A UK artist has announced that he has sold a collection of 19 paints for a total of 490 Bitcoin. The price fetched for the collection at the time of writing is just less than $4.9 million.
Lincoln Townley, the creator of the collection, has a history of selling his artworks for Bitcoin. In fact, the celebrated London-based artist made what is widely believed to be the first example of piece of artwork auctioned in which Bitcoin was used as the payment method.
Another Art Collection Sells For Bitcoin
According to a report in UK news publication Evening Standard, the popular UK artist Lincoln Townley has just sold more of his artwork for Bitcoin. An unnamed Singaporean business man bought the collection, titled “Greed”. He reportedly paid 490 BTC, or almost $4.9 million for the 19 paintings.
Artist Lincoln Townley sells 19 paintings for £4m worth of bitcoin https://t.co/LoSRSsXgR4 pic.twitter.com/zLu6DM08KL
— tweetonlondon (@tweetonlondon) September 11, 2019
The works were due to go on display at The Saatchi Gallery in London, next month. However, following the sale, which took place with the help of an Swiss agent, the gallery will only display the works for a a single day this month.
Townley is no stranger to receiving Bitcoin as a means a payment for his work. The artist is widely credited as the first artist to make an official sale of their work using the cryptocurrency. In 2017, he sold the piece “Homage to Francis Bolton” for 40 Bitcoin. At the time of the sale, this was around $640,000.
The artist is not only famous for his acceptance of Bitcoin, he has a list of high profile, A-list fans including Michael Caine, Al Pacino, Sting, and Ronaldinho. Meanwhile, other big names have been the subject of the artist’s work. For example, Kate Moss and the late David Bowie have been painted by Townley. He also famously sold a diamond-encrusted portrait of Princess Diana for a cool $1.23 million in 2017.
In addition to the artist’s embrace of alternative payment methods, he has also made a name selling his work via social media. In 2018, NewsBTC covered an auction that took place online and exclusively in cryptocurrency. The event was held over the course of a weekend last year.
Townley believes his unorthodox sales are about more than novelty, however. He claims that such experimentation could well transform the art industry. He stated at the time of the 2018 sale:
“The best thing is it fuels my belief that galleries are secondary to an artist’s success – they just need to look at galleries as another string to their bow. There are so many other ways to get sales with technology.”
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