The piece went unsold during the auction
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)One of Banksy’s iconic pieces of graffiti went unsold during an auction on Thursday.
The 2004 ‘Love Rat’ piece from the mysterious artist, was valued between £30,000-50,000 by the Anderson and Garland auction house.
Numbered lot 554, the piece failed to reach its valuation during the auction despite auctioneers claiming the “sky is the limit” for the piece.
A spokeswoman for the auction house confirmed to MailOnline that they were still considering a number of offers on the piece.
Ahead of the auction, Julian Thomson, managing director of Anderson & Garland, said: “This exciting piece carries an estimated price of £30,000 - £50,000, however as one of the most sought after and iconic of Banksy’s designs, the sky really is the limit.
“Following the successful launch of our Urban Art Department earlier this year, and the fantastic result achieved with the sale of Banksy’s Merrivale Stable in January, we’ve really put out name on the map with Urban Art collectors.”
Although the graffiti piece went unsold, a pair of Banksy stencils on cardboard did sell for £360 but had been estimated between £150-250.
A further nine smaller Banksy-related items were also sold - bar one - ranging from £40 to £380 at the auction.
In 2018, the unidentified Bristolian artist’s ‘Girl With Balloon’ was sold at Sotheby’s.
The piece went for £1,042,000 but instantly began to shred itself after the hammer and was carried out by Pest Control, a firm acting on behalf of the elusive artist.
When including the buyer’s premium, the purchaser paid £18.5million in total.
