The sale of digital fragments from the world famous work “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt made the Belvedere millions in profit. 10,000 digital parts of the image were sold to art enthusiasts willing to invest using non-exchangeable tokens (NFT) – but the digital image fragments are now worth a fraction of the purchase value.
The sale of some 2,500 NFTs brought no less than 4.4 million euros into Belvedere’s treasury. For the first time, the Federal Museum intervened in the trend towards digital image sales, which prompted a huge number of people to invest, especially at the beginning of the year.
Buyers have no property rights
A 100×100 grid was superimposed over the world-famous painting to create the individual high-resolution parts. The resulting 10,000 segments are randomly assigned to buyers.
The buyers are allowed to digitally display, print and trade the obtained images. But they don’t own it.
Speculation probably not particularly lucrative
However, such a purchase does not appear to have been particularly lucrative. Meanwhile, the NFTs traded in the cryptocurrency Ethereum have suffered a loss of value of as much as 87 percent. After an original retail value of 1,850 euros, the fragments are now available on the “Opensea” marketplace for only 220 euros.
One reason for this can probably be found in the situation on the world market. In general, the numerous digital assets are currently experiencing declining values - almost all cryptocurrencies have fallen in value enormously lately. This also affects the digital collectibles, whose prices have fallen even more dramatically.
The Leopold Museum also wants to benefit from the trend
However, the trend is apparently not completely abandoned: for example, there is a sales campaign by the Leopold Museum, which has launched its own NFTs, until May 26. You can purchase 24 digital versions of works by Egon Schiele. The prices for these go even further than those of the Belvedere – depending on the category, the extracts cost 499 to 100,000 euros. However, it remains to be seen whether these NFTs will hold their value.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
