# John Lennon's son sells virtual memorabilia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707 "2022-01-31T22:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/1 "2022-01-31T22:53:17Z")
As outlined here: > **[John Lennon's son takes the Beatles into the metaverse with NFTs](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/john-lennons-son-takes-the-beatles-into-the-metaverse-with-nf-ts-150143228.html)** > > John Lennon’s son, Julian, is turning items from his personal collection of Beatles memorabilia into NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, that are being sold at auction. He is selling tokens that represent actual memorabilia that he just can’t _bear_ to part with. How touching. Or as vlogger Nash Bozard rephrased it, "“John Lennon’s Son Scamming Gullible Rubes By Auctioning Off His Father’s Stuff Without Actually Selling it.” Now, Julian says he has no intention of selling the actual items, but I am wondering _can he?_ Does the existence of NFT tokens get in the way of selling the items themselves? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/2 "2022-01-31T23:14:06Z")
I think we should pay for the collection in virtual cash. I’m reminded of Stanislau Lem’s Dragons Of Probability. “True the guarantee he offered for dragon removal -dracolysis- was only statistical; though one ruler did pay him in similar coin, that is in ducats that were only statistically good.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/3 "2022-01-31T23:15:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > He is selling tokens that represent actual memorabilia that he just can’t _bear_ to part with. How touching. - 🎶 Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can 🎶 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/4 "2022-01-31T23:20:16Z")
I am reminded of the old story of the restaurant owner who heard a peasant who lived above the restaurant remark on how he enjoyed the smell of cooking and proceeded to sue him for compensation. The judge told the defendant to produce what money he had, jingled it in front of the plaintiff, and declared the matter settled. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/5 "2022-01-31T23:29:58Z")
You _can_ have the tokens that are stored on the blockchain represent actual physical ownership of an item. For example, keeping track of who owns a piece of real estate could be done with NFTs. But that is apparently not what he is doing here. These appear to be their own digital items, separate from the physical items, and take the form of “audio-visual collectibles, each narrated by the 58-year-old musician and philanthropist.” So those are worth what they are worth…which will probably end up being what seems like a crazy amount. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/6 "2022-01-31T23:43:22Z")
I don’t understand none of it. And I don’t care to. And I don’t care, too. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/7 "2022-01-31T23:58:25Z")
I’ll buy some if I can pay him in non-fungible pictures of Doge, the Doge Coin dog… [![](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/dogecoin.jpeg.jpg) ](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/dogecoin.jpeg.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/8 "2022-02-01T00:25:21Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > 🎶 Imagine no possessions > I wonder if you can 🎶 If you’re buying NFTs, you won’t have to use your imagination. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/9 "2022-02-01T03:44:28Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I don’t understand none of it. And I don’t care to. And I don’t care, too. There’s a brief explanation here: [NFTs Are, Quite Simply, Bullshit](https://jacobinmag.com/2022/01/nfts-fallon-paris-hilton-bored-ape-digital-imagery-commodification) Although your disregard for any knowledge of them is a point well taken. > As _Vulture_ ’s Rebecca Alter [put it](https://www.vulture.com/2022/01/paris-hilton-jimmy-fallon-bored-ape-yacht-club-nft.html), most NFTs “are about as valuable as a QR code on a Coke bottle cap that sends you to a dead link to an mp3 download.” ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/10 "2022-02-01T22:47:48Z")
It seems reasonable, considering John Lennon was, mostly, only a virtual father to Julian. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/11 "2022-02-02T00:31:06Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > You _can_ have the tokens that are stored on the blockchain represent actual physical ownership of an item. For example, keeping track of who owns a piece of real estate could be done with NFTs. Has anyone actually done this? Like, hypothetically you could maybe do this, claim the cryptobros, but will any legal system accept it as ownership of something? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/12 "2022-02-02T00:52:43Z")
NFTs explained. (Warning: a few F-bombs) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/N8f-BQFo7lw/maxresdefault.jpg "Crypto Curious - SOUTH PARK: POST COVID: THE RETURN OF COVID") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8f-BQFo7lw) ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-lennons-son-sells-virtual-memorabilia/958707/13 "2022-02-02T02:07:22Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Has anyone actually done this? Like, hypothetically you could maybe do this, claim the cryptobros, but will any legal system accept it as ownership of something? It looks like some people have tried it as a proof of concept type thing, but yeah, the laws would have to catch up in most jurisdictions to legally recognize, for example, transfer of title using this method.