You can own a share of a famous Andy Warhol print for just $20—something

Have you ever wanted to own an original, signed Andy Warhol print? Now you can, starting at just $20… per tokenized share via a new fractional art platform. You must also buy at least 10 shares to take a fractional ownership.

Freeport— a platform and community gallery for tokenized art — is auctioning off the famous pop art icon’s work as its first-ever collection. A four-piece curated set of original Andy Warhol screen prints is now available from the platform, priced from around $20 to $78 per share, based on the piece.

The selection includes original, signed screen prints of Warhol’s “Marilyn” (1967), “Double Mickey” (1981), “Mick Jagger” (1967), and “Rebellion without cause” (1985). All are signed by Warhol, with the “Mick Jagger” piece also bearing the iconic Rolling Stones frontman’s signature.

Each piece is represented by 10,000 tokenized shares minted on the Ethereum blockchain, putting the estimated value of each work at between nearly $199,000 and $782,000 apiece.

Any user who wants to invest in one of the four parts must buy at least 10 NFT-based shares of the work, and can own as many as 1,000 shares. In other words, up to 1,000 people in total can own a single chip due to fractional shares.

Fractional assets breaking down an entire asset – whether digital or physical – into smaller shares or parts. These tokens create liquidity for something that was previously considered illiquid, enabling more people to invest in an asset. This has been done with physical art, digital art and even property.

Finally, should Freeport sell each original work, proportional profits will be transferred to the token holders and the tokens will then be burned (or permanently destroyed).

Meanwhile, tokenized share holders can view and display a digital version of each piece via Freeport’s app, and the company says it plans to add further utility for holders. A secondary market for shares will also be established, eventually allowing owners to sell them to others while the original asset remains in Freeport’s custody.

Freeport proudly claims it is the “first company of its kind to complete a Regulation A review” with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to release an “investment-grade blockchain platform for art.” Given the SEC’s growing crackdown on crypto-companies and murky regulatory clarity on fractionalized NFTs, that may give some potential collectors peace of mind.

Fashion icon “Baby” Jane Holzer is among the original Warhol print owners who sold their work to Freeport for this tokenized offering.

“As a lifelong art collector, I am passionate about Warhol. He was a dear friend and always pushed the envelope in the art world,” Holzer said in a statement. “Freeport is also pushing the art envelope with its bid to democratize art ownership. They build a disruptive bridge across a gap between art appreciation and ownership for all.”

Interestingly, this is not the first time Warhol’s work has been fractionalized and sold via blockchain. Back in 2018, The Dadiani Syndicate— a subsidiary of Dadiani Fine Art — also offered fractionalized Warhol works. In this case, it was Warhol’s “14 Electric Chairs” from 1980 valued at $5.6 million at the time.

Later in 2022, Exhibition piece platform sold fractions of Warhol’s reigning queens 1985 print. The piece, which depicts the now-deceased Queen Elizabeth II, was divided into 3,500 shares at £100 each.