BANKSY
I Fought The Law, 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Sheet: 70×70 cm (27 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches)
Printer & Publisher: Pictures on Walls, London
Regular Editions (Orange)
500 unsigned, 150 signed
Colorways Editions
Orange/Pink/Red/Yellow: Each 8 signed
Artist’s Proofs
71 signed APs
Colors vary throughout the edition: orange, pink, red, yellow and silver
Including 26 uncut APs printed in various color combinations
Auction Market Overview
I Fought The Law (unsigned)
The auction history of I Fought The Law (unsigned) offers a particularly clear example of how the Banksy print market repriced politically charged secondary images during the pandemic-era boom, before gradually returning them to more disciplined collector-driven levels. Released in an unsigned edition of 500, the work occupies a distinctive place within Banksy’s print catalogue. The image draws on the language of power, punishment and rebellion, transforming the title’s famous phrase into a sharp visual commentary on authority and resistance.
Before the pandemic-era expansion, I Fought The Law traded within a relatively modest range. Between 2018 and 2019, results generally fell between approximately $5,000 and $14,000, with a pre-boom median around $8,636. At that stage, the work was already recognizable among Banksy collectors, but it remained one of the more accessible unsigned editions. Liquidity was healthy, with recurring sales at Forum Auctions, Phillips, Bonhams, Tate Ward and Sotheby’s, but pricing remained firmly in entry-level territory.
The market changed dramatically in 2020. As demand for Banksy prints accelerated, I Fought The Law was pulled into the same speculative expansion that affected much of the artist’s print market. Sotheby’s Online achieved approximately $45,865 in September 2020, SBI Art Auction reached approximately $75,010 in October, while Phillips Hong Kong and Bonhams London both achieved results above $60,000 in December. The annual median jumped to approximately $62,130, representing one of the most dramatic revaluations in the dataset.
The strongest individual result remains the October 2020 SBI Art Auction sale at approximately $75,010. This is important because the single-sale peak arrived in 2020 rather than 2021. The broader market remained very strong in 2021, but the annual median moderated to approximately $39,295. Numerous examples still sold between $30,000 and $62,000, confirming that the boom was not limited to one exceptional result. At its height, collectors were willing to pay five to seven times the pre-pandemic price for the same unsigned edition.
The correction began in 2022. Several examples still achieved results around $30,000, but the annual median fell to approximately $25,792. This was a clear move away from the peak conditions of 2020 and 2021, although prices remained well above the pre-boom range. By 2023, the market had softened further, with results generally between $18,000 and $28,000 and a median of approximately $21,742. The normalization continued in 2024 and 2025, when most sales settled between roughly $11,500 and $18,000.
In 2025, the median price stands at approximately $16,312. This is still above the 2018–2019 level, but far below the speculative peak. Current values represent approximately 26.3% of the peak median, confirming that most of the pandemic-era premium has disappeared. The work has not collapsed into irrelevance, but it has clearly returned to a more rational valuation range.
The key market lesson is familiar but important. I Fought The Law is a strong Banksy image, but it has not achieved the cultural status of Girl With Balloon, Love Is In The Air or Laugh Now. During speculative periods, that distinction becomes less visible because demand expands across the entire Banksy catalogue. During corrections, hierarchy returns. Collectors continue to buy the work, but they are no longer willing to pay peak-cycle prices for it.
Liquidity remains one of the work’s strongest features. I Fought The Law appears regularly across major and specialist auction houses, including Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips, Bonhams, Forum Auctions, Tate Ward, SBI Art Auction, Heritage and others. This sustained turnover confirms that the image remains well established in the Banksy print market. The issue is not demand; the issue is price discipline. In market terms, I Fought The Law behaves much like other liquid unsigned Banksy editions such as HMV, Happy Chopper, Flying Copper, Barcode and Morons. It enjoyed a dramatic speculative expansion, corrected sharply, and now trades in a more sustainable range. The work remains important and collectible, but the data suggests that it belongs to the category of strong collector images rather than top-tier trophy images.
I Fought The Law (signed) (APs/Colorways)
The signed edition of I Fought The Law tells a more selective story than the unsigned edition. While the unsigned edition of 500 offers broad liquidity, the signed edition of 150 is materially scarcer and therefore commands a substantial premium. Before the pandemic-era expansion, signed examples traded around the $30,000 to $45,000 range, with a pre-boom median of approximately $36,000.
The market accelerated sharply in 2020 and 2021. The signed edition reached a median of approximately $79,370 in 2021, while several individual results approached or exceeded the $80,000 level. This confirmed that collectors were willing to pay a meaningful premium for the signed edition during the height of the Banksy print boom.
The correction has been significant, but the signed edition has retained value better than the unsigned edition. The 2024 median stands around $40,200, representing approximately 50.6% of the peak median. That places the signed edition in a more resilient position than the unsigned market, where most of the speculative premium has disappeared.
The APs and colorways form a separate, much rarer market. The strongest result in the dataset is the red colorway, which achieved approximately $172,500 at Christie’s Online in 2021. Yellow AP examples also performed strongly, including approximately $125,625 in 2020 and $100,580 in 2021. These results show that rarity and visual differentiation can command a dramatic premium over the regular signed edition, although the sample size remains too small to treat these prices as a fully liquid benchmark.
Overall, I Fought The Law signed behaves like a stronger and more selective version of the unsigned market. The regular signed edition remains a collector’s Banksy with meaningful scarcity, while the APs and colorways sit in a higher, more trophy-oriented category.
I Fought The Law (unsigned)
2025 Auction Results
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Tate Ward: 10 December 2025 London, UK Estimated: GBP 7,000 – 9,000 |
| GBP 8,750 GBP 8,750 / USD 11,700 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 298/500 |
| Bruun Rasmussen: 19 November 2025 Copenhagen, DENMARK Estimated: DKK 75,000 / USD 11,800 |
| DKK 80,000 (Hammer) DKK 104,000 GBP 11,665 / USD 15,655 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 18/500 |
| Heritage Auctions: 30 October 2025 Dallas, USA No Estimates Provided |
| USD 11,560 GBP 8,615 / USD 11,562 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Tate Ward Auctions: 13 August 2025 London, UK Estimated: GBP 7,000 – 9,000 |
| GBP 12,500 GBP 12,500 / USD 16,970 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 499/500 |
| Christie’s online: 1 April 2025 Londo, UK Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000 |
| GBP 13,860 GBP 13,860 / USD 17,905 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 83/500 |
| LA Modern: 8 January 2025 Los Angeles, USA Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000 |
| USD 17,780 GBP 14,390 / USD 17,780 |
2024 Auction Results
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Tate Ward Auctions: 11 December 2024 London, UK Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000 |
| GBP 10,750 GBP 10,750 / USD 13,975 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Forum Auctions: 4 December 2024 London, UK Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000 |
| GBP 8,200 (Hammer) GBP 10,990 / USD 14,260 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 214/500 |
| Sotheby’s New-York: 22 October 2024 New-York, USA Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000 |
| USD 15,600 GBP 12,190 / USD 15,600 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 138/500 |
| Christie’s online: 26 March 2024 London, UK Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000 |
| GBP 12,600 GBP 12,600 / USD 15,980 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Forum Auctions: 30 January 2024 London, UK Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000 |
| GBP 15,000 (Hammer) GBP 20,100 / USD 25,491 |
2023 Auction Results
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 223/500 |
| Artcurial Paris: 28 November 2023 Paris, FRANCE Estimated: EUR 12,000 – 15,000 |
| EUR 20,336 GBP 17,695 / USD 22,285 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 383/500 |
| Arnet Auctions: 31 August 2023 New-York, USA Estimated: USD 18,000 – 25,000 |
| USD 22,500 GBP 17,685 / USD 22,500 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Forum Auctions: 30 August 2023 London, UK Estimated: GBP 11,000 – 15,000 |
| GBP 12,200 (Hammer) GBP 16,348 / USD 20,800 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 237/500 |
| Sotheby’s online: 20 April 2023 London, UK Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000 |
| GBP 22,860 GBP 22,860 / USD 28,455 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 320/500 |
|
Roseberys London: 7 March 2023 |
| GBP 15,600 GBP 15,600 / USD 18,495 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Forum Auctions: 22 February 2023 London, UK Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 15,000 |
| GBP 13,000 (Hammer) GBP 17,576 / USD 21,200 |
XXXXXXXXXX
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 138/500 |
| Christie’s online: 28 September 2023 Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000 |
| PASSED |
2022 Auction Results
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| SBI Art Auction: 28 October 2022 Tokyo, JAPAN Estimated: JPY 2,000,000 – 3,000,000 |
| JPY 2,127,500 GBP 12,445 / USD 14,425 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| SBI Art Auction: 16 September 2022 Tokyo, JAPAN Estimated: JPY 2,000,000 – 3,000,000 |
| JPY 2,415,000 GBP 14,610 / USD 16,890 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Forum Auctions: 15 June 2022 London, UK Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000 |
| GBP 12,500 (Hammer) GBP 16,750 / USD 20,605 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Forum Auctions: 28 April 2022 London, UK Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 25,000 |
| GBP 19,000 (Hammer) GBP 25,460 / USD 32,080 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 134/500 |
| Sotheby’s online: 26 April 2022 London, UK Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 22,000 |
| GBP 25,200 GBP 25,200 / USD 31,750 |
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: XXX/500 |
| Forum Auctions: 3 March 2022 London, UK Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 25,000 |
| GBP 17,000 (Hammer) GBP 22,780 / USD 30,980 |
2021 Auction Results
| I Fought The Law (unsigned), 2004 Edition: 218/500 |
| Bonhams London: 9 December 2021 London, UK Estimated: GBP 12,000 – 18,000 |
| GBP 22,750 GBP 22,750 / USD 30,715 |