Storied auction house Christie’s is officially embracing Bitcoin Ordinals.
The auction giant today (April 9) announced its “Ordinal Maxi Biz (OMB)” sale, prominently showcasing one of the Ordinals ecosystem’s most successful projects in its first online sale.
Open for bidding from April 9 to April 16 on christies.com, the four-lot auction features an assortment of works selected by OMB founder ZK Shark — including artists Tony Tafuro and berkin bags with contributions by developer Nullish. All of the sales are primary market and come directly from the creators.
Created by ZK Shark and Tafuro in 2023, Ordinals Maxi Biz (OMB) is a collection of 5,141 hand-drawn one-of-one drawings inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain. The inscriptions feature eye-color rarity traits based on on-chain provenance, such as the blocks on which they were inscribed.
While the collection currently boasts a floor price of 0.486 BTC ($33,418), the rarest OMBs have sold for as much as 3.46 BTC. The project boasts such a cult following that some followers were even controversially burning CryptoPunks to obtain coveted spots on the allowlist.
The Christie’s auction features red, blue, green, and orange-eyed OMBs, as well as three unique artworks by Tafuro (“Artists Journal” and “This is Me”) and berkin bags (“Recording in Progress”).
“Ordinals are such an important part of today’s web3 and digital art culture,” says Nicole Sales Giles, director of digital art sales at Christie’s. “It’s been a pleasure to work with ZK on this project and dive into OMB and the fascinating developments happening on Bitcoin.”
As the enigmatic leader of the OMB project, ZK Shark has emerged as one of the Ordinals ecosystem’s staunchest advocates.
“Ordinal theory and inscriptions have sparked a technical revolution that enables Bitcoin – humanity’s most decentralized cryptocurrency – to function as a permissionless and immutable medium for fine digital artifacts,” says ZK Shark.
He adds: “Inscriptions prove Bitcoin’s potential to preserve uncensored history and cultural expressions akin to earlier humans’ cave paintings. Christie’s reputation and global presence further solidify Bitcoin as the world’s top cryptocurrency and the premiere destination for fine digital artifacts and documentation. OMB cannot be stopped.”
Each auction lot has a starting bid of $100 and will accept USD or BTC. Those interested in bidding can head to the auction page on Christie’s website.