DuneDAO member buys Jodorowsky’s Dune print edition for $3.8m

On November 22, a co-founder of the DuneDAO project purchased at Christie’s a rare printed edition of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unreleased Dune. The lot was paid for by Soban ‘Sobi’ Sakib at $3.8 million — far above the crowdfunding total.

Should I do a thread on why I just spent $3.8 million to buy the Dune Manuscript from @ChristiesInc this morning?

— soby (@sobylife) November 22, 2021

Final bid amounted to €2.66 million ($2.9 million). The total price included commissions.

DuneDAO is a project in the form of a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) aimed at purchasing on auction a copy of Dune. The 1975 edition by Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky includes a storyboard of the film with dialogues in French and English, as well as descriptions of characters and their environment.

One copy of the edition went to the hammer a few years ago, another is owned by Jodorowsky himself. An incomplete version exists online. According to the auction house, in total 10 to 20 lookbooks were printed and bound.

At the auction, a group of enthusiasts managed to push the bid up to about $750,000. Sakib bid on behalf of DuneDAO, but participated in the auction personally and won it himself. The copy is legally his, so DuneDAO members continue to raise funds to pay Sakib the remaining amount.

Dune DAO core member, @sobylife has secured the Jodorowsky’s Dune Bible successfully with his personal fund. A historical auction, at a total price of 3.8MM USD.

We are continuing the crowd raise to formally acquire the Bible from Soby into the on-chain ownership of the DAO.

— Dune DAO (🏜,🏜) (@Dune_DAO) November 22, 2021

“Dune” — the sprawling film project by Jodorowsky that was meant to be the screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel. The director’s idea was to unite the creative energies of the counterculture into a psychedelic space epic.

On the cast: Salvador Dali and Mick Jagger agreed to take roles, and Pink Floyd was planned to contribute to the soundtrack. The lookbook includes drawings by H.R. Giger, Jean Gira (known as Moebius), and Chris Foss.

The project was cancelled in 1975. Jodorowsky’s Dune is regarded as “the greatest unfilmed film.”

In November, crypto investors launched the ConstitutionDAO project to purchase at auction a rare first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution.

On November 18, an unknown bidder topped the DAO, purchasing the lot for $43.2 million. Reports said the buyer was Ken Griffin, CEO of the investment firm Citadel.

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