Sotheby’s Takes Its NFT Experiment Into the Metaverse
“Sotheby’s Metaverse” will hold its first sale from Oct. 18–26 with a collection featuring 53 works.
![A flag flies outside Sotheby's auction house on New Bond Street ahead of a preview of 'The Midas Touch' auction in London, U.K., on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. The auction is Sotheby's first auction dedicated entirely to gold, according to a release by the auction house. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images](https://www.coindesk.com/resizer/vAiVu9KcTlX7r6Vd7yqAilHj29E=/567x378/filters:quality(80):format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/UYJJZSJZWBES5O5XVMM26O3H6A.jpg)
Sotheby’s, the 277-year-old British auction house, is staking its claim in the metaverse with the launch of a new platform called “Sotheby’s Metaverse” that allows visitors to view digital artworks available at auction, as well as learn about the collectors and artists behind the non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“Sotheby’s Metaverse” will hold its first sale from Oct. 18–26 with a collection called “Natively Digital 1.2: The Collectors.” Featuring 53 works from 19 NFT collectors, the collection is the second iteration of Sotheby’s first NFT group sale, Natively Digital.
Sotheby’s new platform is powered by Mojito, a commerce suite for creating NFT marketplaces that offers fiat and crypto payments as well as minting functionality. Mojito is optimized for Ethereum and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible networks.
![Cool Cat #160, part of the Sotheby's Metaverse initial auction (Sotheby's)](https://www.coindesk.com/resizer/tfp2XATq5Z5U2nZnmkv0BuAX8e8=/560x560/filters:quality(80):format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/RQEP4J5SLFGQDO2BMDHSWBDO3Y.png)
The metaverse is a space generated by the convergence of virtual worlds, augmented reality and internet services. By offering a collective virtual experience, it has introduced new opportunities to creators, gamers and artists.
Back in April, Sotheby’s held its first sale of NFTs by pseudonymous artist Pak, which fetched $16.8 million over a three-day drop. In March, an NFT drop by Beeple hosted by Christie’s auction house sold for a record $69.3 million. The appetite for NFTs in the high-end luxury market has remained strong, with Dolce & Gabbana’s recent NFT collection, the Collezione Genesi, taking in approximately $5.65 million.
“We have spent months exploring every aspect of the digital art landscape, aligning with some of the most influential minds of the NFT movement to architect a custom marketplace that prioritizes curation and customization,” said Max Moore, Sotheby’s co-head of the digital art sales and head of contemporary art auctions.