Several Banksy works were sold on Wednesday night at an auction at Artcurial in Paris, but at reasonable prices and especially without any self-destruct, as at the beginning of the month at Sotheby's in London.
Buyers, journalists and curious people had rushed to the auction of Banksy's works at Artcurial. A sale that took place under close scrutiny, after a work by the artist had self-destructed through a mechanism hidden in its frame, at Sotheby's in London.
In Paris, the auction did not take off this Wednesday, October 24th. Banksy's best sale of the evening (among 133 lots in total), a screenprint called "Stop and Search" , denouncing the police surveillance, has gone to 65 000 € costs included (estimate: 30 000 to 35 000 €).
Another screenprint, Soup Can (Yellow / Emerald / Brown) , a wink to Warhol, was sold at € 46,800 (estimate: € 15,000 to € 20,000). A third "Queen Vic" , who makes fun of Queen Victoria and her positions on homosexuality, left for € 11,700 (estimate: € 3,500 to € 4,000).
Finally a polypropylene work called "Love rat" , a white rat holding a brush, found takers for € 1,700.
We are far from the 1.185 million euros spent by a buyer on October 5 at Sotheby's in London for an acrylic and aerosol reproduction of one of Banksy's most famous images, "Girl with Balloon". It had scarcely been adjudged that the painting partially self-destructed thanks to a mechanism, partly cutting the image into thin vertical slats.
This move could have immediately increased the value of the canvas, which should now be beyond two million euros, according to Thierry Ehrmann, president of Artprice, specialized in quotations of the art market.