You can sign up now for early access to Dr. Seuss digital collectibles.
Dr. Seuss is coming to blockchain. The beloved children's author, who has recently been in some hot water due to racially insensitive drawings he made in the 1930s and 40s, is now leaping into the future. What this means is that there will soon be Dr. Seuss collectibles available as NFTs. That stands for “nonfungible tokens.” If this all sounds crazy, just remember that Beeple's NFT artwork, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, recently sold for $69.3 million. This NFT stuff is serious business, and Dr. Seuss is primed to grab a piece of the action.
As best I understand, which is not much, NFTs are digital copies of something, similar to bitcoin's version of money. However, they are not fungible, meaning they are not like commodities, interchangeable like bitcoins. Being non-fungible, each one is unique. If you own a non-fungible digital token, you own the only one. That makes it more valuable to collectors for whom exclusivity is highly rated. This is why someone paid $69.3 million for a digital image on his computer which looks remarkably similar to every other image of the same artwork that appears on your computer monitor, only this one comes with a non-fungible token.
The token, or NFT, is not something you can hold in your hand any more than is the digital artwork. It is simply something that establishes that you are the owner of the original digital image. Who wouldn't pay $69.3 million for those bragging rights? It does have the advantage of living on forever. It can't be destroyed by fire or water, like physical artwork. Of course, if someone hacks the blockchain network I don't know what happens. I guess you have to have a lot of faith in its security to spend that much money on an NFT.
The World of Dr. Seuss consists of collectibles being launched on the Flow blockchain by its creator, Dapper Labs. This is a fairly recently established business which started with CryptoKitties. You may know them, or like me, not. They are some sort of digital collectible cats that apparently has a healthy following. Last year, they announced several more collectibles would be launched. So far, they have launched only NBA TopShot. They make NFTs available of NBA highlights. They have been licensed by the NBA to do this. According to an article on CNBC.com on March 2 of this year, collectors had already traded $230 million in NBA highlights. Someone paid $200,000 for the rights to a video of Lebron James performing one of his moves.
The World of Dr. Seuss is one of the other crypto-collectibles to be launched. Although announced in July of last year, it has not yet made its debut. However, you can sign up now for early access when it becomes available.
As with the NBA, Dapper Labs has obtained a licensing agreement with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which holds the copyrights to Seuss' material. They are the ones who upset some people a few months ago when they announced they would no longer publish six of Seuss' titles which displayed some insensitivity. Perhaps this will make up some of that lost revenue. In announcing the agreement last July, Susan Brandt, President of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, said, “Dr. Seuss fans are some of the most passionate fans in the world. By partnering with a company like Dapper Labs, a true trailblazer in the blockchain space, we will be able to offer our fans something entirely new. Digital collectibles will allow Dr. Seuss fans to revisit and revel in their favorite characters in an entirely new way.”
Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs, added, “with our new Dr. Seuss digital decal experience, we are marrying the best of both worlds – allowing fans to interact and discover something entirely new, while tapping into our collective nostalgia for the characters that mean so much from our childhood.”
Somehow or other, these digital collectibles are created. They will feature many of Seuss' famous personalities, such as the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, Horton, Thing One and Thing Two. Presumably, they will not create any of these collectibles based on Seuss' Asian characterizations from the war years and before. Followers can collect them and if they miss out at first, can trade with others to build their collections. I really have no idea how this works, but I don't have to. I have no interest in collecting NFTs. To me, Dr Seuss will always be a beloved author, not a non-fungible token.
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
Dominic Winter Auctioneers
April 9 Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Johnson (C.). A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pyrates, 1724. £3,000-4,000
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ordonez de Cevallos (Pedro). Viage del Mundo, 1st edition, Madrid: Luis Sanchez, 1614. £1,000-1,500
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: North America. Merian (Matthaus), Virginia..., 1627 or later. £1,500-2,500
Dominic Winter Auctioneers
April 9 Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: World. Waldseemuller (Martin), Tabula Nova Totius Orbis, Vienne: 1541. £2,000-3,000
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Erasmus (Desiderius). The ... paraphrase of Erasmus... 2 volumes, 1st edition, 1549. £3,000-5,000
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000
Dominic Winter Auctioneers
April 9 Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Smith (Lucy). Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, 1st edition, 1853. £1,000-1,500
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Derain (Andre). Pantagruel, signed limited edition, Albert Skira, 1943. £2,000-3,000
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Austen (Jane). Pride and Prejudice, illustrated by Hugh Thomson, Large Paper edition, 1894. £1,500-2,000
Dominic Winter Auctioneers
April 9 Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ellison (Ralph). Invisible Man, 1st edition, New York: Random House, 1952. £200-300
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 4: Various entertainers, Group of 30 items, signed or inscribed, various dates. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 27: John Adams, Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Rush introducing Archibald Redford, Paris, 1783. $35,000 to $50,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 36: Robert Gould Shaw, Autograph Letter Signed to his father from Camp Andrew, Boston, 1861. $10,000 to $15,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 53: Martin Luther King Jr., Time magazine cover, signed and inscribed "Best Wishes," 1957. $5,000 to $7,500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 127: Paul Gauguin, Autograph Letter regarding payment for paintings, with woodcut letterhead, 1900. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 169: Suck: First European Sex Paper, complete group of eight issues, 1969-1974. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 173: Black Panthers, The Racist Dog Policemen Must Withdraw Immediately From Our Communities, poster, 1969. $2,000 to $3,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 187: Marc Attali & Jacques Delfau, Les Erotiques du Regard, first edition, Paris, 1968. $300 to $500.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 213: Andy Warhol, Warhol's Index Book, first printing, New York, 1967. $800 to $1,200.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 215: Cookie Mueller, Archive of 17 items, including 4 items inscribed and signed. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 249: Jamie Reid, The Ten Lessons / The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle; Sex Pistols, chromogenic print with collage, signed, circa 1980. $20,000 to $30,000.
![Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/e47bb03e-3f3d-4f68-9e79-b0b2739ca87c.jpg "<b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 9:</b> Bible [English]. [<i>The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament,</i> 1562]. £3,000-5,000")
