The official Tintin site has made
preliminary announcements of a new venture, to be unveiled more fully in time, for Tintin NFTs be released onto the market.
NFTs, or
Non-Fungible Tokens are unique digital identifiers, created to represent ownership of a digital asset, and given an element of security through the use of blockchain technology (blockchains are collections of interconnected records (or
blocks) interlinked by cryptography); they are seen by some as an investment opportunity for the future, but by others as little more than a Ponzi scheme, in which money from new investors is used to finance the gains that others already in the scheme might make.
There are many questions about the true value of an NFT, as the owner gets nothing tangible, unlike buying an original artwork or even a print.
There are also concerns about the environmental impact of the NFT market on the world, given that it requires the use of servers to keep the digital environment - in which NFTs exist and are bought and sold - going.
UPDATE: The announcement has been made, and the first offerings are to feature the original un-used cover painting for the black-and-white edition of
The Blue Lotus.
As the linked article explains, there will be two versions made available.
Firstly, a
Utility version, which comprises a digital asset, plus a tangible high-quality print of the original artwork, in a numbered edition of 777.
The second is a
Collectible version, which is solely digital, and does not have the print.
Both versions will also come with a digital booklet by noted expert Phillipe Goddin, which will look at the history of the work.
The cover art in question was
sold at auction in 2021, where it produced a record price for a piece of comic art.
This followed a dispute between the seller (a member of the Casterman family) and the Hergé estate, with the latter saying that the work should have been returned to Hergé, and the former saying it had been gifted to them by the artist.
