Eleven Marilyn Monroe digital portraits to be sold as NFTs

The Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which owns the majority of Marilyn Monroe’s intellectual property, has put up for sale a collection of NFTs inspired by the legendary American actress.

The @MarilynMonroe Metamorphosis Collection #aNFT, June 1st featuring artists: @blunt_action, @AitanaBasquiat, @BlooWoods, @GraceMarieCasas, Starving AI, Drella Drexler, @jasonebeyer, @A_Holzmeister, @blakekathryn, @FMK7 and Vasya Kolotusha. pic.twitter.com/qBhdCJ74LL

— Ethernity Chain (@EthernityChain) May 31, 2021

The collection, titled “Marilyn Monroe Metamorphosis,” features work by 3D artists Blunt Action, Starving AI, Bloo Woods, Aitana Basquiat and others.

ABG’s partner is the company Ethernity Chain, which “immortalised the star’s legacy” in the form of non-fungible tokens.

Bidding started on June 1 on Ethernity.io. The auction is timed to mark the actress’s 95th birthday.

The price of the most expensive lot, “Happy Birthday, Madam President” is 14 ETH (over $37,500 at the time of writing).

Over the past half-century Monroe’s image and intellectual property have generated millions of dollars in profits for her legal owners.

According to various sources, ABG owns rights to 75% of Marilyn Monroe’s intellectual property, which it acquired in 2011 from Anna Strasberg Mizrahi, the second wife of Monroe’s acting coach Lee Strasberg.

The remaining 25% passed to Monroe’s therapist Marianne Kris, and then to the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families in London.

ABG did not specify how the proceeds from the NFT sale would be used.

Earlier in May, an NFT auction displayed a frame from the black-and-white film “Alien Autopsy” from 1995, which allegedly shows the body of an alien on an operating table. The starting token price is $1.2 million, with the auction running until June 6.

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