banksy bubble burst?

I bet they'd recognise themselves wanking in the mirror though. I know I do.

results for the bonhams auction all signed and include premium

gangsta rat - £20,000 (US$ 31,461)
happy choppers - £11,875 (US$ 18,680)
kate moss - £42,500 (US$ 66,855)
girl with red balloon - £52,500 (US$ 82,586)
Weston-Super-Mare - £6,250 (US$ 9,831)

I'd say those were right where they should be, from page 1: "If I were looking for any of those (I'm not) I would expect to be paying 8k+ for WSM, 20k+ for the rat, 12k+ for HC, 40k+ for Kate and 40k+ for GWB. There is just no chance that they go unsold which is not to confuse realism with overconfidence. " 

They are, after all, prints and any print doing $80k+ is in the upper echelon price wise of all artists collectively.  If a bubble is bursting, then the sales would be littered with buy-ins as they were in October '08 and February '09.  There is just no evidence to suggest that is true.  First reports out of Basel are suggesting record sales and whatnot.  The wealth divide continues to exacerbate which is a collective problem for us all but it's tough to argue against art doing very well given such a backdrop. 

Edit:  One last comment that I believe is worth mentioning.  Very often, it's the auction houses that are the cheapest venue to source editioned work and that is almost certainly always true of dead artists.  For living artists, if you have access to primary that will be the cheapest and often auction will be second. I would expect to see any secondary dealer with retail space asking prices that will make the results above blush.  I have no interest in seeing the pricing at Lionel for their upcoming show but am certain you can double most of those prices or worse. 

Did you win any shoot? If so, congrats.

Prices look pretty spot on bar wsm, GWB retail, Hc 1kish below retail, kates always been overpriced for me but thats a personal opinion of taste, nice pick up on the avatar shootagain
All the sellers could have gotten better prices back in hand after fees through other avenues

I think for these big ticket items sellers can get the fees down to as low as 5%.

congrats shoot!

>>>All the sellers could have gotten better prices back in hand after fees through other avenues<<<

>>>think for these big ticket items sellers can get the fees down to as low as 5%.<<<

I would never have agreed to a sellers commission if i were selling that GWB. It sells itself and attracts lots of eyeballs to the auction which any decent consignor would be able to arm wrestle and win with ease in a concession but let's say 3% just to split the difference. Bonhams charges 25% buyers premium on first 50k of hammer which covers all of these. So a 52.5 sale on GWB equated to a 42 hammer. 42 less 3% = 40.75 to the seller. I think that is a very strong price for that image to the seller. Perhaps they could have achieved 45 private sale but given the absence of this image from the auction block for ages, someone had to lead the charge as it's just finger to the wind type guessing for everyone else. I'm sure now after the auction sellers of signed GWBs can achieve a 45 private sale but I'm not so sure that was easy or commonplace prior.

>>>Am i right to think that the premium is 20% and that the seller would also pay 20% on the hammer price?
<<<

No, not even close. 20 to the buyer. the house in their first volley would ask for 10% sellers commission and back down quickly for the seller to win a rare banksy consignment.  The sellers of the rat, GWB and Kate should not have agreed to significant sellers fees if they knew what they were doing. 

I think this figures are wrong Andy.

I've bought from Bonhams (not today) and you need to add 34% onto the hammer price to cover lots that sell for a hammer of under £50k and attract Artist's Resale rights.

This breaks down as 25% of hammer price as commission, a further 4% of hammer price as Artist Resale rights and then 20% VAT on the commission only. All this comes to 34% of hammer.

Therefore:

WSM hammers at £5k, buyer pays £6700
Gangsta Rat hammers at £16,000, buyer pays £21,440
Happy Choppers hammers at £9,500, buyer pays £12,730
Kate hammers at £34,000, buyer pays £45,560
GWRB hammers at £42,000, buyer pays £56,280

Think I'm right - I'm sure Shootagain will confirm my maths.

HB

Interesting, and there you go.  In general, I agree with you that one is taking too large of a risk to roll the dice at auction on an editioned work.  9 times out of 10, it's better to just knock off 10% from the last few auctions and agree to sell at that price so that the buyer gets a deal and the seller gets a healthy price and be done with it in short order.  I'm surprised to learn that GWBs have been selling above 50 with regularity on secondary.  I've heard many rumors alluding to such but always discount those rumors until i can see an auction result with my own eyes. 

>>Think I'm right - I'm sure Shootagain will confirm my maths.



HB
<<<<

That math is spot on if you're picking the work up in person and subject to VAT.  If you are shipping the work, you can add even more cost to the final totals. 

Totally agree Lee, ive never bought or sold at auction personally, i try to find the middle ground with the private seller so it works for both us. Ive heard rumours gwb at 60k but dont believe it, 52500 was a good price and achieved only because it was mint never framed stored flat.
Edit never bought or sold banksy at auction

I like your new avatar shootagain