Collectables: art investors are banking on Banksy

Judging by how fast If You Don’t Mask, You Don’t Get, a mural of disinfectant-wielding rats, was scrubbed from the inside of a Tube train in July, you might suppose Transport for London is not a fan of Banksy. If so, that would put it in a minority.

Auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s have both held online sales of the anonymous artist’s prints this month. Every lot in the Sotheby’s sale smashed its estimate, including the most expensive, Girl with Balloon (2004), which sold for £438,500. Christie’s raised a total of £2.1m from the sale of its 21 lots last week. Again, Girl with Balloon (this time with a purple instead of a red balloon) fetched the highest price, at £791,250. But the real show-stopper is yet to come.

Updating Monet