How John Lennon & The Beatles Memorabilia Will Be Sold As NFTs

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The online world is incredibly intriguing; from being able to hold conversations with people millions of miles away to having access to video content at the click of a button, the digital revolution has taken us on a wild ride. And now, on the brink of the metaverse, where the real world is set to blur into the virtual, NFTs will be the prized artefacts people will be proud to own.

While many collections have made news recently, in terms of NFTs, John Lennon’s son Julian will be putting up original memorabilia once owned by Lennon or members of The Beatles for sale by auction…but it won’t be the actual piece that people can buy. Welcome to the weird world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).

How does that work?

In a similar way to how Bitcoin was presented as a digital alternative to tangible currency, NFTs are likewise the digital answer to owning collectable items. For example, one of the items Julian Lennon is a set of handwritten notes for the song Hey Jude. However, while Julian will hold on to the original piece, he will be selling an audio-visual version of the notes, which will feature a digital image of the notes along with a narration by Julian Lennon.

For the uninitiated, this appears to be nonsensical; why would someone pay a starting price of €27,000 for a digital copy of these notes? Bear with us…

Hey Jude GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

NFTs are unique assets in the digital world that can be bought and sold; think of it as though you are buying a painting. If you buy a copy of a masterpiece, you will only pay a fraction of what the original is worth. If you want to buy the masterpiece itself, you will have to part with a lot more of course. The same process applies to NFTs. Sure, you can have endless copies and duplicates of the original, but owning the original is what sets people apart.

Similar to the art world, where certificates of originality and ownership are used, same way digital tokens can be thought of as certificates of ownership for virtual assets. Being so tied to the virtual world, records of who owns what will be stored on the blockchain, essentially the ledger for this strange world. Since there are thousands of computers supporting the blockchain, the records of ownership simply cannot be forged.

Having said that, critics argue that consumers don’t always appreciate or understand the risks in what is mostly an unregulated market. That’s why investing in NFTs could be a dangerous game, whether you know the game or not.

The collection includes…

A total of six items are being sold, including the above-mentioned Hey Jude notes. A black cape that was worn by John Lennon during the film Help!, the Afghan coat also worn by Lennon for the film Magical Mystery Tour, and three Gibson guitars given to Julian by John make up the catalogue of items.

Part of the proceeds will go to the White Feather Foundation, an organisation that raises funds for the betterment and conservation of all life, which Julian Lennon founded. The (obviously) online auction will be held on 7 February. “Through this NFT collection, I’m able to grant exclusive access to special items that I cherish and carry on the legacy of my father in a new way,” Julian Lennon told Rolling Stone.

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