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Banksy, 'Slave Labour (Bunting Boy),' stencil and spray paint on render with additional Golden Jubilee bunting, 48 x 60 in. Unique street work. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Fine Art Auctions Miami.

Banksy graffiti mural pulled from Miami auction

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Banksy, 'Slave Labour (Bunting Boy),' stencil and spray paint on render with additional Golden Jubilee bunting, 48 x 60 in. Unique street work. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Fine Art Auctions Miami.
Banksy, ‘Slave Labour (Bunting Boy),’ stencil and spray paint on render with additional Golden Jubilee bunting, 48 x 60 in. Unique street work. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Fine Art Auctions Miami.

MIAMI (AFP) – Artwork by British graffiti artist Banksy that appeared listed for auction in Miami after disappearing from a London wall earlier this month has been withdrawn from sale, a council official said Sunday.

The mural is of a boy making Union Jack bunting on a sewing machine, an apparent comment on sweatshop labor.

It first appeared last May on the wall of a north London outlet of thrift store Poundland shortly before the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

After going missing, it reappeared last week for sale at an auction house in Miami, and had been expected to fetch up to £450,000 ($682,000, 517,000 euros) before the lot was apparently pulled.

Haringey Council, which encompasses the area of Wood Green where the store is located, said it had learned that the sale had been halted at the last minute.

Paying tribute to those who had campaigned against its sale, council leader Claire Kober called their actions “a true credit to the community.”

They had, she said, “helped to stop the sale of this artwork from going ahead.”A new mural has since appeared on the wall from where the Banksy work was removed.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

 

Banksy, 'Slave Labour (Bunting Boy),' stencil and spray paint on render with additional Golden Jubilee bunting, 48 x 60 in. Unique street work. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Fine Art Auctions Miami.
Banksy, ‘Slave Labour (Bunting Boy),’ stencil and spray paint on render with additional Golden Jubilee bunting, 48 x 60 in. Unique street work. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com and Fine Art Auctions Miami.