Curio Cards’ 2021 was a year for the books. Rediscovered four years after the project’s minting in 2017, it was finally recognized as the first art NFT project on Ethereum. This amazing milestone occurred during a breakthrough year for NFTs in general, amid massive Beeple sales, the rise of CryptoPunks and the subsequent PFP (profile picture) wave. While the rediscovery alone makes 2021 worth revisiting, so too do Curio Cards’ sales at major auction houses, and the formation of the Curio DAO.
As a way of looking forward to 2022, let’s recap some of the brightest moments from 2021.
The Rediscovery
All Curio Cards were minted in 2017, but the project laid low till early 2021, when it was rediscovered and reinvigorated. For the full rediscovery story, see these videos below:
- A Master Playlist of Co-Founder Thomas Hunt (aka Madbitcoins) interviewing the original collaborators in 2021
- NFT Culture Interview with Co-Founder Travis Uhrig:
- Show Me the Crypto Interview with Co-Founder Travis Uhrig:
- NFT Culture Interview with NFT Archeologist Adam Mcbride:
The Wrapper
While the rediscovery reinvigorated the project, it also came with a new conundrum: making the cards available on OpenSea. This is because Curio Cards predates all modern NFT standards on Ethereum, having created its own smart contracts in 2017.
The two most popular NFT standards later developed (ERC-721 and ERC-1155) went on to share many design elements with Curio Cards; ERC-721 noted and referenced Curio Cards directly, and ERC-1155 added in many new features originally found in the project.
This meant that a type of smart contract known as a “wrapper” was first needed to make Curio Cards compatible with newer platforms like OpenSea, which was quickly becoming the go-to marketplace for NFTs.
The development of the wrapper, presented a significant technical and organizational challenge. And the Curio Cards community and team rose to it. Today, the wrapper has helped process around $120 million in trades on OpenSea alone, ranking Curio Cards as the 32nd most popular NFT project of all time by trade volume — despite only being listed last year!
The Site
The original Curio Cards website (still visible at https://vintage.curio.cards/) had been kept up by members of the original Curio Cards project as a reference for cardholders. But with the new wave of interest, a fresh site with “2021 aware” documentation was needed. Gradually, the new site was developed, until finally launching in August 2021. The revamped site arrived with a new card explorer, as well as ever-evolving documentation, outlining the origins and nature of the project, security best-practices and card-related stats.
The Auctions
Full Set of Curio Cards Sold in First ever Crypto Bidding at Christie’s
Alongside Curio Cards’ notable collection of “firsts” in blockchain history, in 2021 the project had the honor of becoming the first art collection to be bid on in ETH at the famed British auction house Christie’s.
The Curio Cards Discord eagerly watched the event unfold. Those who witnessed the news claimed a shiny POAP for their attendance:
The winning bidder was none other than Ethereum co-founder Taylor Gerring with a bid of 393 ETH, exceeding Christie’s estimate of 250–350 ETH and nearly quadrupling the previous Full Set sale price of 107 ETH. Congrats, Taylor!
Curio Cards at Sotheby’s
Closely following this event was Curio Cards’ appearance at Sotheby’s. A Full Set was sold at their week-long Metaverse auction.This second sale by a mainstream auction house confirmed what the Christie’s auction had demonstrated — the legitimacy of Curio Cards in the art world.
Arctic Vault Project
After sales at the two largest traditional art auction houses in the world, Curio Cards were selected for another prestigious honor — one reserved for history’s rarest — a place in the Svalbard Arctic Vault. Some of the timeless artifacts inside include selections from the Vatican Library and works by Rembrandt.
Soon, these will be joined by a curated collection of noteworthy NFT projects; Curio Cards, and the Fidenza series, which are both part of the first deposit ceremony, and will feature in an upcoming mini-documentary. Be sure to stay tuned!
Unique Holders Rumbles On
Curio Cards’ publicity burst was well-received. The proof is in the holders. In the months after the auctions, Curio Cards saw a steady increase, rising well above 4000 unique card-owners. Check out the three-month chart since late September 2021. At the time of writing, the holder count was over 4800.Things are definitely heating up!
Remixes, Physicals and more
This year, some of the Curio Card Artists baked up some goodies for the Curio Community:
Robek World
Lucky owners of cards 21, 22 and 23 cards received these amazing remixes by artists 0010, Rylen and SaltSeaCake - commissioned by the original artist Robek. Check out these magical remixes!
Marisol Vengas (Maximus)
San Francisco-based artist Maximus has taken Curio Cards on the road. In addition to physical displays, he got Curio Cards its own screen at Dcentral Miami, bringing his physical work to a worldwide audience. Good show!
Maximus also commissioned eccentric digital artist Frisk to provide his own take on several cards. His crisp reinterpretations are almost too real:
Daniel Friedman
Daniel has been very generous to the Curio Cards community. He’s sent out physical prints through his artist channel in the Discord, and hosted interactive livestreams with Maximus and Travis.
Cryptopop
Cryptopop has continued to collaborate, building the Cryptopop Art Guild in the Philippines, where some of his Curio Cards royalties are going toward mentorship and community establishment for young underprivileged artists.
The Curio DAO
Expansion of the Curio Cards community and Curio DAO
Curio was always a community and artist-run project. 100% of the sales went to the artists, and artists were promoted from within the 2017 project’s community. Early on in the 2021 rediscovery, Curio Cards reiterated this commitment to its community and artist-first ethos with the cardholder-led community vote on OpenSea royalties.
It was clear that upon its creation, careful and constant governance would be needed, and there was no blueprint to follow. Many topics ranging from governance to values were discussed in the discord.
After weeks of initial community discussions on the Discord server about forming a DAO to spearhead additional community and project coordination, it was decided to evolve the intial test multisig DAO into a guild structure. To find out how these guilds function you can read more about it here.
It was envisioned that the purpose of guild presence was to assist community-driven decisions, support the artists, and protect the historic value of the Curio Cards project; in short, to be a coordination tool, not a speculative investment tool.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Curio Cards DAO values, all decisions are lead by a set of evolving missions and ideals laid out in the Curio Docs, that strive to act in accordance with preserving the integrity of the original collection.
Next Steps: 2022 and Beyond
2021 was a big year for the original Curio Cards collaborators and many of its earliest supporters. The big rush of enthusiasm lit up a new-found energy in NFT enthusiasts.
The Curio Cards community has only begun sprouting and there’s so much more we couldn’t cover here. So be sure to keep updated with our future posts here on medium and join the Curio Discord.
Until then, stay Curious!
