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The first Superman comic sold for a record $5.3m Â
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• A copy of Superman #1 sold for $5.3m in a private sale back in January. The sale set a new record for a comic book and marks the return of the Man of Steel to the top of the comic book market. Â
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• The comic was graded 8.0 Universal by Certified Guaranty Company, tying with one other edition for the highest-graded Superman #1 certified by CGC. Superman #1 is one of the rarest comics, and even mid-quality copies go for significant sums.
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• Fun Fact: The record price is due largely to this copy’s lineage. It comes from the Edgar Church/Mile High collection, which is widely considered to be the highest-quality collection of comic books and the gold standard for assessing the quality of a collection.
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Meta will take half of virtual asset sales in its metaverse Â
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• Meta recently announced new details about Horizon Worlds, the company’s metaverse application. Those include plans to take 47.5% of all virtual asset sales on the platform (including NFTs). Creators are understandably enraged. Â
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• That cut includes a 30% “hardware platform fee” for transactions made in its Quest Store, as well as a 17.5% fee levied by Horizon Worlds (which is also operated by Facebook). Â
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• Fun Fact: Meta thinks its rate is “pretty competitive,” but it’s significantly higher than other platforms. OpenSea’s fee is 2.5% and LooksRare charges just 2% on its transactions. It’s also higher than the (already outrageous) 30% charged by Apple’s App Store.
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A new auction is putting NFTs in an art historical context Â
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• An upcoming auction at Sotheby’s is trying to attract collectors by putting NFTs in their historical context. The Natively Digital NFT sale will put works from early computer art practitioners in conversation with contemporary crypto works.
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• The works included are some of the earliest examples of generative art, which were precursors to contemporary NFT projects. These include works by Vera Molnar and Chuck Csuri, which are paired with digital works by Tyler Hobbs and Anna Ridler. Â
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• Fun Fact: The opposite approach is working, too. Sotheby’s recently sold an invisible Yves Klein work for $1.2 million after touting the project as the first example of tokenization. Â
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• Kehinde Wiley is heading to the Venice Biennale with a pop-up shop selling merchandise to support his artist residence program in Senegal, Black Rock. Kehinde Wiley’s painting, Saint Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of Last Judgment, is trading on Otis. Â
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• The sale of Tom Brady’s supposed last touchdown football (before he changed his mind about retiring) was voided. Otis has a Tom Brady Rookie Card (2000 SP Authentic #118 /1250 PSA 10) trading on the platform.
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• The Pokémon Company is buying the firm that prints its cards for an undisclosed amount. Otis has a number of Pokémon cards, including a 1st edition Charizard Pokémon card (1999 Holo PSA 10).
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• Sales of French luxury designer Hermès rose 27% during the first quarter due to strong growth across Europe and the U.S. The 2011 Hermès Birkin 35 So Black is currently trading on Otis. Â
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• Serena Williams told Insider that the biopic King Richard is just the beginning of her story and that she and her sister Venus have a lot more to share. A Serena Williams Preview Rookie Card (2003 NetPro Glossy Int’l Preview #P2/500 PSA 10) is trading on Otis.