Disclosure: CT owns 1 fuzzy Chromie Squiggle.
Chromie Squiggles have been on the move in the first few weeks of 2023. As the genesis project of Art Blocks and its founder Snowfro, many NFT collectors see Squiggles as a prominent piece of generative art on the blockchain. Squiggles have 2,783 unique holders, and 9,734 have been minted out of 10K.
Snowfro’s second collection Friendship Bracelets has gained volume recently as well, with whales like Pranksy scooping up 146 of them for 151 ETH. Proof co-founder and CEO Kevin Rose has even said that the bracelets could be “[his] generation’s Chromie Squiggle.”
Why Squiggles?
Well-known Squig collector Punk6529 said that “Squiggles are the first, iconic and largest [Art Blocks Curated] collection, the most memetic and, initially, quite controversial; ‘you paid what for those squiggly lines?'” Derek Edws and Stephen McKeon’s Thesis on Digital Media is an in-depth exploration about why generative art like Squigs are important in this new digital art world.
Squiggles have taken over the web3 culture, with Squig-inspired traits on collections like Moonbirds and VeeCon tickets. A group of investors called WAGMI United got together and purchased an English Football League Two team, Crawley Town. A Chromie Squiggle is featured on their Adidas jerseys.
Events like Art Blocks’ Marfa have brought collectors together to celebrate this personality-packed project. As generative art as a whole continues to grow in popularity, many look to collect Squiggles due to their impact on web3 culture.
This buyer’s guide will walk you through each of their traits, including some of the “hidden” traits which Squig connoisseurs care about the most. Of course all Squiggles are beautiful…but this guide will break down what to look out for.
Type
Each Squiggle has a type, and some are rarer than others. Here are the Types in order of rarity. In general (except for Ribbed, which I’ll note later), the rarer it is, the higher its floor price is.
A Collector Set is made up of 1 of each type: 1 Normal, 1 Slinky, 1 Fuzzy, 1 Ribbed, 1 Bold, and 1 Pipe Squiggle. A Full Set adds a HyperRainbow to these, in order to include one of each variant that is visible to the naked eye.
There are even more sets for ambitious collectors. For all set types, check out SquiggleDAO’s guide.
Normal
Normal Squiggles make up 62% of the collection. They are the best entry-level Squig to purchase (when combined with a Normal Spectrum). They come in a variety of shapes and hues, and are popular buys due to their price point and instant recognizability.
Slinky
Slinkies are fun because, well, they look like Slinkies. They make up 12% of the collection.
Fuzzy
I’m completely biased when I say Fuzzy Squiggles are my favorite. They look more like a pastel airbrush painting than the others. They make up 11% of all minted Squiggles.
Ribbed
Ribbed just don’t get the respect they deserve. Although they are only just 8% of all Squiggles, their floor prices are often lower than less rare ones. This may be because many are not super colorful, which is the hallmark of most Squiggles.
Ribbed Subtype: Harmonic (Ghost)
This is a trait that is known by the community, but hidden in the metadata. A “ghost” is a Ribbed Squiggle whose body blends in perfectly with the background. More specifically, the Ribbed color has to be a value incremented by 25 (0, 25, 50, 75 etc.). There are currently 35 in the collection; their floor price is 150 ETH.
This is a distinctive “Alien” Ghost/Ribbed/Full Spectrum, collected by punk6529.
Bold
Bolds make up around 4.5% of the collection, and they definitely make a statement. These normally go for about double the floor price of the Squiggle collection.
Pipe
Making up only 2% of all Squiggles are Pipes. Pipes usually sell for 3x floor or more. They always stand out and are extremely popular with collectors.
Subtype: Day Zero
This is another trait that is hidden in the metadata. These prominent Squigs minted on November 27, 2020 (“Day 0”) for a cost of .035 Ethereum each. There are currently 542, and people pay a premium for these. They also come with lower Squiggle IDs (some single-digit), which fetch a premium.
Spectrum
Outside of Normal, many would consider these other three Spectrum types “grails.” Of the remaining 266 Squiggles left to mint, there are estimated to be 0 Perfect Spectrums, 1 Full Spectrum, and 3 HyperRainbows left. This makes these existing grails even more exclusive.
HyperRainbow
There are 127 HyperRainbow Squiggles minted so far. HyperRainbows have a color spread of 0.5, making them the Squiggles with the most colorful hues.
The all-time record Squig sale was 945 ETH ($2.8 million) for this Bold HyperRainbow #4697 in Sept 2021. The seller had minted it for $22 nine months earlier. 🤯
These stand out as being extremely colorful displaying many color hues– even more so in the Bold Type. This is typically a highly desired trait for buyers.
Even though HyperRainbows are not technically the rarest, they are more beloved than Full or Perfect Spectrums. SquiggleDAO’s description says that it is “Squiggliness elevated to its maximum power.”
Full Spectrum
42 Full Spectrum Squiggles have been minted. Full Spectrum is close to Perfect Spectrum, with each color within 1% of Perfect.
Perfect Spectrum
These are the rarest of the rare, with 22 currently minted. In these, each of the 256 color hues are represented exactly once. A majority of Perfect Spectrums are Normal Type, but there are some ultra-rare Ribbed versions.
Collector VonMises14 has a great definition of a Perfect Spectrum Squiggle: Only a single combination of color spread (11), segments (14), and steps between segments (200) will result in a Perfect outcome.
The same collector was quoted by Punk6529: “Perfect spectrum is all 256 color hues displayed exactly once, none repeating. End color is ALWAYS N-1 with N as the start color.”
Height
All but 44 Squiggles minted have a Height of 3. Heights of 4 are very rare, but are tough to see with the average Squiggle collector’s eye.
Shape
This isn’t a real trait in the metadata, but shape matters. Of course, this is fully subjective. These include Squiggles in the shapes of letters (like M and W), Loch Ness Monsters, and whatever else your eye can imagine.
Some prefer a Squig that is more dramatic in shape, while others prefer a flatter Squig. Similarly, some like one that ends on an upturn rather than a downturn, and vice-versa.
The Squiggle that is the logo for Art Blocks is generally a desired classic shape.
Sidebar: Please enjoy this tale about solving a wild puzzle to claim a “bat” shaped Squiggle.
Color Spread
The lower, the better. 0.5 is the lowest, and it’s reserved for Squiggles which are the most colorful (HyperRainbows).
Overall, single-digit Color Spread is more sought after than double-digit, and is something that many collectors look for.
Steps Between and Segments
Steps Between are either 50, 200, or 1,000. There is a formula involving Steps Between, Segments, and Color Spread to get total color hues displayed. It is: (segments*steps between)/color spread = total color hues.
Segments range from 12 to 20. A 20-segment Squiggle seems to go on forever and has many twists and turns.
Start & End Colors
The Start colors range from 0 through 255, and the End colors range from 0 to 254. Some Squiggles have the same start and end color, like this one. While notable, it is challenging to see if this has had any major effect on desirability outside of niche collectors.
Color Direction
The Color Direction is almost evenly divided in the collection between Reverse and Forward, so this trait is more about personal preference than anything.
Squiggle Resources
The Squig community is extremely tight and there are many resources out there to research, collect, and represent Squiggles.
Squigs make great art pieces to display in your home. They are vector graphics that can scale at any size without losing their quality.
The SquiggleDAO Discord also offers support and advice in choosing one, so don’t be shy to ask for help.
- Dune Dashboard
- Explorer with “Hidden” traits
- Alternative Squiggle Explorer
- SquiggleDAO
- Infinite Objects Display
- Hand Gear Drawing by Degenerate_Gen
- Make a GIF of a Squig
- Snowfro on Proof Podcast
Get Inspired
- Punk6529 has one of the most iconic rare Squiggle collections in existence.
- VonMises14 minted Squiggles and has collected them ever since. His ultra-rare collection can be seen here, which includes two HyperRainbows that he minted.
- GMoney owns hundreds of Squiggles. He recently did a collaboration with founder Snowfro on his connected-wearable IT-02 9dcc collection.
- Kevin Rose has 25+ Squiggles. In February 2022, he famously said that in 10 years, each one will be worth $1 million.
- Anon collector who_dis. They minted 1,007 Squiggles, and still hold 1,006 of them…
Summary
Chromie Squiggles was the first project on Art Blocks, which was the first platform dedicated to decentralized, generative art NFTs. While there are many other iconic works from the Art Blocks platform, Squiggles are in a category of their own.
These happy little lines have been auctioned at Sothebys, talked about in The New York Times, and shown in IRL galleries around the world. Many other NFT collections and artists are inspired by them.
At the time of the post, around 3% of all Squiggles are listed. Squiggles are still minting. The remaining lucky 266 minters will be hand-picked by Snowfro over time.
