Banksy house owner pulls out of £300k sale... as it may be worth millions!
SHE was days away from selling her end- of- terrace home at a perfectly ordinary price of about £300,000.
But Aileen Makin’s house stopped being ordinary as soon as Banksy took credit for a new artwork on the wall.
The image of an elderly woman sneezing so hard that her dentures fly out could add millions to the value of the modest home.
The artwork is titled ‘Aachoo!!’, and when the viewer tilts their head to the left, it appears as if the woman’s sneeze is blowing down a row of terraced houses.
Miss Makin, 57, has now pulled out of a sale at the eleventh hour – she had been due to exchange contracts as early as next week, ITV reported. Her son Nicholas Makin said they acted as soon as Banksy claimed the piece on his website.
The average home on the street in the Totterdown area of Bristol is worth £300,000, according to Zoopla, but Banksy expert and art broker Joe Syer estimates the artwork alone to be worth millions.
Mr Makin said fans of the elusive street artist were climbing over the house during the night to get a better look at the piece. Since it appeared on Thursday, crowds have been gathering at the house, half of which is in Vale Street, one of Britain’s steepest roads.
A clear acrylic screen is now protecting the work. It was provided by furniture maker Fred Loosmore, 28, who rented a room in the house until recently and had ‘a massive piece of leftover acrylic’ in his workshop. He said: ‘The artwork is so nice. It’s so relevant, isn’t it?’