Bids for digital artist Beeple's 5000-day collection are nearing $2 million in Christie's auction

A collection of artwork created by popular digital artist Beeple has already received a bid of nearly $1.8 million in an auction hosted by British auction house Christie's — with two more weeks of bidding to go.

Today is day one of the sale in which Beeple's work will be auctioned off for the first time ever. For sale is a collection of 5,000 pieces titled Everydays: The First 5000 Days. To create the collection, Beeple produced a new work of art every single day for 14 years, starting May 2007. Everydays has been called "one of the most unique bodies of work to emerge in the history of digital art."

The auction, the result of a partnership between Christie's and NFT marketplace MakersPlace, will be the first time non-fungible token (NFT) art is sold at an auction house.

The auction's start comes just a day after a Beeple piece of art, titled CROSSROAD, was resold on Gemini-owned NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway for $6.6 million.