TL;DR

• A limited edition NFT auction of collectible vintage icons
• Web 1 classics seen and used by billions — yes that’s Billions
• Created by Vidar “blacktar” Andersen (aka me)
• Some 20 plus years ago
• I’m the only one who can legally sell these & give you authentic ownership
• Auction running on Open Sea until Xmas morning — it’s the season!
• More information below

Pay peanuts, get monkeys they say. Well, these are not the apes you’re looking for. In fact, these are the iconic Web1 vintage pixels exactly nobody was looking for — until now. 

NFTs at this stage of maturity are mostly the equivalent of factory prints on pre-signed blank Salvador Dali sheets; Sweat-shopped assets ground out by anonymous hired hands, mass-produced by — and artificially inflated to fill the coffers of — the industrial crypto overbros.

This, on the other hand, is the real-Susan-Kare-like deal; It is now possible to own a true artisanal vintage artefact — a literal icon of Web 1, a perfect preserve of the zeitgeist of an era set for all posterity in pixels, offered directly to you to own for yourself — from the artist himself, complete with the well-travelled essence, the patina, the pedigree — that no boilerplate apes, stonks memes, or 3D amateur fests will ever appreciate to.

Here is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a unique piece of Internet history, crafted by hand, pixel by pixel, just as the sun was setting on the wild wild west, at the very moment the frontier period of the Internet was coming to an end and the heydays of Web 1 as it were to be know would be gone forever. 

These classic icons serve as a unique vehicle, an instant connection, to a bygone era where success on the Internet was still measured in Super Bowl ad spend, and amount of Miller Aeron Chairs and Spark Stations amassed.

The limited Vintage Pixels collection features three vintage icons up for auction today, representing the most infamous three out of a set of over 40.

Originally created for a content management system named Plone, these pixels soon however ended up in all sorts of places around the world outside the world of Plone too. For a time, they were the most copied, or shall we say

Originally created by yours truly for a content management system named Plone, used by the likes of The FBI, The CIA, NASA JPL, Govt. of Brazil, Yale University, University College London, etc. These pixels soon however ended up in all sorts of places around the world outside the world of Plone too. For a time, they were the most copied, or shall we say ‘borrowed’, icons of Web 1. 

If you used the Internet between 2001 and today, you already saw and used one or more of these icons already.

Further more, the NFTs on offer in this one-off auction are in a pristine uncompressed PNG condition and have been stored in a direct line of succession — from the first hard drive the files were originally saved on (a Seagate Barracuda 20.2GB, purchased 1999, receipt can probably be produced on demand) from a period in time where The Cloud was still an insider joke and AWS had yet to be invented, and your Facebook and Snap was called IM and ICQ — until today.

But wait, the screams of just about every crypto edgelord out there echo — these are not the instantly meme-able shitposts we were looking for! Hower, as the real NFT connoisseurs out there will know, this is indeed a feature and not a bug; As the relevance and value of stonk ape memes fade inverse-squarely over time, these pedigree iconic classics, much like a fine wine, will only appreciate with age.

And to all those naysayers claiming NFTs have no real utility, the NFTs in the Vintage Pixels collection of course come with indisputable proof of utility, having served the world online as pictorial descriptors with no needed additional text for nearly twenty years. That will certainly show them.

Reserve a Web 1 classic for yourself today and help rescue it from the accelerating threat of extinction; Now is the time for you to act and secure these rare vintage icons for yourself before some other bro does — because let’s face it, who would not want to hang the complete trifecta of pure dot com nostalgia above the virtual metaverse fireplace this holiday season? 

And speaking of the holiday season, this is by definition the perfect gift for that special person who has literally everything: This, by its very nature, is comes with a guarantee that they don’t already own it — and to boot, it comes with proof of ownership to guarantee that nobody else will have this either. Nobody. Ever. 

Introducing The Vintage Pixel Collection: Collect Them All

Lot 1
User Icon

Lot 1 is arguably the most famous in the collection. It’s the user icon that e.g. sat at the top right of your browser, staring down at you on every page when you were visiting Wikipedia, for years on end; The sights it has seen, the stories it could tell. It’s seen you, fo sho. And to some, this might be the ultimate PFP to destroy them all.

Lot 2
Print Icon

Lot 2, or infamous #2, is the legendary print icon that for turned up in random places like the “slsk”, pronounced “soulseek” by the cool kids of the day, app — at one time the unofficial heir to Napster (ask your parents what that thing was). What it could tell is probably still covered by statute of limitations in most jurisdictions — so it won’t. You’ve seen or used this one too.

Lot 3
Link Icon

Lot 3 is not scoring any points for originality, but for familiarity. It’s the legendary world globe used and abused on millions if not billions of web pages and apps signifying a link to another web page.

About the artist

I’m Vidar “blacktar” Andersen (Why “blacktar”? “Who the hell in their right mind would use their real name online?” — snarky 90s me), and I created these icons out of necessity in and around 2001 (my memory thereof is a bit sketch), just as the dot com Web 1 bubble was bursting. Their provenance come guaranteed — by me; There are many icons out there, but these are mine.

Now, this isn’t quite my first rodeo; I have a history of building stuff in public — many things of which flopped — to help better understand new tech and its possibilities. 

I co-created a web-based game in the 90s that had millions of daily users and was featured on BBC Click! to learn about the capabilities of dynamic web apps and databases — (before there were any viable way to monetise such apps). 

I helped make several content manage systems, Plone (one that didn’t flop much) I already mentioned, to better understand how to serve and manage web content properly and securely. 

I did probably the first social discovery app for the iPhone to learn about SoLoMo [cringe] and mobile apps, which flopped, but served me well by fulfilling the app’s original intent of finding my people and expanding my network. It was called Gauss and it was a people magnet for your pocket.

I did OneSec – an Instagram for one second videos – with a fren, 6 months before Vine launched (#facepalm) to learn about crowdfunding and social video formats.

I even co-founded an ICO (an ITO to be correct) about attribution for the creator economy  that kinda sorta hinged on a lot of significant Chinese backers that we had already signed on, flopping when just two weeks before the planned launch the Chinese government decided to crack down on crypto, all to learn about ICOs and decentralised / token economies the hard way. 

Weirdly, I’ve also accidentally created world famous logos — some that I’m not allowed to talk about. Still.

You can read more about me than even my mother wants to know about me if you google me. But that would be a waste of time compared to heading over to the Vintage Pixels auction and bidding for these gems to be yours at this point.

Today, I’m dropping these NFTs as a part of my journey to learn more about crypto, blockchain, ownership — the whole Web 3 yards and to help preserve a classic part of Web 1 for posterity that would be otherwise lost to future generations.

Or in not so many words; It’s all for the lulz.

And this whole NFT auction business wouldn’t be much fun without throwing some stupid surprises into the mix, though…

Enter STRETCH GOALS:

STRETCH GOAL #1
0.01 ETH

I’ll throw in an additional NFT of an icon from the original set — that may or may not have been ever published before. Wow, many promises, such suspense, so mystery!

SECRET STRETCH GOAL #2
Thresholds only announced after Stretch Goal #1 is unlocked

If the threshold is met, the respective iconic icon [sic] will also be delivered as framed A0 hand painted oil on canvas painting painted by me, signed by me, and also signed with the respective string for the digital NFT asset, if applicable. Nothing more subtly signals impeccable taste and peerless means like oil on canvas originals hung on your reading room wall. 

Additionally, I’m also working with a German tech startup that will also issue a digital hash, a certificate, for each oil painting based on their unique physical makeup, insuring the authenticity and making sure they will never be able to be faked. Ever. This means you’ll own a hash for both the digital AND the physical asset. For reals.

SECRET STRETCH GOAL #3

An additional discrete object of envy will be unlocked; an actual physical 3D printed pixels version, preserved forever in a block of sexy epoxy resin, complete with a signed golden proof of authenticity and ownership. Perfect for also tastefully claiming your bragging rights, be it on your mantelpiece or your office desk. And of course the German startup will also issue a digital hash, an actual certificate of authenticity, for each of the physical 3D icons. There can be only one.

_{Close your eyes and imagine the gorgeous physical 3D printed object encased in resin here. Think those wooden furniture with filled resin TikToks meets brightly colored 3D printed custom LEGO(-like) icons and a golden plate with the proof of ownership on it? Mmmm hmmm?! (Although well versed in the ancient witchcraft of photorealistic rendering through LightWave3D, an almost obsolete artefact in itself, I’m too lazy to mock it up for you). Just think it — be it!}

SECRET STRETCH GOAL #4

If met, the winning bid will of course also get all of the above, AND I’ll delete ALL my original instances and backups of the respective asset, effectively annihilating the source — and I’ll make sure that the process is officially witnessed and signed by a notary as well as live-streaming the deletion ceremony in public, complete with a live marching band doing their best worst impression of Chopin’s Funeral March as all original bits and bytes are being permanently removed from this physical realm. Forever-ever.

SECRET STRETCH GOAL #5

All of the above, and in addition I’ll wear a pink tutu and an Elon Mask and the band will obviously instead be playing “Astronomia” during the deletion ceremony — and you’re cordially invited to participate; I’ll fly you in. Additionally, I will use that crystal ETH to buy much Dogecoin. AND I’ll do my worst to get some dancing meme pall bearers as well as inviting the local chapters of Shiba Inu owners.

SECRET STRETCH GOAL #6

All of the above except NOT wearing a pink tutu and an Elon mask, NOT buying Dogecoin, and instead HODL ALL TEH ETH!

SECRET STRETCH GOAL #7

All of the above except not wearing a pink tutu and an Elon mask, NOT buying Dogecoin, and instead ALLIN BITCOIN HODL! 

Fren, it’s dangerous to launder alone. Take this; A crate of Clorox has been added to your inventory. 

Most of the proceeds from this stretch goal will probably go to a charity named IRS, also known to operate under the name “Finanzamt” in other locals. Probably.

And I’ll finally add laser eyes to my twitter profile and start spamming maximalist tropes and giving away Bitcoin alternately. Scout’s honor.

Yes, there is a discord server for this auction and I have no idea how to use that thing. I’ll be available for questions and I’ll show up live sort of regularly there. I think.

Caveat Emptor: 

This is not financial advice. It’s fair to say that this is not an advice of any kind. In fact, if you’re still reading this, you’re probably crazy. The auction is real, tough – As are the stretch goals.

This might very well be the only drop I’ll ever do. Who knows.

And for full disclosure, I don’t HODL enough ETH to bid on my own auctions in any significant way, so there’s that. Not ratting on the Doge, though.

And obviously you’re bidding on an NFT of the original file, not the original IP attribution which remain with me, nor the usage rights — which are already covered by GPL3.0.

Don’t bro me if you don’t know me.

LFG