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Sotheby's to Auction 'First NFT Ever Minted'

The auction will feature an NFT by Kevin McCoy minted in May 2014.

By Tanzeel Akhtar

Updated May 9, 2023, 3:19 a.m. Published May 6, 2021, 10:48 p.m.

Sotheby’s, established in 1744 in London, is launching its second non-fungible token (NFT) auction.

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In an announcement Thursday, Sotheby’s said the curated auction from June 3-10 will feature “the first NFT ever minted” – Kevin McCoy’s “Quantum.”
“Universally regarded as the first NFT ever created, Quantum is timestamped 05-03-2014 09:27:34,” Sotheby’s wrote in its announcement.
Some regard the Bitcoin-based “Colored Coins” as the first NFT.
The other two works in the Sotheby’s auction are a rare CryptoPunk from 2017 and Anna Ridler’s “The Shell Record” from 2021.
Bidding will begin at $100 and a portion of the funds raised from the sale will go to the Sevens Foundation, a non-profit supporting digital artists.
Given that Beeple fetched $69 million in ETH at a Christie’s auction in March, some are expecting lofty returns:

The Christie's punk auction is fascinating, if for no other reason than the sheer uncertainty surrounding the outcome. Every hammer price between 15 and 70 million feels equally likely.
— 4156 (@punk4156) May 6, 2021