British Auction House Christie’s Records $318M Art Collection Sale On Blockchain
British auction house Christie’s has announced that it used blockchain technology to record the Barney A. Ebsworth Collection sale at its auction house in New York.
The Barney A. Ebsworth Collection, a privately-held collection of 20th century Modernist American art, was sold for $317.8 million. Christie’s said the sale marked the first time an art auction at this price level has been recorded on a blockchain. The transaction took place via a secure digital registry administered by Artory, an art-centric technology provider.
The Artory Registry creates a secure digital record of transactions, with a goal of providing greater confidence in an artwork’s ongoing provenance and greater efficiency in its eventual resale. Collectors with artworks registered with Artory maintain anonymity, as their identity is never stored in the registry.
According to Christie’s, the blue-chip nature of the works that Ebsworth assembled resulted in auction records for a veritable who’s who of American art across the last 100 years. Thirteen artist auction records were set and two records by medium, including that for the most expensive work of pre-war American art with Edward Hopper’s Chop Suey, which sold for $91,875,000. The final total for the sale was $323,103,500.
Richard Entrup, CIO at Christie’s, said that the introduction of blockchain into such a significant sale has opened a new collecting audience to the benefits of blockchain technology in the art space, and sets the stage for more developments in the future.
“The Ebsworth Collection has been the ideal pilot for exploring this exciting innovation, given the rich history and provenance of the artworks in the collection and the exceptional prices achieved for major blue-chip artists, including Edward Hopper and Willem de Kooning,” Entrup said. “Christie’s is pleased to have introduced this exciting technology to our clients as a first step towards broader adoption of blockchain innovations for the art market.”
Nanne Dekking, Founder and CEO of Artory, said that they support auction houses by enabling them to provide their clients with blockchain-encrypted trust and security, as well as a modern technology experience that buyers expect.
“For first-time buyers and experienced collectors alike, Artory provides the reassurance that they are dealing with a vetted seller, there will be an immutable record of the transaction, and that they will receive a certificate of sale from an independent third party—all of which encourages them to buy and sell with confidence,” Dekking said.
