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At Art Cologne, which has just ended, there was a lot of talk about NFTs, but they were rather rare to see. They were only presented at a few booths. The Nagel / Draxler gallery showed some of the digital pieces, at König they were on display and at Goelitz. But how does the hype about the NFTs worldwide fit to such a small number of exhibitors? After all, there were 145 exhibitors at the fair, which was still decimated by Corona.

The problem is also described by Monopol magazine: “In fact, (…) digital artists have produced and sold many NFTs – only they are apparently not so suitable for presentation at art fairs.” And even less often for presentation in private or official settings. The solution: 3D spaces, like those found
here: LINK.

On November 25, 2021, Van Ham Art Auctions in Cologne will host the first hybrid conference “Art and NFT – New Artistic Medium and Investment Object for Collectors. Opportunities and Risks” will be held in cooperation with the law firm Wilde Beuger Solmecke. In five lectures, the topic of non-fungible tokens will be intensively examined and considered from different perspectives. Participants can register to attend the event in person or digitally.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have developed rapidly as virtual securitizations of art and collectibles, and digital works have been fetching record prices at least since the spectacular auction of Beeples’ “Everydays: The First 5000 Days.” At Van Ham, hybrid NFTs will go under the hammer for the first time at a German auction house this fall, once again confirming Van Ham’s role as a driver of innovation in the industry. The hybrid NFT conference on November 25, 2021, thus forms an exciting and meaningful addition for all who wish to enter the world of digital securitized collectibles. The interdisciplinary panel will look at NFTs from the technical side (Stephan Noller and Prof. Wolfgang Prinz, Fraunhofer Institute), from the perspective of the art world (Rita Kersting, Museum Ludwig and Markus Eisenbeis), as well as with regard to legal and insurance issues (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm and Madeleine Schulz).

The cooperation between Van Ham and Wilde Beuger Solmecke Rechtsanwälte is based on the integration of new technologies into the own business and the interest to share the common experiences with a broader audience. Such cooperation has already proven itself in past successful interdisciplinary symposia at Van Ham, which were followed with great attention as they always set new impulses in the industry.

Premiere at Van Ham: For the first time a hybrid NFT will be auctioned. In addition to the rights to the NFT, this also vests the right to have the watch built as a one-of-a-kind piece in the Hanhart manufacture. The auction will also be the first time that payment can be made entirely in cryptocurrency at an auction in Germany.

Non Fungible Tokens or NFT have developed rapidly as virtual securitizations of art and collectibles, with digital works fetching record prices. With the Hanhart CXD, the renowned watch manufacturer Hanhart from the Black Forest combines real craftsmanship in highest precision with the digital world for the first time. This first hybrid watch NFT will be auctioned on December 2, 2021, as part of Van Ham’s new “Watches” auction format. The integration of the watch auction in the context of Modern Week with modern and contemporary art is another first and creates unique synergies.

The one-of-a-kind NFT up for auction securitizes the right to the Hanhart CXD design. “We are bridging the gap between the real and virtual worlds because the buyer of the hybrid NFT can also have the Hanhart CXD built by us as a one-of-a-kind piece,” says Felix Wallner, Managing Director of Hanhart. This is because with the purchase of the watch NFT, the buyer receives a second NFT, which can be used to have the Hanhart CXD manufactured as a unique piece by Hanhart within one year for a fee. Since its founding, the manufacture has stood for innovation and built one of the tools for aeronautical progress with its high-precision pilot watches, some of which are still in use today.

“The design of the watch is trend-setting, creates a look based on the idea of blockchain and can even bring it to reality in classic precision craftsmanship,” says Markus Eisenbeis, CEO of Van Ham. “We are proud that Hanhart has chosen Van Ham as a partner. This underlines our claim as an innovation driver in the industry.” The watch NFT will be presented in a specially constructed 3D room. After the auction, Vam Ham will offer the opportunity to continue displaying the watch NFT here.

On December 2, 2021, the hybrid NFT will be offered in the “Watches” auction. This makes Van Ham not only the first German auction house to auction an NFT watch, but also the first where payment is also possible in cryptocurrency. The creation of the NFT as well as the technical processing lies with the company Time To Token IT GmbH in Cologne, which specializes in tokenization.

WWF Germany uses NFTs in its species protection work. Ten artists from around the world have provided artwork for this purpose, including Freehand Profit, Lea Fricke or Bosslogic, who is considered one of the great Marvel or DC cartoonists. They were all inspired by particularly endangered species. The number of each work is limited to the number of specimens still living in the wild.

The WWF calls the tokens “Non Fungible Animal”. Each artwork is digitized and converted into as many NFAs as the animal currently still exists in the wild: 290 still-living giant ibises become 290 limited edition NFAs. In this way, every single artwork embodies an individual animal whose threat is to be drawn attention to by NFAs.

Feisty Doge, the dog behind the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, has long been famous. Now he is also rich – or at least the owner of the Feisty Doge NFT. Sold in small bites, it reached a combined value of around 85 million US dollars. The NFT thus replaces Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days, a work that had brought 69.3 million US dollars.

43,279 US dollars had been paid for the NFT by the Feisty Doge buyer in June 2021. The increase in value is not because another collector offered more money. The path was simple: on 19 August 2021, the owner wrote on Twitter that he had divided the auctioned NFT into 100 billion tokens. Many, many people bought the small shares – and together paid the staggering 85 million US dollars.

So if individual NFTs are too expensive, they can also be split up and sold more cheaply. In the world of the stock exchange, this is known as a stock split. This means that one share of a company is divided into ten new shares. The price per share is then only one tenth, which makes the paper visually cheaper.

In the case of the Doge NFT, one can therefore ask whether it really represents the new record NFT? But since the NFT itself was divided, the calculation is quite correct.