The Unique Collection of Over 90 Antique Physical and Digitized Historical Objects Will Be Auctioned During Roland-Garros Tournament
NFTs continue to disrupt the collecting world – from fine art to antiquities. This spring, the world’s first collection of over 90 antique tennis objects will be auctioned on OpenSea, both as original physical objects and unique NFTs.
Owned by IT entrepreneur, CEO of the Belarussian branch of fintech giant Koronapay Europe, and avid tennis player Slava Babienko, the collection of over 90 lots includes antique tennis rackets and accessories, from tennis balls to postage stamps, from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And even though Babienko spent a decade scouting for unique objects in an ‘old-school’ way, he believes it is now time to embrace technological advancements and make the process of antique collecting more up-to-date.
“Like any collector, I like the thrill of searching for rare and unique objects, and thanks to my love of tennis, I have assembled the largest collection of original antique rackets, tennis balls, tournament cups, and even tennis-themed postage stamps in CIS. After a decade in the making, I am finally ready to pass on my collection of 91 objects to other tennis enthusiasts. As someone with a tech and IT background, I recognize that the world of collecting is rapidly changing: NFT has already revolutionized how we interact with digital art, and I believe that it can do the same for any type of collectible. For this reason, I was inspired to create high-resolution NFTs for every single object in my tennis collection,” shares Babienko.
Using $100,000 worth of professional 3D equipment to produce the highest-resolution virtual collectibles, Babienko, and his team created virtual collectibles that would showcase antique objects to the finest detail, preserving every crack, wear and tear one expects to see on a historical item.
“It’s an entirely new approach to acquiring antique objects. Before, only the collector, their family, and close friends would see the objects. NFT technology, on the other hand, now allows us to reach wider audiences and make collecting rare objects more appealing to younger, tech-savvy collectors, all while creating a digital footprint of the historical object online. Aside from collecting, NFTs have educational value as another way to preserve the memory and image of unique objects from previous centuries,” adds Babienko.
Learn more about the collection and browse the individual lots at https://antiquerackets.com/
