British artist Banksy’s jagged ‘Love is in The Bin’ work auctioned for $ 25.4 million

A work by anonymous British street artist Banksy who enigmatically shredded herself just after being sold to auction three years ago, grossed about $ 25.4 million on Thursday. The piece titled “Love is in the Bin” consists of a half-ragged canvas in a jeweled frame bearing a spray-painted image of a girl reaching out for a balloon. The original item was sold exactly three years ago with the title “Girl with Balloon”.

_{Image: Sotheby’s auction house}

On Thursday, the half-ragged coin was put under a hammer by London-based auction house Sotheby’s where it reached almost triple its original price. The “auction war” involved nine parties, who made their presence known both in person and over the phone. The auction lasted 10 minutes, after which the painting was sold to an anonymous bidder for an exorbitant price of 18,582,000 pounds sterling ($ 25,383,941).

Sotheby’s said in a statement: “This sparked a fierce wave of bidding, with the iconic coin finally going under the hammer for an astonishing £ 18,582,000, after a ten-minute chase by nine bidders. Art of the story to be created live at an auction, Love is in the Bin tripled its £ 6million in the same Sotheby’s auction house it was born in in 2018. “

The shredding episode

In 2018, an anonymous bidder bought Banksy’s famous painting at another Sotheby’s auction. However, just seconds after the sale ended, a shredder was hidden in the frame and shredded half of the canvas, leaving everyone up for auction. Although the UK auction house initially received criticism for its inability to spot the shredder, it quickly became one of its most vaunted works of art. Later, Banksy, who was present at the tender, took to Youtube to post a video showing how he used a remote control to secretly activate the shredder.

(With access point inputs)

(Image: AP)