Watch footage of a thief breaking into a London gallery and stealing Banksy’s iconic ‘Girl With Balloon’

Girl With Balloon

Lindor Mehmetaj, the manager of London’s Grove Gallery, with Banksy’s Girl With Balloon
James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images

Officials have charged two men with stealing one of Banksy’s most iconic prints, Girl With Balloonfrom a London gallery. The artwork has an estimated value of more than £270,000 (about $360,000), according to the Guardianby Emily Dugan.

According to one statement of the Metropolitan Police, the two perpetrators – Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53 – were taken into custody last week.

The burglary in London was captured on camera footage Grove Gallerywhich took place on September 8 around 11:00 PM. The video shows an intruder shattering the gallery’s glass door, removing the print from the gallery wall and running into the night.

Lindor Mehmetajthe gallery manager, says the Associated pressJill Lawless said he was “petrified and shocked” when he returned and discovered the shattered door and empty space on the wall. He alerted authorities about the incident on the morning of September 9.

Girl With Balloon was the only piece removed from the gallery, which is home to more than $2.3 million worth of art, according to the site BBC News‘James W. Kelly and Nick Johnson. Like the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad an investigation was opened, the remaining works of art were removed and stored.

Less than a week after the robbery, the police announced that they had successfully recovered the print. The artwork, still wrapped in a police evidence bag, is already back in the gallery. The two men accused of the theft will appear in court on October 9.

“We have been very lucky, but it is very unusual for it to be recovered,” Mehmetaj told the AP, adding that robberies can sometimes increase the price tag of a work of art: “When fine art and masterpieces are stolen, the financial value usually skyrocket. Hopefully it will be the same for this Banksy.”

Girl With Balloon is one of Banksy’s most recognizable creations. One of the earliest versions of the image – stencilled next to the words “There is always hope” – appeared in 2002 under London’s Waterloo Bridge. Other versions of the stencil soon started popping up around the city. In 2004, Banksy sold a limited number of prints for between €75 and €150.

As Banksy’s popularity skyrocketed, so did the price of his stencils. In 2018, Sotheby’s one version sold by Girl With Balloon for $1.4 million. But Banksy had planned a surprise for the buyer: he had placed the piece in an ornate frame, secretly equipped with a shredder, which cut the image into thin strips shortly after the sale was completed. The stunt increased the value of the piece and the shredded print was sold for a price record amount of $25.4 million in 2021.

Banksy usually paints his murals in public, accessible spaces. That is why they are often targeted by thieves and vandals. Last month, a Banksy artwork painted on a satellite dish, featuring a wolf howling at the moonwas stolen shortly after publication.

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