Art-Based Auction House To Make Sales Through Blockchain Technology

By Rishma Banerjee

Christie’s is an art Based Auction house, which was founded in 1766. It serves as a platform for art lovers to be a part of premier auctions and private sales of extraordinary ar work by the legendary artists. This 252-year-old art auction house is all set to host a  West Coast Tour of exquisite artworks from the Barney A. Ebsworth Collection, which according to a number of art veterans at the ‘most important privately held collection of 20th century American art.”

This auction, which is estimated to generate more than 300 million USD, will be conducted through blockchain technology. A press release by Christie’s on the 11th of October, 2018 revealed that they will be collaborating with Artory, an independent digital registry for the art industry, of much repute. Artory uses cryptography and blockchain technology to record and register artwork and collectables and aims to promote transparency and digital security. It’s a platform where collectors can prove their ownership, in spite of maintaining anonymity.

As per the press release, Christie’s is looking forward to using blockchain’s immutability feature to facilitate and record art transactions. They will, from November provide a  Permanent Digital Record of Artworks. Records about the sale from the auction, ‘An American Place: The Barney A. Ebsworth Collection’ will be stored on this distributed ledger and the highest bidder subsequently will be provided with a secure, encrypted certification of the transaction, the information of which, will be permanently available to the owner.

The Chief Information Officer at Christie’s, Richard Entrup,  commented:

“Our pilot collaboration with Artory is a first among the major global auction houses, and reflects growing interest within our industry to explore the benefits of secure digital registry via blockchain technology. The entrepreneurial spirit of the Ebsworth family and their embrace of leading-edge technology makes Christie’s November sale of the Ebsworth Collection an ideal platform for our clients to pilot this technology for themselves and explore the advantages of having a secure encrypted record of information about their purchased artwork. We are collaborating with Artory due to their team’s understanding of the art world and the strength of their product.”



 

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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