An art collector has spent £250,000 on a piece of art without knowing if it's a genuine Banksy.
The piece, which depicts a rat with a paintbrush next to the words 'never liked this Banksy' once sat beneath the Banksy Love Plane on the wall of the Norwich House on Rumford Street in Liverpool City Centre. It was removed, along with the Love Plane in 2016, and was due to feature in the failed Berry House "street art gallery" project.
Now the piece has been sold at auction to collector Robin Barton. The sale was featured on new Channel 4 series, The Greatest Auction hosted by AJ Odudu.
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The anonymous seller was represented by Justin, who said that even after the artwork was examined there was no clear answer as to whether or not the piece was actually a Banksy. Justin confirmed he was not representing Banksy nor was he Banksy himself.
Art dealer Robin, who describes himself as playing a "cat and mouse game" with Banksy, finding his artworks, buying them and then selling them, is after the piece for his collection. One critic said he didn't believe the letters "seem in the same style that he (Banksy) normally does" however Robin did not believe that to be true.
Another critic said he was not "a thousand per cent" either way on if it was Banksy or not however some experts believed it was. In a tense bidding war where Robin was in the room and a millionaire art collector from Dubai was phoning in, it appeared the price of the art could have kept rising.
After starting at £35,000 the bidders continued until the Dubai buyer pulled out at £250,000 meaning Robin took home the possible Banksy. He said: "I got what I wanted. That was my limit... when it got up to the 200, I thought maybe I got this wrong, maybe they are hungrier than I am. I wouldn't have gone a penny over that so I got it and I'm taking it home."
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