Your nan’s favourite programme Antiques Roadshow took some time out from it’s regular schedule of pricing heirloom tea caddies to put a price on a more recent masterpiece: Mobile Lovers, by British artist Banksy.
The work was estimated to be worth £400,000 (AUD$720,799) and will be sold to raise funds for a Bristol youth club.
The circumstances under which The Broad Plain Boys’ Club came to own the artwork are a little murky; they spotted it on a wall in Bristol and snapped it up, before turning it over to authorities when they received death threats. Eventually, the painting’s enigmatic creator said they could have it, as long as they sold it to raise money for the club.
Dennis Stinchcombe, the leader of the Broad Plain Boys’ Club, said “I am looking to sell the Banksy at the highest price, and I just took it down to get an expert opinion. I’m not an art dealer and I’ve got no idea what I am doing. He said it was like everything else – Banksy is an incredibly hard thing to put a price on.”
A date for the auction hasn’t been announced, but if you’ve got most of a milli sitting around, it just could be yours.
