Banksy Bomb Hugger Print, by daveart on Dec 11, 2017 23:24:08 GMT 1,

Dec 10, 2017 11:46:10 GMT 1 @csideguy said:

Dec 10, 2017 2:56:14 GMT 1 snoozy said:

Sorry,
my point was more that if you want it, the seller wont need to sell at 'what it's worth' which is a price I believe no one can say (sellers price high, buyers dream low) not wishing to derail further this post, but I meant, if you love the print, have themoney...pay it, own it, hang it... you get that print now or in 6 months you will be saying 'I wish I bought that then'.
For clarity i do not own one, want one (well I would love one but cant afford), i don't know the OP or any others related to this post so have no vested interest in the price...

I agree. And in way of an example of how people like to dictate the worth of a print, I'll share my experience of selling my signed £100 sheet of Di-faced tenners on eBay in late 2006 or possibly early 2007. The print cost me £95 from POW. I think it was numbered 13/50, the edition was certainly 50.

First a caveat on figures and dates (I know how people on this forum like to tear others apart), it was over 10 years ago, a lot of rapids have passed under a very weak and rickety bridge since then, and at the time I wasn't compelled to write down or remember the detail, I just moved on with my life (he says haha).

The print did 'quite' well and eventually sold for around £4,500 (give or take). However, during the listing and even afterwards, I received quite a few, very angry rants about how I had shilled it, which I had not, and that it wasn't worth it and that there was one for sale in this gallery and that gallery for less, on and on it went. You get the picture.

I met the buyer in the old HSBC, may have been Natwest, at Victoria Station. He checked over the print, as best he could, as we sat in little chairs in the middle of a tiny little branch, handed over the money, which we both agreed was a lot for such a little piece of paper, but he himself said it will look cheap very soon. He was right, 6/9 months later one sold in a London auction house for, I believe, around £63,000.

Works would never increase in value if no one was ever prepared to pay more than the perceived 'market value'.

If I ever have the money, I would happily sit in an auction room and pay what ever I had to to put my Banksy collection back together, regardless of what the zeitgeist of the day was telling me the pieces were worth. And there's the rub, there are people out there that would buy these prints in a heartbeat, if they had the money, just for the pleasure of owning one. In my humble opinion, people are confusing passion with investment far too much, and while they can mix to a certain degree they don't always go hand in hand.

Anyway, I hope some people find my little experience interesting. At the end of the day we are all just custodians of these artworks, as they pass through our hands (every collector should own at least one piece of Vanitas). For me the narrative is, and will always remain, the important factor. I feel privileged to have owned a large Banksy collection, and have the inevitable stories that go with that; and to have lived through a defining moment of Art History. 

If you have any thoughts feel free to comment, but please try to behave like an adult and not a child in a playground.

one of the standout posts of the year on this forum..  should be required reading before accounts are registered in the future.

I have never sold anything that i could have bought back a year later at less money.  The long 10 plus year increase in value may stagnate in the future now that values are so high.  But that is investing talk..  what makes you happy.. what makes you interested in the art.. what makes you want to talk to people and enjoy the experience.  Once you find that then it doesn't matter if you pay 4 or 6 .. you get in the game ..and that is what makes you happy.    I doubt for any of us our dying breath will be used to say .. "damn.. i over paid for that Banksy 20 years ago..." 

Dec 10, 2017 11:46:10 GMT 1 @csideguy said:

Dec 10, 2017 2:56:14 GMT 1 snoozy said:

Sorry,
my point was more that if you want it, the seller wont need to sell at 'what it's worth' which is a price I believe no one can say (sellers price high, buyers dream low) not wishing to derail further this post, but I meant, if you love the print, have themoney...pay it, own it, hang it... you get that print now or in 6 months you will be saying 'I wish I bought that then'.
For clarity i do not own one, want one (well I would love one but cant afford), i don't know the OP or any others related to this post so have no vested interest in the price...

I agree. And in way of an example of how people like to dictate the worth of a print, I'll share my experience of selling my signed £100 sheet of Di-faced tenners on eBay in late 2006 or possibly early 2007. The print cost me £95 from POW. I think it was numbered 13/50, the edition was certainly 50.

First a caveat on figures and dates (I know how people on this forum like to tear others apart), it was over 10 years ago, a lot of rapids have passed under a very weak and rickety bridge since then, and at the time I wasn't compelled to write down or remember the detail, I just moved on with my life (he says haha).

The print did 'quite' well and eventually sold for around £4,500 (give or take). However, during the listing and even afterwards, I received quite a few, very angry rants about how I had shilled it, which I had not, and that it wasn't worth it and that there was one for sale in this gallery and that gallery for less, on and on it went. You get the picture.

I met the buyer in the old HSBC, may have been Natwest, at Victoria Station. He checked over the print, as best he could, as we sat in little chairs in the middle of a tiny little branch, handed over the money, which we both agreed was a lot for such a little piece of paper, but he himself said it will look cheap very soon. He was right, 6/9 months later one sold in a London auction house for, I believe, around £63,000.

Works would never increase in value if no one was ever prepared to pay more than the perceived 'market value'.

If I ever have the money, I would happily sit in an auction room and pay what ever I had to to put my Banksy collection back together, regardless of what the zeitgeist of the day was telling me the pieces were worth. And there's the rub, there are people out there that would buy these prints in a heartbeat, if they had the money, just for the pleasure of owning one. In my humble opinion, people are confusing passion with investment far too much, and while they can mix to a certain degree they don't always go hand in hand.

Anyway, I hope some people find my little experience interesting. At the end of the day we are all just custodians of these artworks, as they pass through our hands (every collector should own at least one piece of Vanitas). For me the narrative is, and will always remain, the important factor. I feel privileged to have owned a large Banksy collection, and have the inevitable stories that go with that; and to have lived through a defining moment of Art History. 

If you have any thoughts feel free to comment, but please try to behave like an adult and not a child in a playground.

one of the standout posts of the year on this forum..  should be required reading before accounts are registered in the future.

I have never sold anything that i could have bought back a year later at less money.  The long 10 plus year increase in value may stagnate in the future now that values are so high.  But that is investing talk..  what makes you happy.. what makes you interested in the art.. what makes you want to talk to people and enjoy the experience.  Once you find that then it doesn't matter if you pay 4 or 6 .. you get in the game ..and that is what makes you happy.    I doubt for any of us our dying breath will be used to say .. "damn.. i over paid for that Banksy 20 years ago..."