Darwin alert! – someone’s just shredded a £40k Banksy print

Whilst we in our opinion, accurately estimated Banksy had roughly doubled the value of the artwork he destroyed, the unique theatre and spectacle of his stunt did indeed create a piece of Art history.

On Saturday we warned on social media via the @MyArtBroker Twitter account that we had received a few enquiries from sellers wondering if they shredded their Girl With Balloon print, would it double their value also?

We’ve had a number of #Banksy print owners contact us today asking if they shred their artwork will it be worth more. Please, Please DON’T. The events of the last 24hrs are a very unique piece of art history.

Today, MyArtBroker.com received a seller enquiry via our website from someone who has taken it upon themselves to shred their own Girl With Balloon print in order to increase its value.

They have taken a piece of art worth roughly £40,000 and in our opinion made its value £1.

The item in question is one of a numbered edition of 600 “unsigned” prints which in mint condition will easily fetch a price of £40,000. The seller of this item requested we list the print for a minimum of £80,000. We think not.

We have refused to list this item for a number of reasons. One of them being we just can’t believe the stupidity involved and the opportunistic vandalism.

Ian Syer, Co-Founder of www.myartbroker.com said today:

“Banksy is unique to the art world. No other artist captures the hearts and minds of the public like he does. However, when Banksy does something crazy like shredding his own artwork, it will naturally have a dramatic effect on values. What this person today seems to have done is needlessly ruin a print worth around £40k and reduce its value to almost nothing. We strongly recommend nobody else takes valuable art and tries to cash in on what history will judge a simply brilliant stunt. There are limited numbers of Girl With Balloon prints in the world, today, we lost one and it’s a crying shame.”

MyArtBroker has access to a worldwide network of art collectors selling Banksy artwork, so get in touch with us if you’re interested selling a Banksy print.