'Stolen' Banksy mural withdrawn from sale at U.S. auction house following storm of protest as mysterious new graffiti appears in its place

Haringey Council told the sale of 'Slave Labour' was halted at last minute
No explanation was given from the auction house in Miami
Locals were left furious after mural was gouged from wall in North London
Art dealer had been bombarded with angry phone calls and e-mails

PUBLISHED: 21:25, 23 February 2013 | UPDATED: 22:13, 23 February 2013

A Banksy mural which was controversially ripped from the wall of a north London shop has been withdrawn from sale at an auction in Miami, it emerged this evening.

Slave Labour, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, appeared on the wall in Wood Green, north London, last May, just before the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It disappeared from the side of the Poundland store last weekend and was due to be auctioned thousands of miles away in Miami this evening.

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Not for sale: A Banksy mural which was ripped from the wall of a north London shop has been withdrawn from an auction in Miami

The Haringey community are outraged that a free piece of art was taken and is to be sold for profit

Fury: Locals in Wood Green were left furious that a piece of free art was to be sold for profit

Street art: This new mural, centre, appeared today in the space left after the Banksy work was taken. The rat, bottom right, is believed to be the artist's response to the work being taken

Fine Art Auctions (FAA) were expecting it to reach between 500,000 US dollars (£328,063) and 700,000 US dollars (£459,288).

But Haringey Council said it had been told the sale was halted at the last minute, with no explanation given from the auction house. It came as a new mural showing a woman in a nun's habit appeared in the space left behind by 'Slave Labour' today.

Haringey Council Leader Claire Kober this evening told of her delight that the sale of the piece was halted. She said: 'It's a true credit to the community that their campaigning appears to have helped to stop the sale of this artwork from going ahead.

'We will continue to explore all options to bring back Banksy to the community where it belongs.'

It is now known if the new mural which appeared today is a Banksy piece.

The new mural was spotted by Andy Gordon. He told the BBC: 'We thought we were just going along to see the gap in the wall and were surprised to see something else had appeared.

'It could be that Wood Green in Haringey has got its Banksy back. It could be a happy ending,' he added.

'Why?' The artist appeared to vent his feelings on the row

Local residents, who become attached to the work by the famous street artist, were left furious that a piece of work given to the community for free could be sold for profit.

Outraged art fans had been bombarding the auction house with abusive calls and e-mails.

Details of the backlash emerged after a stencil of a rat holding a sign that reads 'Why?' appeared on the Haringey wall, next to the blank spot where 'Slave Labour' used to be.

It is thought the rat could be the reclusive graffiti artist's way of voicing his verdict on the row over his original piece.

Frederic Thut, owner of Fine Art Auctions Miami, previously insisted the sale of the artwork is legitimate, but admitted he had been inundated with angry phone calls and e-mails from the UK.

'It's been said that the artwork was stolen, and that's just not true,' Mr Thut told the Guardian.

'We take a lot of care with our consignors: who they are, what they do, and if there's any illegality we will not touch it.'

The street art was stencilled onto the side of a Poundland shop in Wood Green in 2012 and protected by a perspex screen, but disappeared last week.

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed they were contacted by authorities in the U.S. regarding the Banksy piece. They were advised that there had been no reports of theft, Scotland Yard said.

U.S. officials had waded into the row after the disappearance prompted a storm of outrage by furious Haringey businesses and residents, the Evening Standard reported.

Mr Thut claimed it is being sold by a 'well-known' collector who is not British, but has refused to divulge any more information. He added that the painting was being stored in Europe.

Councillor Alan Strickland says the artwork was a 'gift' to his community and had instigated a campaign to get the artwork returned by urging people to e-mail the U.S. auction website.

He said: 'The Banksy appeared last May and created lots of excitement in the area - people were coming from across London to see it.

'We were really proud to have a Banksy in our neighbourhood, so residents were shocked to realise it had been ripped out of the wall.

New addition: It is thought the reclusive graffiti artist is behind the stencil of a rat that has appeared next to the blank spot where Slave Labour used to be

'The community feels that this art was given to us, for free, and it's now been taken away to be sold for huge profit. I'm very angry about the Banksy going - we want our Banksy back!'

Much of the controversial artist's work is believed to have a political message, and Slave Labour is believed to be a statement on sweatshops churning out decorations and memorabilia ahead of the Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.

In 2008 the graffiti artist Banksy revealed that millions of pounds worth of works attributed to him were fakes.

A body set up by the artist to verify his work identified 226 falsely attributed pieces in eight months in 2008.

He said at the time:'Graffiti art has a hard enough life as it is - with council workers wanting to remove it and kids wanting to draw moustaches on it, before you add hedgefund managers wanting to chop it out and hang it over the fireplace.

'For the sake of keeping all street art where it belongs I'd encourage people not to buy anything by anybody unless it was created for sale in the first place.'

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Saturday, 23 February 2013