Banksy Works Lead London Urban Art Auction

LONDON—Two Banksy spray paintings sold above their estimates for £120,000 ($234,000) each at a London urban art sale last night, Bloomberg reports. The 146-lot sale was organized by U.K. regional auction house Dreweatts in an industrial space in east London, the first of its kind ever organized by a regional house. The two Banksy works, Laugh Now but One Day We'll Be in Charge and Bombing Middle England, exceeded their high estimates of £50,000 and £80,000, respectively.

The most highly valued work in the sale, an early freehand Banksy work entitled Portrait of an Artist, failed to sell against an estimate of £150–200,000. Other lots sold for smaller numbers, such as Nick Walker's Mood Board for £43,200. The sale, which brought in a total of £801,204 with fees — well within its £672–977,000 estimate — featured a large number of up-and-coming street artists from Banksy's home town of Bristol, many of whom donated the works directly to the auction themselves. For 22 of them, it was their first time at auction.