THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY
This etch contains the context to this gallery
THE ONE THAT WOULD HAVE HAD TO SELL A BIT EARLIER
THE ONE I MIGHT HAVE MINTED
Archetypes will always be one of my favorite mints. It was the height of AB gas wars, adrenalin was pumping and the outputs were absolutely stunning. Scrolling through everything afterwards this one caught my attention. And I haven't been able to forget it ever since. One of my two archetypes sold for 4eth and this got listed at 4.9. Someone got it with a 3.6 bid a couple of days later and it's been in their vault ever since. Those 4 eth were all I had back then and I was never going to pay that realistically. Still it feels like the first that got away.
THE ONE THAT WAS FIRST
THE ONE I SOLD TO BUY THE OTHER ONES
THE OTHER ONE I DIDN'T BUY
THE ONES I PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE MINTED
THE ONE THAT TAUGHT ME YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT 'TIL IT'S GONE
When I discovered AB I knew it was special. My biggest goal became retaining a full curated set. I put every single dollar I had in cash into ether, but with rising gas cost it wasn't enough. For a while I was able to keep going by minting two tokens and selling one.Than momentum slowed in series 3 and nothing was selling anymore. After Subscapes I completely ran out of money and had to stop minting curated for the first time in month. Together with Archetypes Subscapes was my favorite mint. I loved them but also wanted to keep my set going. They were so beautiful and I figured if anything was going to sell eventually it was them. I listed this one at 0.8 and stepped away from all things NFT to go on parental leave for a moment - just checking my wallet every couple of days.
I was jerked back into NFT by the next bull run. My Subscape and two Elevated Deconstructions had sold. I had about 10eth and was looking to rebuild my curated set. When I checked what I had missed Fidenzas were already close to 10eth. I was tempted to put everything into it but then I again wouldn't have had enough for the next mints. I had already seen one quick up and down move. I figured the same was going to happen again. When I understood how badly I had miscalculated Fidenzas were around 25 eth. I put my last Subscape - my favorite mint of all time - up for 50 with the plan of getting a Fidenza and another Subscape when it sold. When it did I was torn all of a sudden. I had to think for a second. Won't this all come down a little a least? What if eth goes up? What about the taxes? But floors kept going up and out of reach.
Meridians dropped in the middle of the biggest AB bull of all time. Dutch auctions were closing above 10 eth regularly. The previews looked stunning. But it was "only" a playground and on the same day Skulptuur - a much hyped curated - was dropping. A lot of artists were raving about the technical innovation. I had about 10 eth to spend total. I decided to prioritize Skulptuurs if both DA ended high. It seemed like the kind of project that could soar out of reach quickly.
Meridians and Skulptuurs both ended up selling around 8 eth. Meridians have stay around 10eth ever since while Skulptuurs fell to and stayed around 1eth. I love my Skulptuurs and don't mind having spend 9eth, but sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had minted a Meridian and bought Skulptuurs when they were cheaper.
I probably wouldn't have minted one of these two stunning example, but there are so many lovely examples and I regret missing the chance to mint one.
Gazers arrived in an absolute Art Blocks bear. I had almost no funds, but watched the DA while at work because I had been following Matt Kane for a while already. When the price dropped to 0.5 I minted immediately. That was all I had and when I saw it was going to reach 0.25 I started messaging people and I tried to borrow funds through NFTfi quickly, but I didn't make it in time.
I liked my mint and was salty because I was only able to mint one so I pledged to myself I was going to take some profits the next time I had the chance to never have to miss out on a opportunity like that again.
I also didn't really get Gazers at first. They looked nice and Matt was an OG crypto artists, but I neither stumbled about deeper discussions back then nor took the time to research myself. There was a lot going on at home and at work and there is always so much to stay on top of in NFT.
So I listed my Gazer at 4.5. I figured anything that runs from 0.25 to 5 quickly will fall again and I'll be able to get back in. I had seen the same with other technically interesting projects like Skultuurs and Mutant Garden Seeders. I had also seen it with other big artists like Dmitri Cherniak and Casey Reas. I thought I knew what was going on. I didn't. It sold a day later, came down to 2 for a couple of days and then the rest is history.
Deca(gon) has been my favorite organization / tool / collection of the year. I check deca every day - I have the 110 day streak to prove it - and it single-handedly re-vitalized my passion for art NFT. Deca keeps delivering the most interesting mechanics in the space and represents a lot of what I think NFT need and would like to see more of.
I like my collection to reflect the projects I really believe in. That's true for Art Blocks and it's true for Deca. I'm currently at 51 decagons and three decals, but there is one token I will never be able to collect. I love the use of soulbound NFT, but it stings. Even more so considering I've had the Deca app on my home screen since October 21. But I didn't pay attention to the initial mint. It felt to complicated to get the invite, I had a lot going on and I figured I would take care of it later.
This token will forever be a reminder to not be cheap when you like something. I saw it at 0,0079 and really liked it. However, I was buying so many Decagons and with the unlimited supply I figured I had to be at least a bit frugal. So since this had a high # and a low level I started bidding. First 0,004 than 0.005. Someone bought it for 0,0079. I saved 0,0029 but I lost what I think is an absolut classic.
I loved William Gibson's start to The Peripheral when I read it and I love how Piter Pasma interpreted it. I'd like to think that I would have snatched this token when it was selling at 10tz if I would have stumbled upon it in my early hicetnunc explorations but I was a couple of weeks late and by then it was selling for >1.000tz. I could still afford it, but there is too much other art and I can't get myself to pay that sum … yet.
THE ONE I WASN'T ALERT ENOUGH FOR
THE ONE I WAS TOO CHEAP FOR
THE ONE I WAS TOO LATE FOR