, 2021, the oil painting ‘Head with Legs’ by the prominent nonconformist Russian artist and painter of the post-war period, Oleg Tselkov, is being auctioned with a corresponding NFT.

Sotheby’s is soon to auction off another painting by the artist, albeit a smaller one, and the starting bid is already $147,666. Although the previous September auction for post-war and contemporary Russian art showed us that investors are willing to pay higher prices than the estimated price for Oleg Tselkov’s work.

There are just two days left to claim the painting. There’s still time to bid at superhow.ART are until November 12, 2021.

NFT – another way to invest in fine art

Alternative investments such as art, wine, and NFTs are on the rise as inflation hits record levels and crypto investments remain fearful of volatility. The auction represents the unification of two trending investment asset classes – fine art, a long-time performer, and the new, explosive NFT class.

As an asset class, fine art has a high risk-to-reward ratio. An art asset such as Oleg Tselkov’s painting being auctioned as an NFT may provide the ability to enjoy an exciting value proposition for a whole new investor class.

Competition with a twist – whales versus shrimps
During the auction, superhow.ART is hosting an experimental competition between big investors and the enthusiast community to see who has more power in their hands.

Organizers have introduced two bidding sides – whales and shrimps. All bids placed by the shrimps are accumulated into a pool, which will compete with the whales’ individual bids. If a whale wins, they get the physical painting, and the corresponding NFT is assigned to them.

If the shrimps win, the NFT will be split into multiple parts that correspond to the shrimp bids and assigned to their wallet addresses. The painting will remain in the gallery but will become co-owned.

Vytautas Kašėta, CEO of superhow.ART, said,

“We want to check if whales are stronger than the community. Maybe the community will show that small market players with joint forces can win and become fractional owners of this beautiful investment asset.”

Things to note

This type of auction format – whales versus shrimps – is the first of its kind. Thus, it remains to be seen how it performs.

The project has been developed by long-time blockchain development experts at SUPER HOW? who previously worked with the national bank of Lithuania and other high-profile blockchain projects.

As Ethereum gas fees are high, it remains to be seen if it will become a competition only for ‘whales’ who want to own the whole NFT and are less concerned with the gas prices or if ‘shrimps’ see the value proposition and will band together to win against the big players.

In the digital world, where everything can be copied, the rightful ownership and authenticity of the artwork – as well as the NFTs certificate – defines great success.

A single piece of artwork, when bonded with an NFT, is unique – and metadata can’t be misused without notice and transparency. Digital certificates must be approved and signed off by fine art industry experts, like Arty Cube gallery for Oleg Tselkov in the case of ‘Head with Legs’ fractional NFTs.

About SUPER HOW?

SUPER HOW? is a Lithuanian private research and development lab that is focused on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Previous work includes working with the central bank of Lithuania to develop LBCOIN, the world’s first blockchain-based digital collector coin.

Contact

Vytautas Kašėta, CEO of superhow.ART