So while some of you were out romancing and others were getting black out drunk, the upper crust was spending money on art and laughing at the plebeian recession. Thankfully they spent their money well, bidding up Banksy well over his estimates. RUINED LANDSCAPE (above) sold with a hammer price of $385,000 briskly passing the high estimate of $300,000. That was the smallest margin between estimate and hammer price. The outstanding VANDALISED PHONE BOX more than doubled its estimate of $300,000, selling with hammer for $605,000. The star of the show however was Banksy's defaced Damien Hirst painting, KEEP IT SPOTLESS, which set an auction record for the artist weighing in at $1,870,000, well over the $350,000 estimate it was given. Now watch the secondary market prices rise once again.
