Sotheby’s received some criticism at the time for failing to spot the hidden shredder. When it last sold at Sotheby’s in October 2018, the piece was known as “Girl With Balloon.” Just as an anonymous female European buyer made the winning bid - for 1 million pounds ($1.4 million) - a hidden shredder embedded in the frame by Banksy whirred to life, leaving half the canvas hanging from the frame in strips. The piece consists of a half-shredded canvas in an ornate frame bearing a spray-painted image of a girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon. The sale price of 18,582,000 pounds ($25,383,941) includes an auction-house fee known as a buyer’s premium.

“Love is in the Bin” was offered by Sotheby’s in London, with a presale estimate of 4 million pounds to 6 million pounds ($5.5 million to $8.2 million).Īfter a 10-minute bidding war involving nine bidders in the saleroom, online and by phone, it sold for three times the high estimate to an undisclosed buyer. “It no longer functions,” she says. “The mechanics are still inside but it’s been completely deactivated, so it won’t happen again.LONDON (AP) - A work by British street artist Banksy that sensationally self-shredded just after it sold at auction three years ago fetched almost 18.6 million pounds ($25.4 million) on Thursday - a record for the artist, and close to 20 times its pre-shredded price. The work was subsequently loaned to a private museum in Baden-Baden, Germany, and then placed on “long-term loan” to the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart in 2019.īaker says that immediately after the sale, technicians from Pest Control, the name of Banksy’s authentication body, disabled the shredder. “About 5,000 people came through our doors to see it,” Baker says. The 2018 buyer of the work was an unnamed European collector, who made news when she announced through the auction house that she would go ahead with the sale.Īfter the auction, she allowed Sotheby’s to show it in an impromptu exhibition. “It will be a real test.” An Anonymous Seller “The market for Banksy’s work has undergone such a dramatic change,” says Baker. Just one of those 18 sold in 2019, according to Artnet’s price database the rest sold in 2020 or 2021.

The 18 most-expensive works by Banksy to sell at auction have all occurred since the shredding incident. “It’s the highest estimate ever placed on a work by Banksy, but if you look at the actual results achieved by Banksy, it still feels quite attractive and conservative.” “If you look at Banksy’s market since the shredding incident, there’s been a massive change in the value of work sold at auction,” says Baker. If the sale achieves its high estimate, the painting will have appreciated nearly 500% in almost three years.Īnd while other works by Banksy have sold for more-a record of $23 million was set in March at Christie’s with an oil painting of a child playing with a nurse doll-the painting, which was initially titled Girl with Balloon (2006) and which the artist renamed Love is in the Bin (2018) after it was shredded, carries the highest pre-sale estimate ever placed on his pieces. “It’s just become an iconic image now that’s so ubiquitous in culture. “Honestly, there was no involvement on our side,” says Emma Baker, a contemporary art specialist at Sotheby’s in London. 14 with an estimate of £4 million to £6 million. Sotheby’s continues to insist it wasn’t in on the “prank,” even as it has announced that the work-still half-shredded-will return to auction on Oct. After it was about halfway through, the shredder stopped-or jammed. Just after the spray-painted artwork of a girl holding a balloon sold for about £1 million ($1.4 million) an alarm went off and the work slowly began to fall through a shredder hidden inside the frame. In 2018, a painting by Banksy began to self-destruct while it was on the auction block at Sotheby’s in London.

Banksy picture shred video