Framed in an elaborate golden frame, the piece is hung on the wall while the bidding commences. Unbeknownst to the gallery of people attending the auction, Banksy himself is in attendance. You see, while several people have their theories, the identity of Banksy has never been officially revealed, making his attendance yet another sly move on the artist’s part. So how did everyone know Banksy was in attendance? That realization came for everyone after the auctioneer’s gavel hit the block and pronounced to the room that “Girl with Balloon” had just sold for $1.4 million.

The moment the gavel hit the block, the unthinkable happened. After his own art piece sold for over a million dollars, Banksy remotely activated a shredder he had hidden in the art piece’s frame. The piece began scrolling downwards as long, cut strips of the canvas began to appear under the frame. As Banksy stopped the art being shredded at about halfway, Alex Branczik, Senior Director and Head of Contemporary Art, Europe London, declared, “It appears we just got Banksy-ed.”

Banksy took to Instagram shortly after to post a video of the shredding himself saying, “Going, going, gone . . . .” Not only had the auction house been “Banksy-ed,” but the masked artist had been in the room the whole time. The event was clearly unprecedented, and to quote the Sotheby’s auction themselves: “The unexpected incident became instant art world history and certainly marks the first time in auction history that a work of art automatically shredded itself after coming under the hammer.”

Of course, the follow-up question to this is, “So what happened? Did the buyer get her money back? Did she or the auction house sue Banksy? Was the art piece insured?!” I wondered these exact same questions and decided to do a bit of research. As Forbes writes in a follow-up article to the most expensive shredding in history:
“Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art in Europe, summed it up immediately, as the painting was being carted off by two white-gloved Sotheby’s handlers: ‘It appears we just got Banksy-ed.’

“Thankfully for the auction house, the buyer felt that too, but in an extremely positive way, and chose to love what the artist had done to the work in the first few seconds of her ownership, before she had taken possession of it. Whether intentional or unintentional, a smart move. The market itself reacted with great positive speed, with some experts predicting a huge spike in the value of the $1.4-million sale price.”

Taking ownership of the partial destruction of the artwork, Banksy agreed to the new title of the artwork suggested by its new owner, now calling it, “Love is in the Bin.”

Despite all parties being on good terms at the elaborate prank, Salome Verrell, Senior Lecturer at The University of Law, confirmed that Banksy had, in fact, broken the law. Verrell stated that:

“Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 S57(2): A sale by auction is complete when the auctioneer announces its completion by the fall of the hammer, or in other customary manner; and until the announcement is made any bidder may retract his bid.

When Banksy shredded the painting, he was damaging someone else’s property, and he did so intentionally and knowing that it belonged to someone else.”

Regardless, there were no charges pressed on Banksy, and it paid off for the owner.

Three years later, almost to the day, Banksy’s half shredded newly titled “Love is in the Bin” sold at the same auction house at Sotheby’s for $25.4 million, making the artwork over eighteen times its original value. A worthwhile investment and one that you can guarantee was insured for the three years its first owner held possession of it, and even more so now.

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