I pretty much agree Lee but then again it's almost fact that the price of Banksy and anything or any artists associated with this movement became wildly speculative. I still think many people have a warped perspective of the art world prices etc. because of this. But I wonder how many years it may take for certain pieces to ever achieve the same level they once did and if it will happen in my lifetime.

But while prices for Warhol and other artists were run ridiculous, Warhols undeniable legendary status could be used as justification. Meanwhile we had artists here that are pretty much nobodies who were selling screenprints on ebay for more money than established blue chip artists were getting for their prints direct from their galleries. The Banksy effect as they liked to call it. This certainly happened in all parts of the art world, but my point is that there were degrees of excess and they varied from here to there but urban art was exploited one of the worst probably and the naive clientele that was buying it I'm not sure still has a clue as they 'wait it out.' It's not just a matter of when prices will return to normal for Banksy which may take decades imo, but I don't think they'll return at all for many of these artists.

I can't thank you guys enough for your responses to this thread, very interesting and enlightening...

I now have a lead on one thanks to snausages, fingers crossed that all pans out...

thanks lee3 - much appreciated. i actually offered 2k pounds for it and the guy nearly choked - i know he paid top dollar (pounds) for it so he wont sell so low. if things continue slow he might budge but im so so - are they a difficult sell due to the fact that they are transexuals ?

Imho, your offer was more than fair and high if anything. As to why they are a difficult sell, they just aren't his strongest body of work and there are tons of them. These canvases are everywhere so top dollar is never paid for them because they are anything but rare. If memory serves there was gigantic one in an evening sale in the past year or two which did bring in a couple million but that is not the norm. Perhaps the transexual is a turn off to some, I don't know. He was a portrait artist at this point in his career and the market has in essence stated that this is not one of his better groups of portraits and I agree. The flipside to that is one can get a Warhol for "cheap" and I can appreciate that attraction as I too shared that mindset when I began collecting.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8179627.stm

Warhol's Jackson goes to auction

The portrait was commissioned to celebrate Thriller's record sales
A portrait by Andy Warhol of the late singer Michael Jackson is set to be auctioned in New York.
The 1984 portrait will be on show ahead of the sale at London's British Music Experience, inside the O2 Arena, where Jackson had been due to perform.
"This Andy Warhol portrait brings together the uncontested King of Pop Art with the uncontested King of Pop," said Janet Lehr, acting for the seller.
Warhol's painting of actress Liz Taylor, fetched $23.7m (£14m) in 2007.
In the same year, the 1963 painting Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) - depicting an overturned car on fire - sold for $71.7m (£42.8m), a record for a Warhol piece.
"The portrait was painted at the height of their careers and is a celebration of two of the great talents in global cultural history," said Ms Lehr, of the Jackson artwork.
American artist Warhol was a leading figure in the Pop Art movement, and he experimented by creating artworks from mass-produced images from American popular culture.
He died in 1987, following a gall bladder operation.

what a cool piece. King of Pop Art does King of Pop Music. I think people's love for MJ and his music has been reignited following his unfortunate death, I know mine has. I'm guessing this hammer at around $700K

Thanks for posting that. An interesting read for sure.

Simon's story certainly is legendary as the only work I know of that had both Hughes and Freemont claiming valid and the Foundation stating otherwise. Perhaps Vermin could help his cause.

Great read. Thanks!

>>>Anyone seen 'who the fcuk is jackson pollock', been a while since ive it but i think his prints were found on it and still no COA<<<

It demonstrates the power and authority any estate/foundation has as their word is all that matters to the market. Also, as its been demonstrated many times over, it's MUCH more difficult to have something deemed authentic if there is any question whatsoever after a catalog raisonee has gone to print. They are the defining catalog of works for any given artist and foundations aren't terribly interested in amendments or supplements. It's a big reason why the Warhol foundation is taking their time doing research and have already reserved a volume at the end (they're only through '69 thus far and '70-73 is due in the next year I believe) for works that were not included on the initial published volumes.

I've got the CR's for a number of artists but the 3 books that make up Warhol paintings and sculpture from '62-69 (which is well over a decade of publishing) are enormous and it boggles my mind to think how much more is to come. And once they finish paintings and sculpture through his death, they plan to try to tackle his commercial drawings from the late 40s on and his fine art drawings through his death. I suspect they will not be finished documenting his works for another 50+ years at this pace.

but nice article all the same .........

There is a film about this, it was on UK TV a few years ago, I think there was a man how was a friend of Warhol and he was given a gift by him, and these people would not authenticate his canvas. i think it was worth $10,00000 + with and jack without.

Link legwork from thugloving