The graffito, Gangsta Rat, which shows a medallion-wearing rat clutching a microphone, appeared on the wall of the Moorfields Eye hospital in London’s City Road in late 2006, but was covered up soon afterwards to protect it – and the hospital wall – from damage or theft.
Now, Moorfields has decided to auction off the work to raise funds for its research into new treatments for eye disease. It will go under the hammer tonight at The Art of Giving event at the Saatchi gallery.
“As far as I can gather, it simply appeared on the wall outside our main entrance one morning,” said John Pelly, Moorfields’s chief executive yesterday. “A member of staff subsequently offered us £5,000 for it, but we suspected it was probably worth a good deal more.”
“We are incredibly grateful to Art of Giving for providing us with the opportunity to benefit financially from this unusual piece of street art and put the money raised towards crucial research into eye disease,” he added.
Not all public bodies have recognised the value of having an original Banksy on their property. Last year, Hackney Council painted over one of his works showing the royal family waving from a balcony, following Westminster Council’s decision to remove another work called One Nation Under CCTV. Westminster’s deputy leader Robert Davis said keeping the mural would encourage other graffiti artists.
He said: “I take the view that this is graffiti, and if you condone this, then what is the difference between this and all the other graffiti you see scrawled across the city? If you condone this, then you condone graffiti all over London.”
The Guardian Uk