On October 1, 2021, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, popularly known as Gary Vee, had his hand-drawn doodles auctioned off at Christie’s for a total of USD 1.2 million.

To date, the digital version of Gary Vaynerchuk’s hand-drawn doodles has sold for more than $90 million. Five of the drawings sold for $1.26 million at the auction in New York, outperforming Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock. The collection was auctioned as part of Christie’s Post-War to present contemporary art live auction.

The five doodles that became a collection of 10,255 NFTs known as VeeFriends are part of Vaynerchuk’s 286-piece collection of hand-drawn animals, which only took him 90 minutes to complete.

Vaynerchuk says that his doodle art becoming more popular while some artistic works fall out of the limelight is both “uncomfortable” and “humbling.”

In an interview with CoinDesk, he stated, “It’s almost an out-of-body experience.” He adds, “I’m less worried about me, in that equation, and more thinking about how lucky I am to be in this moment in time when the world is changing.”

The VeeFriends collection comprises nonfungible tokens of 10,255 characters that can be purchased using Ethereum.

Each token contains a “smart contract” including metadata that Vaynerchuk can use to communicate with the buyer. For the next three years after the NFT is purchased, token holders will have unique access to VeeCon, an annual business event.

Gary Vee has become a notable influencer in the NFT market since founding VeeFriends in May. The lowest quoted price for a VeeFriends is still over $50,000.

According to Christie’s, Vaynerchuck is “one of the industry’s most advanced thinkers.”

In a description of the lot, the auction house noted, “Gary is considered one of the leading global minds on what’s next in culture, relevance, and the internet.”

Pavan A

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA