Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Back in 2005, I was newly married, London based and high on life. Money was tight, but we were cool. I’ve always loved poster art. Remember Athena? Later New York subway graffiti album cover art and band posters. Maybe because that’s all I could afford. At that time we read alternative magazines, went to all manner of clubs, listened to house music and drank Smirnoff ice.
However, the Country was also at war. Mobile phone and personal computers were becoming commonplace, and the traditional methods of communication and control were on the wane. There felt a real burgeoning of youthful expression against the ‘accepted norm’. Artists such as Faile, Eulus and Banksy, to name but a few, were hosting the odd show and having read an article on Banksy, an early Internet search took me to the now notorious and now defunct ‘Pictures on Walls’.
On their website was Banksy’s CND Soldiers and Jack and Jill. Signed copies were £156.50. I forget how much the unsigned copies were.
So, for my birthday we went all in and bought a signed Banksy CND soldiers. Limited Edition of 350. Arrived rolled up in a tube! It shows two soldiers in full combat gear surreptitiously painting a red CND sign on a wall. I loved it. It said everything about my views on the current war, the bold colours, glorious details and it was subversive in a very nice way!
We had it framed and it hung in our house, carefully shaded from sunlight for 10 years.
By 2016, I was a single mum of two boisterous boys whose parkour moves were practised upon all pieces of furniture and under the gaze of the, often wonky, CND soldiers. I had followed in the rise of Banksy and one day realised I really should insure it. An art broker friend suggested to have it insured for between £7,000 and £10,000. I was stunned. I simply did not have the money to insure the picture, coupled with the fact I needed a new kitchen.
So, with the help of my broker, a nice Belgian gentleman offered an astounding £14,000 (inc fees) and also offered to pay for packing and transport. I did offer it to the Andipa gallery in Knightsbridge, but they felt £7,000 was the most they would go to.
So, off my Banksy went to Belgium, as part of a pension pot, and I built a lovely kitchen. However, within a couple of years the same picture went for £32,000 at auction and now commands in the region of £50,000.
Yes, I am gutted I sold the picture, as it would be in my pension pot now. However, that piece of art gave a single mum the chance to have a new heart to her home. To feel good about having people over and to look to the future. The one that got away, yes, but left great memories, and sometimes that might be more worthwhile.
