Ethereum
In June 2018 Maecenas and London's Dadiani Fine Art tokenized Andy Warhol's '14 Small Electric Chairs' (Reversal Series) and auctioned fractions of it for ETH, BTC and Maecenas' ART token. Up to 49% of the painting was offered; the auction closed with 31.5% sold for roughly $1.7 million against a $5.6 million valuation, making it the first work at this value to change hands fractionally on a public blockchain.
The first multi-million-dollar artwork ever tokenized and sold on-chain.
Prism analyst note
Historically the most important listing in this category and, today, the most cautionary. WRHL1 proved a multi-million-dollar painting could be fractionalized and sold on a public chain, and the contract is still live with its full 1,000,000-token supply readable on-chain. But Maecenas wound down, no venue quotes the token, and the $5.60 figure is a 2018 auction clearing price rather than a current mark. The tokens remain freely transferable, which is more than most tokenized art can claim; what they are worth is an open question no market is currently answering.
Generated from issuer disclosures and reviewed against the sources listed below. Not investment advice.
Structure & compliance
- Underlying
- Andy Warhol, '14 Small Electric Chairs' (Reversal Series, 1980)
- Legal structure
- Fractional beneficial interest in a single artwork, sold by auction
- Jurisdiction
- Singapore / United Kingdom
- Custodian
- Dadiani Fine Art (London)
- Administrator
- Maecenas Fine Art Ltd.
- Oracle / NAV source
- Independent appraisal at auction ($5.6m)
- Reserve information
- Single painting held by Dadiani Fine Art. 1,000,000 WRHL1 tokens represent the whole work; 315,000 were distributed in the 2018 auction.
- Transfer restrictions
- Freely transferable ERC-20 on Ethereum. The Maecenas platform that ran the auction is no longer operating, so there is no venue quoting a price.
- Investor eligibility
- Open / permissionless
- KYC required
Reserve verification
Contracts & on-chain data
Addresses shown only where independently confirmed against explorers and issuer documentation. Holder and transfer analytics are available via the linked explorers.
Documents & disclosures
Frequently asked
Can I still trade this?+
The ERC-20 transfers freely on Ethereum, but the Maecenas platform has wound down and no exchange quotes it. Treat the listed price as a 2018 historical mark, not a live valuation.
What does one token represent?+
The contract holds 1,000,000 tokens against the whole painting, so each token is a one-millionth beneficial interest. 315,000 were sold in the auction.
