As the world’s most famous street artist, it is little wonder Banksy’s simple yet profound pieces go under the hammer for millions.
Everything the elusive Brit’s stencil touches immediately increases in value.
But while the buildings adorned with his trademark black silhouettes immediately become magnets for tourists keen to catch a glimpse of his work, street furniture festooned with his art brings an altogether different type of visitor – thieves.
Within minutes of Banksy unveiling a howling lone wolf stencilled onto a satellite dish on a roof in Peckham yesterday, pictures captured a group of hooded men climbing a ladder to dismantle the piece and run off with it.
But it isn’t the only Banksy to go missing. A similar fate met a previous piece, also in Peckham, last Christmas.
The artwork showing the silhouette of a wolf howling appeared on a rooftop in Peckham yesterday but appeared to have stolen within the hour
A Stop sign designed with drone – thought to represent the bombing in Gaza – was also stolen within minutes last year
Another is seen walking off with the Banksy artwork which had just been unveiled yesterday
The artwork – a Stop sign decorated with three drones in what is widely seen as a call for ceasefire in the Gaza Strip – was stolen within an hour of it being revealed as a Banksy.
It is understood two men remain on police bail pending further investigations into the Stop sign theft.
Today, Banksy was forced to deny any connection to the stolen satellite dish, after followers speculated it may have been a stunt by the artist.
Both pieces remain at large.
And while thieves may have made off with them in hopes of bagging great fortunes, it seems unlikely either would be able to be sold.
Partly because, as instantly recognisable Banksy originals, they are too hot to handle – meaning a sale on the open market would be impossible.
But even more of the mysterious ‘Pest Control’ organisation that Banksy uses to authorise bona fide works.
Set up in 2008, it is the only official organisation that can authenticate Banksy’s art – in a bid to prevent confusion, fraud and misattribution.
The ‘Banksy bandit’ suspects were re-bailed in February after the £250,000 stop sign piece of art was allegedly ‘stolen’ from a Peckham street in broad daylight last year
A hooded man with a mask holding the satellite dish – which was put up overnight on Wednesday – while stood on top of the building
One of the men is spotted helping to carry down the satellite dish. The back of his t-shirt spells the website to an events company
The group set up a ladder at the scene and worked together to dismantle and take the new artwork
This means the stolen items, without the authorisation of the Pest Control company, are effectively deemed worthless on the open market.
The company’s website reads: ‘Pest Control Office is the only body authorised to authenticate Banksy’s art. We do this to prevent confusion, fraud and misattribution.’
Anyone who wishes to authenticate a piece is therefore required to go through a formal submission process to ensure the work is a certified Banksy.
Addressing speculation over whether he had ordered the removal, Banksy today confirmed that he is neither connected to nor endorses the theft, adding that he has ‘no knowledge as to the dish’s current whereabouts’.
It came after a group of hooded men wearing facemasks and gloves were spotted scaling the building, removing the satellite dish, and walking off in yesterday’s alleged theft.
Banksy had only unveiled his latest artwork on Instagram at 1pm yesterday, but the piece was removed within minutes.
Based on Rye Lane, Peckham, the satellite dish had been placed atop what used to be a Betfred betting shop.
It is believed the satellite dish used by Banksy was a fake one which wasn’t installed at the site, as a Google street view from 2023 shows it was not previously there.
Members of the hooded group were pictured scoping out the scene before returning five minutes later with a ladder which was placed against the boarded up shop.
Photos from the incident also shows the gang round up a man and launch his phone into the air after he tried to stop them.
Two of those involved in the removal of the Banksy, five minutes before coming back with a ladder
The pair are seen scoping out the area before returning several minutes later
The gang rounded a man who tried to stop them removing the artwork
One of the men launching another man’s phone into the air after he tried to stop them
Tom Kellow, who lives in Peckham, said he had decided to walk down to Rye Road to see the artwork on his lunch break.
He said: ‘I was walking down around 1pm and saw three guys nicking it.
‘They had a ladder. There was one guy on the roof and the other two were watching the ladder.
‘They saw me filming and it got a bit tetchy. One gave me a kick in the side and another tried to throw my phone on the roof. Luckily it hit a tree and came back down again.
‘I told a police officer in the area about it.
‘It’s a great shame we can’t have nice things and it’s a shame it couldn’t have lasted more than an hour.’
It comes as Banksy’s fifth new artwork in as many days showing two pelicans eating fish above a chippie appeared on a quiet residential street in Walthamstow this morning.
The painting of the large water birds stood above a fish and chip shop is the latest in a series of animal-theme murals which were unveiled by the Bristol-based artist in different locations across London this week.
The mural, which is placed atop Bonners Fish Bar, on Northcote Road, portrays one pelican attempting to catch a fish in the air, while the other has its head facing down, eating an identical fish design that was already on the chippie’s signboard.
It comes after earlier murals unveiled this week consisted of a goat, two elephants, three monkeys and a lone wolf on a satellite dish.
Banksy’s fifth painting of two pelicans eating fish appeared in Walthamstow this morning
The mural sits above Bonners Fish Bar, on Northcote Road. It is based on a quiet residential street in east London
Excited fans and locals gazing at the latest Banksy piece which forms part of his animal-based collection which were unveiled this week
The first piece of graffiti in the series, which he shared on his Instagram account on Monday, showed a goat teetering on a ledge with rocks falling down below it – just above where a CCTV camera was pointed.
The same cherry picker was spotted in the early hours of Monday where the goat mural was being painted. It is located near Kew Bridge, southwest London, on the wall of engineering firm Boss & Co, which builds exclusive guns.
The next day, the artist added another design to the collection: silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks stretched toward each other on the side of a building near Chelsea.
This was followed by a trio of monkeys looking as though they were swinging from underneath a bridge over Brick Lane, near a vintage clothing shop and a coffee house in the popular East London market street – not far from Shoreditch High Street.
Banksy posted artwork of a goat perched on top of a wall near Kew Bridge in Richmond on Monday
Another new artwork, confirmed to be by Banksy, was unveiled on a wall of a house in Chelsea, London this week
A third painting, which shows three monkeys swinging from a railway bridge, popped up in Brick Lane
The primates have been associated with the Japanese proverb ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’. But in Banksy’s work the monkeys are not covering their eyes, ears or mouths.
All the artworks were posted on Banksy’s Instagram with no caption, throwing fans into a frenzy as they tried to decipher the complex meaning behind the murals for themselves.
One follower dubbed him the ‘The Wolf of London’ while another called him ‘the real David Attenbanksy’ – in reference to his apparent new-found interest in the animal kingdom.
While some fans linked the paintings to the war on Gaza, others believed it is to do with misinformation and the far-right protests of the past week.
But one thing that is certain is that Banksy’s works are almost always trying to make a political point.
