Issued by Pictures on Walls at GBP 74.99 for an unsigned print
Key market statistics
Love Rat (unsigned)
55 transactions since 2018
Most recent sale
£18,428
Oct 2025 · Forum Auctions · XXX/600
2025 median price
£18,739
over 4 qualifying sales
2024 median price
£17,420
over 8 qualifying sales
2024–2025 performance
+8%
change between the two published medians
Peak price
£69,680
Mar 2021 · Forum Auctions
Value retention
26%
most recent sale as a share of the peak price
Love Rat (signed)
13 transactions since 2018
Most recent sale
£56,340
Feb 2026 · Sotheby’s New-York · 69/150
2026 median price
£56,340
over 1 qualifying sale
2025 median price
£56,820
over 1 qualifying sale
2025–2026 performance
−1%
change between the two published medians
Peak price
£137,500
Dec 2020 · Tate Ward Auctions
Value retention
41%
most recent sale as a share of the peak price
Market charts
Love Rat (unsigned) — median price and lots sold
Qualifying sales by year since 2018. Bars: median price. Line: number of lots sold.
Medians are computed on qualifying sales only — artist's proofs, colourways and other exceptional variants are excluded. A year with no bar had no qualifying sale.
Love Rat (unsigned) — price dispersion
Every qualifying sale since 2018, one dot per lot.
Where several lots sold at the same price, the dots are spread sideways so none is hidden behind another.
Love Rat (signed) — median price and lots sold
Qualifying sales by year since 2018. Bars: median price. Line: number of lots sold.
Medians are computed on qualifying sales only — artist's proofs, colourways and other exceptional variants are excluded. A year with no bar had no qualifying sale.
Love Rat (signed) — price dispersion
Every qualifying sale since 2018, one dot per lot.
Where several lots sold at the same price, the dots are spread sideways so none is hidden behind another.
Key Takeaways
Love Rat (unsigned)
Love Rat (Unsigned) is among Banksy’s most actively traded prints, with 55 qualifying auction transactions recorded since 2018. Released by Pictures on Walls in 2004 as an unsigned edition of 600—originally priced at just £74.99—the work depicts a rat apparently painting a large red heart. The paint dripping from its brush lends the image a characteristic ambiguity: the gesture may be romantic, mischievous or simply another small act of vandalism committed in the name of love.
The edition experienced a dramatic expansion between 2020 and 2022 as demand for Banksy’s most recognisable images accelerated. Its auction record was established at Forum Auctions in March 2021, when an impression sold for £69,680. Elevated prices and exceptionally strong trading volumes during this period reflected the speculative intensity of the broader Banksy print market, with the rat—one of the artist’s most enduring alter egos—proving particularly attractive to new collectors.
The correction that followed was substantial. By 2024, the median price had fallen to £17,420 across eight qualifying transactions, placing the edition much closer to its pre-boom market range. Four sales in 2025 produced a median of £18,739, representing an 8% annual increase. This modest improvement, accompanied by lower transaction volume, suggests that the market has begun to stabilize after several years of falling prices rather than entering another period of rapid appreciation.
The latest sale, at Forum Auctions in October 2025, achieved £18,428—equivalent to 26% of the £69,680 peak. While the decline from the record remains severe, recent results indicate that the edition has established a relatively coherent trading range. Its liquidity, visual accessibility and status within Banksy’s celebrated rat imagery continue to support demand, although today’s buyers appear rather less inclined to let romance interfere with valuation.
Love Rat (signed)
Love Rat (Signed) occupies a considerably narrower market, with only 13 qualifying auction transactions recorded since 2018. The edition of 150 is four times scarcer than its unsigned counterpart, and its relative rarity has historically supported a substantial price premium. The image is identical, but the signature transforms the work into a more exclusive proposition—an important distinction in a market where collectors frequently attach considerable value to a few centimeters of pencil.
The signed edition reached its auction peak at Tate Ward Auctions in December 2020, when an impression sold for £137,500. This result followed another exceptional sale of £100,800 at Sotheby’s only a few months earlier, illustrating the rapid repricing of scarce signed Banksy prints during the market’s expansion. A further result of £94,500 in 2021 confirmed the strength of demand, although the limited number of transactions also made headline prices more volatile.
The market subsequently corrected, with two sales in 2022 achieving £50,400 and £88,200, followed by an absence of qualifying transactions in 2023 and 2024. A single sale in 2025 reached £56,820, while the sole result recorded in 2026 achieved £56,340. The resulting 1% decline between the published annual medians points to stability, but with only one transaction in each year, the comparison is necessarily indicative rather than statistically decisive.
The most recent sale, achieved at Sotheby’s New York in February 2026, retains 41% of the edition’s £137,500 peak value. This represents stronger retention than the unsigned edition and confirms the continuing premium attached to scarcity and signature. Nevertheless, the thin volume of transactions means that condition, provenance, numbering and auction-house positioning can materially affect individual outcomes. At present, the signed edition appears stable around the mid-£50,000 range, although one exceptional result could still move the annual statistics rather dramatically.
Prices are inclusive of buyer’s premium unless stated otherwise, as reported by the auction houses. “DN” stands for “Duplicate Number”.
Prices are hammer plus premium, in GBP, not adjusted for inflation. Only standard editions are included: artist’s proofs, special proofs, colorways and other exceptional variants are excluded, and signed and unsigned impressions are never combined. Medians are preferred to averages, which exceptional results distort. Figures are drawn from sales documented by Banksy Explained and are not an exhaustive record of the market. Compiled 4 September 2026.
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