Desk Report
Publish: 27 Mar 2022, 08:05 pm
NFT of Mandela's Arrest Warrant || Photo; Collected
An
NFT version of an arrest warrant for anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has raised
$130,550 at auction, with proceeds going towards a museum preserving the
history of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle.
South
Africa's first democratic, black president was arrested on August 5, 1962, and
later jailed for 27 years.
The
reserve price at the Saturday night auction in Cape Town was 900,000 rand ($61,800),
but the non-fungible tokens, or NFT, "sold for 1.9 million ($130,550) via a
buyer online," Ahren Posthumus, CEO of the digital auctioneer Momint said
on Sunday.
The
buyer was a foreigner, based in the United Arab Emirates.
"Proceeds
for the Mandela NFT will go to Liliesleaf museum, to keep their doors open and
stay afloat," Posthumus told AFP.
Liliesleaf
shuttered its doors in September 2021 due to financial difficulties.
Selling
art as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs uses the same technology as cryptocurrencies
such as Bitcoin. The buyer receives a verified digital token, which proves the
artwork is original.
"This
is really a unique and novel way of generating income," Liliesleaf Farm museum
founder, Nicholas Wolpe told AFP.
The
original document, dated 1961, now yellowed, with gnarled edges and bearing
staple holes on one side, is handwritten in both English and Afrikaans.
It
has been kept at the Liliesleaf Farm heritage site archives in Johannesburg
since around 2006, said Wolpe.
Between
1961 and 1963, the landmark farm in an upscale northern Johannesburg suburb
served as the secret headquarters and nerve center of the then-banned African
National Congress (ANC), which led the fight against white-minority rule.
Mandela
hid there for some time under the guise of a farmworker, dressing in overalls,
before leaving to raise funds abroad.
Subscribe Shampratik Deshkal Youtube Channel
Topic : NFT Arrest warrant Nelson Mandela South Africa
© 2024 Shampratik Deshkal All Rights Reserved. Design & Developed By Root Soft Bangladesh