That's proper... I'm taking modern shite where people think they are the Beckham's

First, congratulations to you and trickyvicky on your wedding and honeymoon.


1.  The press article refers to the fact you "stumbled across three prints" of Banksy’s work.

Besides Silver Flag and Applause, what was the third Banksy image?


2.  You alluded to MailOnline either making a mistake or using its creative licence to embellish regarding your position at JCB. Out of curiosity, did the journalist / editor stretch the truth or mislead by omission elsewhere in the article?


3.  I'm always interested in how the same text can potentially be interpreted very differently by different people. And also how the overall impression of an individual reader can be swayed by choices of words.

For example, the article states, "They [i.e. both of you] assumed they were cheap copies".

What's fascinating for me is how my perception of your actual knowledge or strength of belief — as to the genuineness of the prints at the moment of purchase — influences my feelings toward the story:

(i) If I take it as a given that you were in serious doubt about authenticity at the time of purchase, then "heartwarming" (an expression previously used by others in this thread) is an apt way to describe your good fortune.

(ii) However, if I suspected you knew or strongly believed one or more of the prints might be genuine at the time of purchase, the overall transaction (especially the information asymmetry between you and the tragically ignorant seller) makes me far less comfortable.

The bullshiters love the attention Why do you think this made up yarn is in the Daily Mail were is the photos of them with alleged "car boot sale prints" and COA,s ? if they exist at all aye ? just asking 

My god everyone let it go!
Its probably true and frankly who gives a shit if its made up.
Most people are envious and frankly good on the couple!!

No one is asking you to believe!!

I don’t really get why people are calling bullshit on this? Is it because people don’t want to admit that Not every single person in this world knows what Banksy’s art is worth ?
As for trying to make them feel bad for even buying the art, I think that’s harsh, although I’m not sure going to the press afterwards and bragging about it was caused for.

That's an excellent point. I doubt anyone would disagree with you.

But there is a spectrum with achieved bargains, isn't there? A sliding scale of what seems fair or acceptable. And, conversely, what we start to sense as being transgressive.

In other words, some bargains feel great, whereas others might make us feel slightly embarrassed or even ashamed afterwards. It depends on the individual circumstances and what we as buyers did in order to secure the bargains.

__________


A side issue to help illustrate:

Most of us are naturally polite when dealing with strangers.

Why is that?

It isn't simply down to parental indoctrination. And there's more involved than just self-interest (e.g. the expectation of reciprocity) — especially in cases where we're unlikely to bump into the same person ever again. I believe there's something innate in most of us. We're polite to strangers because it feels good, it feels like the right thing to do. We follow the Golden Rule.


Here's a thought experiment:

While doing your grocery shopping one day, you become a bit flustered by personal worries. The distraction is such that it takes a few minutes before you realise you were unintentionally rude to a random person. Now, you'll probably never have any future interaction with them. And even then, what are the odds they'd even remember the incident?

But as chance would have it, you've just spotted them again from the back. They're wearing distinctive clothing and are walking 50 metres ahead.


So you have a couple of options:

(i) do nothing and continue with your shopping; or

(ii) make an effort to catch up with this person, and apologise for your earlier behaviour.


Only you know what your decision would be. However, I suspect you might go for option (ii).

The question, again, is Why? Why take extra steps when there's isn't an obvious benefit for you in doing so?

One answer is that many of us feel that genuine politeness is fundamental. It's more than simply appearances. Treating others (including complete strangers) with respect has a value in itself. It's so important that it often becomes part of our personal code of conduct. And when we fail to honour this code, we typically feel bad about ourselves and try to make things right again.

__________


Presumably, you'd agree that politeness towards others is important at a car boot sale (just as it would be anywhere else).

But what is the true value of superficial courtesy when the buyer is also aware that information they're deliberately withholding from the seller could have a life-changing effect for that seller?

Is there any value retained in the buyer saying "Please" and "Thank you" and using an agreeable tone when — throughout the entire exchange — they're fully conscious that, unbeknownst to the seller, the college fund for this seller's kids is about to be reduced by, say, £10,000?

__________


Back to the idea of a spectrum of achieved bargains.

As previously referred to, I think the knowledge or belief of the respective parties are distinguishing factors. Likewise with the steps taken (if any) by buyers to secure bargains, along with the relevant sums involved:


1.  At one end of the bargain spectrum, neither party has been harmed or taken advantage of. It's pretty much an equal playing field. A seller might consciously sell an item for less than its current worth, with the buyer having the good fortune of achieving a bargain in the process.

Importantly, however, the seller made an informed decision and they too are happy. Perhaps they're thrilled the piece will now receive the appreciation it deserves from its new owner. Maybe they're comfortable taking a financial hit in exchange for selling the item more quickly, to clear up storage space or allow new stock to be brought in.


2.  Closer to the middle of the bargain spectrum, the buyer has the advantage of being better informed, but hasn't actively misled the seller. And the sums involved are nominal. E.g. "Woo-hoo. I just bought this book for a tenner. That guy probably didn't realise it's a first edition. Despite its poor condition, the book is actually worth about £30."


3.  And at the polar opposite end of the bargain spectrum, we have gross information asymmetry between the parties, active deceit by the more informed buyers in securing their deals, and high-value items. E.g. "I pretended not to know what the painting was. Told the guy I might hang it in the toilet or just give it to a friend. Even knocked him down to £25. Classic misdirection. The work is actually by a famous artist. So I just shafted that seller big-time! We're talking five figures here. Haha. Maybe I should share this story with the tabloid press."

__________


My argument therefore is that bargains — including the means by which they're secured — are not all equally laudable.

I find celebrity weddings very chavvy where they spend millions on a list guests and dress up like dogs dinners or bag ladies and pimps or look like bankers on holiday in Marbella. Yes George Clooney i'm talking about you.

Small inexpensive weddings are cool altho I have never attended a wedding in my life but on the bright side been responsible for a few divorces. (i do my best)

Regarding seeing something valuable at a car boot sale and not buying it and telling the seller.

Thats fine if one is wealthy or wealthy by being funded by tax payers getting a big salary for doing nothing useful apart from brown nosing.

The reality is if one is poor or in debt can't pay the rent, and one sees something that can change their situation, one has to do what one believes is good luck and buy the thing.

If one tells the seller what you have could eb worth a lot of money, there is always the possibility the seller does not believe one and sells it anyway to some hard nosed dealer. I see little old men at boot sales early in the mornings who make a good living from buying anything they recognise as silver. Also a lot of dealers sell on car boot sales and as far as i'm concerned if a dealer makes a mistake then I have no problem buying an underpriced item from them.

I don't know of one antique dealer who got rich by being honest.

If the seller on the car boot is genuine and selling because they need money. One can buy the item and sell it for a lot of money and give a big percentage to the original seller at the car boot.

For me it would all depend on who the car boot seller is.

This story sounds nearly identical to the one from New York years ago where they set up a stand in the park and only had 2 buyers the whole day. I believe they were original canvases and the one woman bought 2 for her sons that fetched over 120K GBP at auction.

I went on Sunday looking for a Banksy Keep it Real canvas or a Harland Miller TIWIFA .....didn't have any though so I just got a Maggie Thatcher nut cracker, a Charles Rene MacIntosh compact mirror and the new Kate Tempest book, The Bricks That Built The Houses, Moon River on 45 and a tambourine   RESULT! 

I came on here to see if anything had been mentioned regarding Banksy’s Applause that had sold at Sotheby’s recently. Issue number 386/500 was ours and it sold for £63,700. It’s been a few years since we visited this forum and I have never read such a load of waffle Is it any wonder Banksy preferred to sell his prints cheaply at a car boot, rather than selling them to the cynical analysts who believe that those who pick up a bargain is someone who should be ashamed! I’d love to tell you we got divorced and he left me for his over sexed colleague leaving me with triplets and council house…..but he hasn’t; and we are still happily married. I’ll set a few things straight so the confused don’t get more confused and I’ll be brief (unlike some)

Regarding the confusion of “job title” the only conversation that had taken place with the paper was the conversation I had with the journalist which took place over the phone. She had misheard “production planner” for “ manager”

Regarding weather we knew knew they were real. Even bank cheques can be remarkably forged to look real, personally I thought it was a fake and we were never that lucky. Hubby on the other hand is a little more positive than me and was convinced they were real.

As for selling the story to the papers, I merely acted on a sponsored advert on Facebook that said “do you have an extraordinary wedding story if so we’d love to hear about it” I wasn’t applying for factor or Britain’s got Talent. I just thought it might interest and inspire hope in some people.

Thanks to those of you who are able to read between the lines and believe life doesn’t have to be so complicated, and that we simply went to car boot and picked up a bargain. We don’t regret it and, we’re not ashamed like some would have us think.
And to think our Applause sold for £63,700 a few years on has made someone else considerably more money than we did. Are they ashamed, full of guilt? I think not! Good for them. It’s how the world ticks.
We still have the Cauty if anyone is interested 🤔

Does it feel better now all that is off your chest?

Congratulations on your lucky find and nice to hear you are still happily married trickyvicky.
I would love to hear how the process went with obtaining Coa's for these from Pest control. Did you tell them they were purchased from a car boot? I imagine they wanted to see them in person, as you wouldn't have had any of the sellers personal details or any history of when/where they were originally purchased.
I wonder if the car boot seller ever read the story or found out afterwards they were genuine. They must have felt sick