A job application filled out by late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is once again on the auction block. However, this time, the application will be available for auction as both a physical item and as a non-fungible token (NFT).
This piece of Apple memorabilia has been auctioned off in the past, once in 2018 and then again earlier this year. This auction sees a London entrepreneur is taking bids for an NFT version of the application for the first time.
Auction organizer Olly Joshi will take bids for the physical Steve Jobs application through his website. The NFT version of the application will be available through Rarible. Bidding starts July 21.
“The Steve Jobs hand-written 1973 job application auction aims to highlight the modern shift in perceived value — the physical or the digital,” Joshi said in a statement to CNET.
Joshi says he is attempting to make a point about physical and digital goods. On his website, he’s asking users to submit whether they believe the physical or NFT versions of the application will sell for more.
Will this open a whole new market for decentralized collectibles? Will this cement the status-quo? Or could we see a stalemate with a fresh understanding that both can coexist and even complement one another as we traverse the next 50 years of innovation?
Whatever the outcome, the worlds of finance and art will be watching with anticipation.
On the actual physical application, which was filled out by Jobs in 1973 just after he dropped out of Reed College, Jobs lists “english lit” as his major and Reed College as his address. He lists “Computer” and “Calculator” as skills, along with “Design” and “Tech,” and says that he has special abilities that include “Electronics” and digital “Tech or Design Engineer.”
The company he was applying to remains a mystery. However, Jobs joined Atari as a technician a year later. Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976.
The NFT version will likely be the same document but sold as a blockchain-based asset that acts as a token of ownership.
According to the auction website, a portion of the profits will be donated to the Cancer Research Center and One Laptop per Child.
Jobs’ application was last sold at auction for $222,400.
(Via AppleInsider)