Melania Trump's auction items fail to bring desired price

[brooklynite]

CNN

(CNN)The lot of three items put up for auction earlier this month by former first lady Melania Trump failed to reach its desired monetary threshold of $250,000 for an opening bid.

When the auction for the three items -- a custom, wide-brimmed white hat worn by Trump during an official White House state visit, a watercolor of Trump wearing the hat and a non-fungible token (NFT) of the illustration with animation -- ended Wednesday night, there appeared to only have been five total bids on the auction items, each around the minimum requirement of 1,800 Solana tokens, the cryptocurrency selected by Trump as the only way for interested buyers to pay.

While the minimum requirement of Solana tickets was met, the $250,000 threshold wasn't met because over the last two weeks, almost the entirety of the auction, the crypto market has taken a massive dive, with values of various currencies falling 20, 30 or even 40%, as was the case with Solana (SOL.)

As a result of the lack of interest in Trump's items, an inflated opening bid amount and a plunging market, the "Head of State Collection" -- as Trump dubbed her lot -- appears to have sold for about $170,000, $80,000 below the anticipated opening bid. CNN reached out to Trump's spokesperson for comment on the auction.

Greed and grift only gets you so far...

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Wait a year - Don and Melania will be selling phone greetings,

[Deuxcents]

5. ☝️

[LakeArenal]

2. Only to the press would $170,000 seem chump change for a picture of a hat and the hat.

[Chellee]

7. Don't forget the animated GiF.

They also own that. Well, not like "own" own, but they sorta own it. They can tell people they own it. Not that it makes much difference, but still, it's something.

So, a hat. A picture of said hat. And an animated picture of the hat on the internet. $170,000 well spent. If you're a MAGA cultist.

[Demovictory9]

3. $170K was too too high

[ShazzieB]

10. Way too high.

Ridiculously high. Ludicrously high. Insanely high. Laughably high. Stupidly high.

I could do this all night, but I'll stop now.

[Kali]

4. *snicker*

[keithbvadu2]

6. Requirement for cryptocurrency but a minimum backup of greenbacks because they do not trust the cryp

Requirement for cryptocurrency but a minimum backup of greenbacks because they do not trust the crypto...

[Botany]

8. Why does a billionaire have to raise money doing this?

Me thinks TFG is broke.

[monkeyman1]

9. read yesterday down to 93 million ! Bloomberg!

[robbob]

11. She needs to find other things to sell.

How about the outtakes from the Jan. 6th “Go home, I love you, you’re beautiful” speech? Maybe there’s one of him ranting “kill them all!!!”? That would fetch a good price…

[struggle4progress]

12. I was sure Melania's Nonfungible Tokens would be the hottest new place to shop!

Well, live and learn ...

[Buns_of_Fire]

16. "Meliana's Nonfungible Tokens"... Grand idea for a storefront!

Inventory is never a problem, since no one ever gets possession of what they bought. Genius!

[nilram]

13. I'm surprised. I figured it was a way for Putin or some other

lowlifes to shovel some grift their way. Maybe their influence actually is waning.

[ZonkerHarris]

14. You can't sell stuff at Sotheby's prices to your 7/11 Dennys Fanbase

[North Shore Chicago]

15. She sold her soul to the devil.

He is expecting a refund.

[cinematicdiversions]

17. Shocked it went for that much. (170k) Someone is an idiot.

Not the week to be selling NFTs

[tavernier]

18. I would've paid a buck for it

Just to see my farmer friend’s pet pig wear it, rolling in the mud. And I bet it would have looked better on Petunia.

[llmart]

19. +1

My first laugh of the day. I'm picturing that in my head. And I bet if you took a picture of that pig with it on it would get more than she actually got for the items.

[Fresh_Start]

20. It doesn't have to be THAT hat...just a very similar hat...

and you can sell pics of petunia wearing melania's hat.