How to sell a Banksy
Six steps from the print on your wall to the money in your account, and the one thing to sort out before any of them if the paperwork is missing.
Six steps, in order
In order because each one depends on the last. You can stop after any of them, and nothing after the fourth happens without your agreement.
01Identify exactly what you have
The title, then the three facts that decide which market a print belongs to: whether it is signed, its edition number, and whether it is an artist’s proof or a particular colourway. Most of that is written in pencil on the sheet, usually in the margin, and a mount can hide it. The Banksy prints catalogue lists the editions by title if you want to match yours first.
02Find the Pest Control certificate
Pest Control has been the only body authenticating Banksy’s work for sale since 2008, and the market transacts against its certificate. Check that yours is the original document rather than a copy, and that the title and edition number on it match the print in front of you. If there is no certificate, read the section below this list before doing anything else.
03Photograph it
The front, square on and in even daylight; the signature and edition number close up; the back of the frame; the certificate; and anything that looks like damage. Phone photographs are fine, and there is no need to take the print out of its frame to do it.
04Get a valuation
A valuation places the print against recent results for its title and edition, and sets an auction figure beside a private sale figure so you can see both. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing. For a rough range before you write, there is the price guide and the calculator.
05Choose how to sell
Auction, private sale or an outright offer from a dealer. They differ in more than price — in time to funds, in cost, and in what happens if the work does not sell — and a print that suits one can be poorly served by another. Selling a Banksy sets the three side by side.
06Consign it, and get paid
Condition, transport, insurance and the agreement with the saleroom or buyer come next. A private sale usually completes in two to six weeks; an auction follows the sale calendar, normally two to four months from consignment to payment. Through us the paperwork and the remittance stay in your name, and you keep title until the funds have cleared.
If there is no certificate
Then the first step is an application to Pest Control, not a sale. No reputable UK auction house, dealer or platform will handle a Banksy without its certificate, and a print offered without one changes hands, if at all, at a heavy discount. You apply to Pest Control directly, through their own process and for their own fee, and they publish no timescale — several months is common. Do not agree a sale date that depends on it. How a Pest Control application works sets out the process, and we can give you a candid view on whether an application looks worthwhile before you spend anything on it.
Sending the photographs
By email or WhatsApp, whichever is easier — to info@whitebankfineart.co.uk, or from the codes here. On a laptop, scan one with your phone and a message opens already addressed to us, with the photographs a tap away.
Four ways to lose value before you sell
Cleaning, flattening or repairing it
Amateur conservation almost always costs more than the fault it set out to fix. Tape, adhesive, erasers and household cleaners all leave marks a specialist will see, and some of them cannot be undone.
Trimming the sheet
Cutting a print down to fit a frame removes original margin, and often the edition number or the publisher's blindstamp with it. It cannot be put back.
Separating the print from its certificate
They are sold together or not at all. A certificate kept in a drawer in another house, or a print offered with the certificate to follow, is a sale waiting to fall through.
Offering it everywhere at once
A print shown by several dealers and online at the same time looks as though nobody wants it, and buyers who keep seeing the same sheet assume there is a reason. Choose a route and give it a fair run.
Common questions
Do I need to take my Banksy out of its frame?
Not to begin. Photographs through the glass are enough for a first view, and taking a print out of an old frame yourself is how sheets get creased or torn. If the work needs to be seen unframed before it is offered, that happens later, and it is a job for a framer rather than a kitchen table.
Does a valuation commit me to selling?
No. Plenty of owners want to know what a print is worth long before they decide anything, and that is reason enough to ask. A valuation costs nothing, and there is no obligation to go any further.
I have inherited a Banksy. Is the process any different?
The steps are the same; the gaps are usually in the paperwork. Look through the previous owner's papers for the Pest Control certificate and any original receipt before assuming either is missing. If the print is part of an estate, a valuation for probate may be needed as well, which is a separate question from what it would sell for.
My print is damaged. Can it still be sold?
Usually, yes. Fading, creasing, tape stains and trimming all reduce what a print will make, some far more than others, but a damaged certified print is still a saleable one. Photograph the damage clearly, and do not attempt a repair first.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with Banksy, Pest Control, Pictures on Walls or any auction house. Only Pest Control can authenticate a work by Banksy. Nothing here is investment advice.