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A wild essay appears!

Links for the Top 25 drops are HERE.

The case for 1/1s

As this tweet and many others suggest, the vibes are ugly in the 1/1 market. 

In fact, you could find a 1/1 NFT walking on the street today, curse and spit on it, and it wouldn’t seem out of place with common sentiment. 

You might even get a few nods of approval.

What have these sacred digital objects ever done to anyone? 

Alas, I have no choice but to step up to the plate to defend them, and explain why this could actually be a huge opportunity for anyone willing to take the time. 

Let us begin.

Reasons to buy a 1/1 

“But you can’t make money with 1/1s”

Starting with the elephant in the room, let’s see why this thought process doesn’t really make sense. 

Consider this: virtually the entire $60 billion art market, outside of NFTs, has forever revolved around 1/1s or small sets. 

Whenever you hear about a huge multi-million-dollar sale, which more often than not was originally purchased at a much lower price, chances are that you’re dealing with a 1/1. 

So it’s weird to say that the 1/1 format restricts the amount of money you can make when essentially all of the most successful art collectors in history got rich in this way. 

What people really mean with this argument is: “You can’t make money with 1/1s overnight”. 

And this is largely true, but it’s more of a feature than a bug. Crypto has no shortage of Good Things that were consumed by speculators and left to rot as soon as the next shiny toy came along. 

Avoiding the attention of day traders allows for a healthier market to develop organically, while still having opportunities for more patient buyers (see: X-copy). 

There’s also the fact that emerging artists often begin with 1/1s before expanding into larger collections. And, when they do make the jump, they often call back to those wallets that supported them in the early days when building allowlists for larger drops. 

Early patronage does not go unnoticed. 

No competition

There are very, very, few people buying 1/1 NFTs today. 

We’re talking hundreds – maybe a couple thousand people across all chains if you include small editions (less than 10 pieces). My guess is you could fit all of them in a Broadway theater and still have some seats leftover. 

This means that, in most cases, you can walk right up to a 1/1 sale and get first dibs on whatever tickles your fancy, no fuss, no stress. 

And that’s not because these are necessarily low-quality objects. 

It just so happens that many artists either: 

1. Have styles that work best in small, handcrafted, quantities (like Proof’s recent exhibition with Other World)

2. Might prefer 1/1s over Open Editions as a superior way to build connections with collectors

So unless you think the world has permanently moved away from creators who specialize in making individual works of art (as we’ve always done), then attention will likely revert back sooner or later. 

Joy and connection (remember human emotions?)

Buying a 1/1 feels different. Anyone who has acquired one knows this. 

Part of this comes from owning a unique object, the culmination of an artist’s effort and vision embedded in a single work, but also from knowing that you’re participating in an ancient form of patronage that has a very real impact on artists.

The connection to the artist is also objectively greater here. Buying a 1/1 often comes with some recognition or dialogue with the creator – a DM, a retweet, a friendly shout-out, etc. 

It’s not that you’re actively pushing for it, it’s just a natural side effect of this kind of patronage. 

And in general, developing relationships with creators is an amazing benefit of being here early, so why not explore it? 

You won’t get this intimate connection with massive 10k PFPs, for obvious reasons.

Bottom line

I get that 1/1s aren’t for everyone. They’re highly illiquid, they demand more patience, and they can have a higher learning curve. Most 1/1s will never get resold after their initial purchase. 

And I also understand that NFTs are creating brand new forms of social art that, in some ways, improve on what 1/1s can do. And, to be sure, the most valuable collections (by market cap) will continue to have a large supply. 

That’s why this newsletter almost exclusively talks about collections. 

But I think people underestimate how much attention can swing back to these rarer objects.

I’ll end with this…

It is said that if/when Bitcoin hits $100k, half of the world’s billionaires will come from crypto, not to mention the countless millionaires that would emerge. 

These people will seek higher social status with their greater wealth. And the easiest way to get that is by buying luxury items – classic expressions of taste not motivated by crude flipping strategies. 

On the blockchain, these luxury items are often 1/1s. They’re the holy objects that sit at the top of the food chain. I wouldn’t ignore them. 

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

The Artists’ Studio

Among the several art galleries flaunting hand-picked digital wares at NFT Paris starting tomorrow, one that stands out is Galleria Perpetua with The Artists’ Studio.

This collaboration with The Builders DAO contains newly minted 1/1s and editions from 18 different artists across different styles, all connected by a single muse: the artist’s studio.

Worth checking out, in it you’ll also find artists who’ve previously been featured on Mint or Skip, like kolahon and Delta Sauce.

Isle of Alcina by Tù.úk’z

Tuukzs, a prolific creator in the emerging art scene across an array of styles, makes his Verse debut with Isles of Alcina.

This hand-curated, low-supply collection contains soft and ethereal landscapes filled with greenery (similar to some of his past work), seemingly inspired by a 1735 opera.

It’s unclear how these were made, but I assume some AI was used, given some of the artist’s recent drops on other platforms.

I’m a fan of the aesthetic and am finding this collection enticing enough to be…

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨

Professional Degen 5 by OSF

Artist/founder/influencer OSF dons the first of those personas with the announcement of his upcoming art drop Professional Degen 5.

This continues a 2-year-old series depicting the classic character of the terminally online crypto enthusiast, in recognizable OSF neon style.

It’ll be the first free mint in the series, which originally started with some 1/1s (here and here), and continued with an edition before selling the last 1/1, #4, for nearly 60 ETH in July 2022.

I could see this one making a splash both thanks to its accessibility and the series’s existing audience.

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨