Minorities demand a better life, in due course. Australians like referring to the rebel bushranger Ned Kelly. African Americans have their martyred hero, Nat Turner, who had led a rebellion of the slaves in Virginia in 1831.

Kerry James Marshall created Nat Shango, a hybrid of Turner and of the Yoruba warring god Shango whose attribute is the thunder. Of course he introduces this character into the modern world.

On May 11 in New York, Christie's sells Nat Shango (Thunder), a mixed technique of acrylic and collage on linen 187 x 142 cm executed in 1991, lot 12 A estimated $ 6.5M.

The life size front standing black man holds an axe in each hand like a lumber cutter. With his tattered clothing and bare feet, he is a slave ready to rebel. Nat Turner's revolution has indeed not yet been achieved.

The large folding screen behind him and the floor around him are prepared for displaying images. Half of these collage positions are empty while the other half are filled by the actual collage of the portrait heads of blonde women cut up from romance magazines. The floor is also a scenery of the houses and fields where the slaves were forced to live.

Nat Shango ignores the white actresses. Their sexual symbol is not suitable for the African Americans.

SOLD for $ 7.5M including premium

Top Shot is a brand of videos launched in 2020 by Dapper Labs, a Canadian blockchain specialist, with the official support of the NBA which shares the copyright. The collection is made up of highlights from basketball games. The editions use the NFT technology with its guarantee of authenticity.

Less than a year after the launch, the moments begin to arrive in the secondary market. In Series 1, one of the most interesting pieces with an exemplary movement and emotional charge is a dunk executed by LeBron James on February 6, 2020. On that day, the Los Angeles Lakers received the Houston Rockets. The visitors won by 121-111.

Kobe Bryant had spent his entire career with the Lakers. Two years after Kobe's retirement, LeBron James joined this club. The February 2020 game was played at Staples Center, the Lakers' regular venue, the day before Mamba and Mambacita's private funeral.

Everything goes in full speed in basketball. The moment edited by Top Shot lasts thirteen seconds. Within just one second, LeBron receives the ball, runs in long strides towards the opposing post, jumps and scores. The video is completed with a slow motion on the dunk, a half length portrait of the player in another action and the display of the final score.

The regulars at the Staples are categorical. Nineteen years earlier, on the same side of the court, Kobe achieved an identical two-handed dunk from behind, which is a pinnacle of basketball's aesthetic. The 2020 feat appears as a tribute from LeBron to Mamba.

This moment was edited in 59 units in the From the Top set and in 1000 units in the Base set. The number 3/59 is estimated $ 350K for sale online by Heritage on April 15, lot 57438. The 824/1000 was sold for $ 62K including premium by Heritage on March 18, 2021.

SOLD for $ 390K including premium

The NFT will soon be everywhere. This technology derived from the cryptocurrency blockchain unalterably encodes the authenticity of an object, whatever it is, real or digital. The global ethical debate of this decade will be its application to the identity of individuals.

In 2021 this virtual token is transforming the art world because it represents the first technology that prevents the falsification of a digital work. A co-operation is possible between designers and producers on the one hand, and auction houses on the other. The former benefit from the marketing experience of the latter for media stunts.

The digital artwork authenticated by NFT can take any form : static, dynamic, virtual reality, augmented reality, or simple video footage. The work itself can be unique or edited in thousands of copies, the NFT having in this case a role comparable to the serialization of a real item.

Creativity is unlimited, for art, its implementation and its offer on the market. Basically the NFT is not elitist. NBA-edited basketball videos supersede sports cards while bringing good visual quality to  spectacular actions by top champions.

The operation conducted by the Nifty Gateway platform in association with Sotheby's has some unprecedented characteristics. It includes the purchase of an artwork in an unlimited edition, the allocation of limited editions for its top buyers and the auction of two unique items. This whole set has been developed by a unique designer identified as Pak.

The marketing is dynamic, with a very limited sales schedule. The operation had been announced for several days under the title The Fungible Collection but the items were not unveiled until April 12, for their fixed price sales and auction to close on April 14. Here is the link to the dedicated Sotheby's mini-site.

The basic piece, Cube, was sold in time windows of 15 minutes, for $ 500 on the first day, $ 1,000 on the second day and $ 1,500 on the third day.  The total sold was 23151 Cubes.

The two unique works at auction are The Switch and The Pixel.

The Switch is dynamic. The virtual figure is an assembly of hollow cubes, on two crossed axes. The virtual revolution around the subject successively gives visibility from all angles.

The Pixel is static and conceptual. They had to dare, and Pak did it. This symbolic visualization of a single pixel brings somehow the contemporary technologies to the White square on white background of our great-grandparents.

The Pixel SOLD for $ 1.355M
The Switch had a HIGH BID of $ 1.444M

In 1988 Rolex modernizes the Daytona Oyster Perpetual with the 16520 series with automatic winding. They use the 4030 caliber which is directly derived from the Zenith 400 El Primero created in 1969. In 2000 the 4030 is replaced by the 4130 which is the first automatic caliber entirely designed by Rolex.

The success is immediate. In 1991 Rolex, tempted to return to the luxury watch market, creates the 16518 in yellow gold, soon followed by the 16519 in white gold. The 16518 also introduces the Racing dial with Arabic numerals.

At the end of the decade, Rolex assembles a few platinum specimens under the reference 16516, with unique dials in different colors, to test the effect. The population is estimated at 4 or 5. Sotheby's knows three of them.

One of them, dated 1998, has a turquoise blue lacquer dial. It is estimated HK $ 4M for sale in Hong Kong on April 23, lot 2154.

Another one, with a case number adjacent to the previous example, was assembled in 1999 with a lapis lazuli dial. It was sold on July 11, 2020 for HK $ 25.4M including premium from a lower estimate of HK $ 4M, lot 2236.

The third example, assembled in 1999 with a mother-of-pearl dial, was sold for HK $ 6.8M including premium on October 2, 2018, lot 2265. Then recently discovered, this watch had been reported in the catalog as the only known platinum Daytona.