Melania Trump Previews Online NFT Auction With $250,000 Starting Bid

Melania Trump is going full-steam ahead with NFT’s after the recent launch of her NFT platform, announcing an online auction with a massive starting bid for a group of both real mementos and digital tokens dubbed the “Head of State Collection.”

The works are a commemoration of the outfit Trump wore during her and then-President Donald Trump’s visit with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018. “Mrs. Trump recognized this important moment for the country,” says the preview of the “Head of State” auction.

The first of the items is the signed, “one-of-a-kind” white, wide-brimmed hat, created by French designer Hervé Pierre, which Trump wore on the visit. The next is a watercolor of Trump wearing the outfit on paper signed by herself and artist Marc-Antoine Coulon.

The winning bidder will also receive a Digital Artwork NFT of Coulon’s watercolor, which includes some motion effects.

The starting bid for all three items is $250,000 and they are again using cryptocurrency Solana (SOL) for payment. The values of cryptocurrency fluctuate, and currently, $250,000 is about 1415 SOL.

While Trump’s last NFT, “Melania’s Vision,” was available to anyone who could afford the 1 SOL asking price during its limited time on the site, this auction is intended to be a more exclusive affair and could pump up the value of the watercolor NFT immensely depending on how many people bid.

The auction preview also claimed that it was working with Trump’s “Be Best” initiative to donate a portion of auction proceeds to “provide foster care children with access to computer science and technology education.” Representatives for Trump have not confirmed how much of the proceeds will be used for this purpose, however.

The auction will run from Jan 11 to Jan 25, 2022.