Michael Potuck

We’ve seen Steve Jobs’ 1973 job application go for sale multiple times over the last few years, most recently this past March for over $200,000. Now the autographed memorabilia is up for auction again but this time with a twist. There’s an NFT version for sale at the same time as the physical document to see which one nets more.

Update 7/28: The auction face-off has ended with the original document selling for a new record of $343,000, about 12 times more than the NFT version. 

The NFT version sold for 12 ETH, the equivalent of ~$27,497. It’s hard to know exactly what to make of this auction’s results and if it could predict future trends about the demand for physical vs digital collectibles. But it appears that interest in Steve Jobs memorabilia remains much stronger in physical items for now.

Bidding is opening today for the Steve Jobs’ signed job application on Snoofaand Rarible for the NFT version (via CNET). The auction is being done by Olly Joshi who wanted to bring attention to the change in “perceived value.”

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.

The Snoofa auction listing says the physical document has been verified by PSA and Beckett. At the time of writing, the auction is now live with bidding ending in 7 days.

There is also a poll on the auction page if you want to join in on the fun to answer whether you think the physical or digital version will sell for more.