On Tuesday, while Orange County and Los Angeles celebrate "Kobe Bryant Day," a collection of photo-NFTs (non-fungible tokens) showing the NBA legend early in his career will begin auctioning on the Cryptograph platform.
Shot by photographer Davis Factor, the collection of eight black-and-white photos shows a young Bryant posing, jumping, and blowing kisses as he kicked off his historic career.
This is the first time the public has laid eyes on the photos.
Factor, who has photographed dozens of celebrities and is behind several iconic magazine covers and spreads, hoped to capture the "everydayness of him," because he sensed that Bryant, like many famous athletes, would become less candid as his career evolved.
Cryptograph, meanwhile, has touted its model of connecting NFTs with charitable causes. Proceeds from the sale of its NFTs are handed over to select nonprofit organizations.
Founded a year ago on the Ethereum blockchain, the platform has already featured NFTs from the likes of celebrity and entrepreneur Paris Hilton, actor Jason Momoa, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and has reported that it raised upwards of six figures for organizations such as Meals on Wheels and Save the Children.
Courtesy of Davis Factor
“We are very excited to bring our next generation of Cryptographs into the world over the coming year; it's going to be a truly iconic and historic series that we think collectors are going to love,” said Cryptograph co-founder Tommy Alastra in a press release last week.
For this collection, 100 percent of proceeds will benefit the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. The nonprofit was founded to honor Kobe and his daughter Gianna Bryant, who both died in a helicopter crash in 2020, and continue their legacy in supporting underserved athletes and young women in sports.
Notably, similar to how other NFTs will contractually pay the artist a percentage of all future sales, the foundation will receive a donation whenever one of the photos is transacted.
In other words, the photo collection and the foundation are connected forever, or at least as long as the photos are being bought and sold.
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
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Disney's changes to a program for disabled visitors are facing challenges in federal court and through a shareholder proposal. The Disability Access Service program, which allows disabled visitors to skip long lines, was overhauled last year. Disney now mostly limits the program to those with developmental disabilities like autism who have difficulty waiting in lines. The changes have sparked criticism from some disability advocates. A shareholder proposal submitted by disability advocates calls for an independent review of Disney's disability policies. Disney plans to block this proposal, claiming it's misleading. It's the latest struggle by Disney to accommodate disabled visitors while stopping past abuses by some theme park guests.
