My name is James Bogart, the founder of the Archivist DAO. For six years I had an overwhelming obsession with collecting one thing: Supreme Box Logo T-Shirts.

Chapter 1 — My Journey

In late September, 2019 I completed a feat which my fellow collectors had long deemed impossible — collecting all 253 Supreme Box Logo T-Shirts ever released by the brand dating back to 1994. The accomplishment took me over six years and around the globe hunting for them. All the validation in the world I needed came from James Jebbia, the founder of Supreme. James sent a friend an email asking him to thank me for such dedication, while acknowledging how difficult it must’ve been.

The culmination of what some may call an insane obsession led to my collection on display, and under private sale with Christie’s at the Rockefeller center in New York, December 2020. If you want to check it out — take a look here: https://www.christies.com/features/The-Box-Logo-Collection-11401-7.aspx

Saying what happened next took me by surprise would be an understatement. Over 5.18 million views on my story, and a late night feature on CNBC with Shepard Smith. I cant find the exact clip (other then my iPhone recording of the event) but another piece of coverage will do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU5b2rDZ-rw

So, at that point I’m a 21 year old student, and my lifelong passion in this collection is about to be sold for millions. Great, right? I didn’t see it that way.

I decided to decline the offers made on the collection, and take back possession of the collection. The idea that it would sit in the home of one wealthy collector, never to be seen or heard of again didn’t sit right with me. I had realized that while I was so focused on completing the collection, I had completely forgot about the millions of fans across the globe who not only helped me complete the collection — but who also share the same passion for these shirts as I do. In selling the collection, I would’ve never had the opportunity to share what so many thought they’d never have a chance to see. That didn’t make me feel good.

Chapter 2 — New Mission

So, I take back the Collection. New mission: democratizing the collection, giving wider access to it.

I met with the best in the business. A company dedicated to fractionalizing alternative assets (Watches, Streetwear, Sneakers, Comic Books) for fans who otherwise would not have access to them, as the assets are highly coveted and very expensive.

To me, this is great. I can give fractionalized ownership over the collection, and keep the majority ownership so I can continue in building experiences and events with it to show it to fans.

It lined up perfectly — except for one thing. I had just spent the last several months organizing a China-wide tour of my collection, to be shared with an estimated 80,000 people across the most premium art-gallery locations. Even better, it was in partnership with one of the largest 3rd party streetwear reselling vendors on the planet.

Everything was coming to fruition , or so I thought. However, the company specializing in fractionalizing these assets had a few stipulations. The tour I was planning? They wouldn’t allow it. The book I had just created and was ready to release? I needed to hand the rights over to them. I still owned 50+% of my collection? Doesn't matter, they would be the controlling entity. At the end of the day, they would be 1% owners and control everything — all while these legendary assets just sat in storage somewhere and were monetized, and controlled by one private party. The worst part of it is, only those living in the United States can participated — so much for democratizing access.

Then, COVID rocked China again, starting with Hong Kong which was where the tour was set to begin. Plans quickly began to fall apart, ultimately cancelling the tour. I felt as if my opportunity to share the collection was never going to see the light of day.

Chapter 3 — Why we’re here

Through my three aforementioned experiences, I noticed a few things.

1. Auction houses kind of suck. They don’t attempt to engage the fans of the items they’re selling.
2. Fractionalized ownership limited to one country (USA), governed by the SEC is inefficient in connecting people and has too many rules.
3. Physical barriers are meant to be broken. Experiences shouldn’t be limited by geography, they can be online too.

This is what drove me to create the Archivist DAO. Where passionate collectors can own, interact, and build around the digital and physical goods they love, together — without any barriers, or non-sense rules.

The Archivist is a group of collectors and creators seeking to:

Archive contemporary culture through the purchase of culturally significant physical and digital assets. We’ll be the kind of DAO going after assets like Air Mags, Tiffany & Co. Patek Phillipes, Jean Michael Basquiat Paintings, Pokemon Card Collections, Bored Apes, CryptoPunks, and more from the best the culture has to offer.

We’re also here to incubate the next generation of cultural icons through a social club of thought leaders, creators, events, and community involvement. While we all love what’s already been created, the next great streetwear, art, and music wave has to come from somewhere — why not here? This is about a lifestyle driven by collecting, creating, and the culture and community that surrounds it.

Why are we doing this? Because we believe in culture, we believe in creation, we believe that art and commerce can coexist and work for the people that create, and the people that collect.