If you are wondering, “What is NFT art ?”, and how you can buy digital versions of stamps and art through an NFT marketplace, then you’ve clicked on the right article.
Before we get into the details of NFT crypto art, which is a fairly new concept, considering how long art and stamps have been around, let’s remind ourselves of the physical assets these digital artworks are created from.
Stamp collecting — also known as philately — has been around for as long as stamps and national postal organizations have existed, around 180 years. In that time, around 1 million unique postage stamp motifs have been created, produced for or on behalf of 235 postal countries and territories that issue postage stamps.
Fine art, on the other hand, covers a much broader range of artistic genres, from paintings to sculptures, video art to photography, ceramics, and everything in between. Fine art encompasses thousands of years of human history, with galleries and museums worldwide collecting and displaying art that dates as far back as long-vanished civilisations, such as the Ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and numerous others.
Fine art is collected, bought, sold, and displayed in galleries and museums. Worldwide there are over 19,000 galleries and 55,000 museums. 50% of the world’s galleries (private and public) are in the U.S., UK and Germany, according to the Global Art Gallery Report, by Magnus Resch.
As far as the overall value of fine art and stamps and related artwork is concerned, a report by Forbes in 2019 sheds some light on this. According to Forbes, fine art and stamps make up 22% of the $370 billion global collectable markets.
Now let’s take a quick look at whats NFT are!
What is an NFT?
For those who are new to digital asset collecting, here’s a quick explainer of NFTs.
An NFT meaning is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). In order to understand this, we need to be clear on the meaning of “Fungible”, as an NFT is the opposite of that.
Fungible means that something — such as a Bitcoin (ETH), or any form of fiat currency (e.g., US$ Dollars to GBP£ Pound, etc.) — can be exchanged for something else. Whatever the value you have in one “thing”, such as Bitcoin, can be bought/sold for something completely different, of the same value, making it fungible.
When something is Non-Fungible, it’s completely unique. You can’t exchange one for another, because there isn’t another that is identical, or even remotely similar.
For example, Vincent van Gogh’s self-portrait (Portrait de l’artiste sans barbe), which he painted in 1889, is currently worth around $113 million. If you swapped it for a painting of similar value — Claude Monet’s “Haystacks”, also known as Meules, painted in 1890 — which is also worth around $112 million, then despite the similar value, the exchange is completely unique. As you’ve traded one valuable, unique work-of-art for another, it is a non-fungible transaction.
An NFT is the digital equivalent of that example transaction. Every NFT on the STAMPSDAQ platform is tied to a unique or rare collection of artworks, stamps, or digital artistic works, based on the original physical creations, such as stamps, art, and motifs.
NFTs operate on the Ethereum blockchain, in this case, an Ethereum sidechain. All of the data connected to an NFT is stored on a distributed public ledger, known as the blockchain. None of this data can be altered, so that when someone owns an NFT it will remain the property of that individual until/unless they sell it.
Everything is validated and verified on the blockchain, and when an NFT is bought and sold, the transaction is confirmed with smart contracts and the blockchain is updated with new owner details.
Now we will take a closer look at how STAMPSDAQ works, and in particular, what it means to collect NFT Stamps and Art on our platform.
Digital Versions & Limited Editions on STAMPSDAQ
Let’s start with the original piece of art or stamp motif. This work of art, or philately, exists in a physical format. Whether there are millions in circulation — as can be the case with stamp motifs — or only one, this physical, original work of art, is unique.
Metaverse NFT of STAMPSDAQ will replicate this uniqueness, including the scarcity, in a digital format. Users/customers on the platform can then buy, trade, swap and profit from the exchange of these digital versions of the originals, with those that are issued in more limited quantities being rarer, and therefore, worth more.
NFT Stamps on STAMPSDAQ are unique pieces of curated digital art issued in an NFT format, secured using blockchain technology. Our mission is to transform 180 years of postage history, and thousands of years of artistic creation into NFT-based limited edition digital collectables.
Crypto NFT Stamps. Ensuring rarity, or scarcity is integral to the approach we will take. Every digital stamp issued on STAMPDAQ is Limited Edition (LE) only, with five (5) digital art variations. The scarcity structure for each variation is as follows:
Crypto NFT Fine Art Pieces. Because stamps are acknowledged as “art in miniature”, it makes sense that we extend our concept to the wider fine art market. Starting with the launch of NFT versions of Ukrainian artworks from the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU).
Our aims are to work with as many galleries, museums, and private artists and collectors as possible to digitize original art masterpieces, turning them into NFTs. This will extend the lifespan, impact, audience and meaning of the work of art with new digital art interpretations.
Every NFT artwork will be produced under the same transparent and clear scarcity structure as postage stamps.
Every work of art — whether a digital postage stamp with a run of 10,000 copies or a unique digital representation of a 16th-century masterpiece with 1 NFT copy — will be secured by the immutability and transparency of the STAMPSDAQ blockchain.
Every single NFT produced and issued on STAMPSDAQ are Officially Licensed. A key principle in our business model is maintaining the complete preservation of the rights of every participant in the Intellectual Property Rights Chain (IPCR).
What’s included in an NFT Stamp on STAMPSDAQ?
Within every back/reverse or flip-side of an NFT Stamp or piece of artwork are links to the Ownership History, recording based on the blockchain history of everyone who’s bought, sold, and owned it.
Also, you can access the unique Blockchain Address, which as these are Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) is unchangeable and completely unique. A unique digital signature.
Plus you can access a more detailed Stamp Profile. Not only does this give you more information about every stamp, including the unique digital version and its rarity value. Alongside this is a history of the stamp, or work of art, including when and why it was created, and how rare it was at the time. Everything stamp and art collectors want to know about a piece of work!
What does an NFT Stamp look like?
Every NFT version of a stamp or work of art is beautifully reproduced and available to view in the Marketplace (both primary and secondary) and in the Collections of every user. You can follow other users to view their collections, and for them to view what you own.
Both within the Marketplace, you can buy NFT stamps (through a number of ways) and in the Collections of every user, you can Buy (offer to buy an NFT stamp from someone else’s collection), Sell, put in an Offer, or put an NFT stamp up for Auction.
Key Takeaways
An NFT is a unique digital asset. In the case of NFT stamps and artworks, these are based on real physical versions of stamp motifs and works of art. Some of these could be hundreds of years old, and originally created by some of the greatest artists known to humanity. Others could be reminders of important recent events, such as an Olympic Games, or a Royal milestone, such as a wedding or anniversary.
When you buy NFT art, you aren’t buying the original. Instead, you are collecting something entirely different, unique, yet based on whatever work of art the NFT is based on. Depending on the rarity value, there might only be 1 NFT-version in existence, or 10,000 others. The rarity determines the price, as does whether its value increases or decreases while you own it, as there’s always an option to Sell or Trade NFT stamps and art on STAMPSDAQ.
On STAMPSDAQ, collectors of stamps and art finally have a way to buy limited edition digital versions of anything they are interested in and passionate about. You can buy, collect, sell, trade, and play games that will make your hobby more rewarding. STAMPSDAQ is an exciting new platform for everyone who’s passionate about stamp and art collecting.
To know more about the project, please visit the official website and our social media channels.
