Take a shot at buying a Banksy print at auction

The popularity of Banksy’s work has meant that this market has become highly lucrative with collectors often vying with investors who are attracted to the rapid growth in prices in this sector.

Forum only offers works by Banksy that are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Pest Control Office. This means that works are ‘approved’ by their creator’s own control body and therefore can be resold with confidence.

While this helps boost the value of the works offered, other factors affecting value include the edition they come from, the number of copies published, what colourways they comprise and whether they are signed.

Forum’s next ‘Only Banksy’ auction takes place on January 31. The auction house offers free insured shipping worldwide for all lots in the auction.

Here’s a selection of five lots that caught our eye.

1. Girl with Balloon

Girl with Balloon, a Banksy screenprint from 2004, estimated at £70,000-90,000.

Banksy’s first-known image of Girl with Balloon was spray-painted on Waterloo Bridge in 2002, with further murals (sometimes variants) appearing later including on a shop wall in Shoreditch as well as on the West Bank barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Most have now been covered-up or removed including the Waterloo Bridge original.

In terms of prints, an initial set of 25 Girl with Balloon signed prints were released in 2003, while further sets of 150 signed and 600 unsigned prints were released in 2004-5, published by Pictures on Walls, London.

The version on offer at Forum’s upcoming sale is one of the latter – a screenprint in red and black measuring 2ft 4in x 19.25in (70 x 49cm).

View the catalogue entry for this Banksy print Girl with Balloon on the-saleroom.com.

2. Bomb Love

Bomb Love, a Banksy screenprint from 2003, estimated at £15,000-25,000 at Forum Auctions.

Banksy’s anti-war image Bomb Love showing a young girl clutching a bomb first appeared on a mural in East London in 2001. It later appeared in one of his book and then was released in a screenprint in various edition.

The Forum Auctions sale includes a pink and black example from 2003 from an edition on 600 published by Pictures on Walls. It is estimated at £15,000-25,000.

View the catalogue entry for this Banksy print Bomb Love on the-saleroom.com.

3. Donuts

Donuts (Strawberry), a Banksy screenprint from 2009, estimated at £35,000-50,000 at Forum Auctions.

One of the signed screenprints in the Forum Auction sale is a copy of Donuts (Strawberry).

Showing police escorting a van, it was released in 2009 in two colourways: Strawberry and Chocolate. Unusually for Banksy, it did not appear as a piece of street art first.

Signed in pink pencil and from an edition of 299, the copy at Forum measures 21.75 x 2ft 6in (55 x 75cm) and is estimated at £35,000-50,000.

View the catalogue entry for this Banksy print Donuts (Strawberry) on the-saleroom.com.

4. Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction, a Banksy screenprint from 2004, estimated at £30,000-40,000 at Forum Auctions.

Banksy’s Pulp Fiction image is a parody of a poster released for the 1994 cult classic film of the same title by Quentin Tarantino.

The image shows an iconic scenes featuring Vincent Vega (played by John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L Jackson) standing together armed and ready to fire.

In Banksy’s versions they hold bananas.

This version at Forum Auctions is a screenprint in black and yellow from 2004 from the numbered of 600. Measuring sheet 19 x 2ft 3in (49 x 69cm), it is estimated at £30,000-40,000.

View the catalogue entry for this Banksy print Pulp Fiction on the-saleroom.com.

5. Sale Ends

Sale Ends V2, a Banksy screenprint from 2017, estimated at £28,000-35,000 at Forum Auctions.

One of the more recent Banksy prints is Sale Ends V2 from 2017.

Sale Ends V1 originally dates from 2006 – it was produced for his Los Angeles show Barely Legal – and makes a pointed jab at consumer goods culture. Later re-released in different colours, this screenprint in red and black is from a signed edition of 500. At Forum Auctions, this copy is estimated at £28,000-35,000.

View the catalogue entry for this Banksy print Sale Ends V2 on the-saleroom.com.