Banksy: Original, Edition or After-Work, and How to Tell
Pest Control Office, the London office that handles Banksy's paperwork, describes its certificate of authenticity as an M.O.T. for the art world. Since May 2009 it has been the only point of sale for new work by the artist, and it is the only source of certificates for his work. Everything a collector needs to know about a Banksy begins with that single fact.
Our thesis: every object with Banksy's imagery belongs to one of four categories, an original, an edition, ephemera or an after-work, and only the first two can be certified. The category, not the image, decides what a piece is. A buyer who sorts objects this way before looking at the price will rarely be misled. The general habit of reading prints by their edition is set out in our essay on why edition context is the product, and the Lexicon entry on the certificate of authenticity explains the document itself.
At a glance
| Authentication body | Pest Control Office (PCO), the artist's handling service |
|---|---|
| Point of sale for new work | Pest Control only, since May 2009 |
| Certified | Paintings, prints, sculptures and other works made as art |
| Not certified | Stickers, posters, defaced currency, street works, and anything not made as a work of art |
| Fee on issue | £100 plus VAT for a print; £150 plus VAT for an original |
| Licences | The artist states that he has no licence agreements |
The four categories
| Category | What it is | Can PCO certify it |
|---|---|---|
| Original | A unique painting, sculpture or work made by the artist for sale | Yes, if authentic and made as art |
| Edition | A print made by or for the artist in a stated run | Yes, if authentic |
| Ephemera | Posters, flyers, stickers, souvenirs and printed matter of an event | No; collected as a record, not as an artwork |
| After-work | A reproduction, tribute, motif product or object in his style | No; it is not by the artist |
The table is our own; the categories follow PCO's published rules. The word "after" marks a work made from another artist's design, and the Lexicon entry on the after-work traces it.
Originals and editions: what certification means
PCO issues certificates for paintings, prints, sculptures and, in its own words, other attempts at creativity. The process is formal. An owner submits an authentication request; PCO may ask for further information, inspect the work and remove it from its frame; and it issues a certificate at its sole discretion, without any obligation to give reasons if it declines. When a certificate can be issued, the fee is £100 plus VAT for an authentic print or £150 plus VAT for an authentic original, and the certificate follows within 21 days of payment. Inclusion in any catalogue of the artist's work is a separate matter, and PCO is not obliged to include a certified work.
A certified work can then be checked again. PCO runs a service, which it calls Keeping It Real, through which a buyer who has agreed to purchase a work with a certificate can ask PCO to check the details against its database before paying, and a new owner can register a change of ownership. Both carry a fee that is refunded if the work turns out to be fake.
What cannot be certified
PCO is explicit about what it will not certify: stickers, posters, defaced currency, and anything that was not originally intended as a work of art. Street works are excluded too: an artwork made in a public space, or removed from one, is not eligible for authentication, and the office adds that it does not issue certificates for anything committed illegally.
Two warnings on its own pages are worth quoting in substance. The office says that there are hundreds of Banksy stencils online, that people use them to make fakes, especially road signs, and give them realistic back stories; those works, it says, are not real. And it states that there were no Dismaland certificates of authentication and no "free art", and that the artist has no licence agreements. Any object sold on the strength of a Dismaland stamp, a free-art note or a licence should be read with those statements in mind.
A correction to the common story: a letter of authenticity from a gallery, a finder or a previous owner is not a Banksy certificate. Only PCO issues those, and PCO's buying advice says that a work offered without its paperwork is likely to be a copy.
Ephemera: the record of an event
Ephemera is honest when it is described as what it is. In March 2001 Banksy shared an exhibition with the British artist Jamie Reid at The Arches in Glasgow, and the printed matter of that show survives: a Peace is Tough exhibition poster from the opening night and a Peace is Tough exhibition flyer in pink and green. These are posters and flyers, so PCO does not certify them; their value is as a record of the year before his first Los Angeles show in July 2002.
Dismaland, the "bemusement park" that Banksy opened in Weston-super-Mare on 21 August 2015 and closed on 27 September, was a group show with many artists. A Dismaland castle poster by Jeff Gillette is ephemera of that show by another artist, and should be read as such.
After-works: reproductions, tributes and motif products
After-works are the largest category, and they are fine to own when they are labelled. Reproduction prints copy a known image: an after Banksy Walled Off Hotel carousel reproduction, numbered 145 of 150, refers to the hotel the artist financed in Bethlehem in 2017, and an after Banksy Tomato Soup offset lithograph copies another. A number on a reproduction belongs to the reproduction's own run, not to an edition by the artist.
Motif products are a second kind of after-work. The Japanese maker Medicom Toy's Sync. Brandalism series turns Banksy images into figures, such as a Flower Bomber statue in BAPE camouflage, boxed, and Brandalised prints the same images on clothing, such as a Girl with Balloon T-shirt. Since the artist says he has no licence agreements, these are best understood as products using his imagery, not as his work. They have their own collectors among the designer-toy world of our Medicom and Be@rbrick shelf.
How to read a Banksy piece, step by step
- Name the category. Original, edition, ephemera or after-work. If the description does not say, ask.
- Ask for the PCO certificate. For an original or an edition, ask for the Pest Control Office certificate, not a letter from anyone else.
- Use PCO's check before you pay. For a certified work, PCO's service can confirm the certificate against its database.
- Read the edition. Research the stated edition size of the print and compare it with the number on the sheet, as PCO's buying advice suggests.
- Be sceptical of stories. Road signs, street fragments, Dismaland stamps and free-art notes are the categories PCO singles out.
Framing and care apply to every category: paper fades in sunlight and stains in damp, and our guide to framing and conserving prints covers glazing and mounts.
Banksy in Japan: what an exhibition does and does not prove
In Japan, the exhibition Genius or Vandal? opened at ASOBUILD by Yokohama station on 15 March 2020, showing more than 70 works including originals, prints and objects, and its run was extended to 4 October. The year before, Tokyo put on public show a stencil of a rat holding an umbrella, found on a panel near a monorail station, while doubts remained over whether it was genuine; Governor Yuriko Koike asked the artist to contact the city if there were any problems.
In our reading, neither a museum wall nor a famous display settles a question of authorship: the categories above still apply to every piece. For the full story of the Tokyo rat and the Japanese exhibitions, read our companion piece, Banksy and Japan: the Tokyo rat, exhibitions and what to verify.
Where the record differs
Accounts differ on how the artist's work is sold. An encyclopaedic account says that a small number of works are sold officially but not publicly through Pest Control; PCO's own pages describe it as the only point of sale for new work and add that sometimes something, sometimes nothing, is available. The two are compatible, and we print both. Exhibitions of Banksy work in many countries are a further source of confusion; PCO states that the artist is not involved with or associated with them.
Buying with confidence
The Banksy market rewards a simple discipline: decide the category first, then look for the paperwork that category allows. An original or an edition should arrive with a PCO certificate; ephemera should arrive with its event and date; an after-work should arrive with the word "after" or the maker's name in its title. Objects described this way can all be collected with pleasure. Those that blur the categories deserve the scepticism PCO itself recommends. That is our reading.
For other contemporary prints and their editions, read our guide to Murakami, Kusama and Nara prints and our essay on KAWS and the repeating icon.
Answered plainly
Who authenticates Banksy?
Pest Control Office, the artist's handling service, is the only source of certificates of authenticity for his work.
Can a Banksy street work or road sign be authenticated?
No. PCO does not authenticate street works, or works made illegally, and warns that fake road signs are common.
Were there Dismaland certificates or free art?
No. PCO states that there were no Dismaland certificates of authentication and no free art.
What does "after Banksy" mean?
A reproduction, tribute or product based on his imagery but not made by him. It cannot be certified, and should be priced and described as such.
Is a numbered reproduction an edition?
Not of the artist. The number belongs to the reproduction's own run.
Further reading
- Edition context is the product: reading the number on a print.
- Murakami, Kusama and Nara prints: edition practice in Japan.
- Framing and conserving prints: care for paper.
- Edition numbers and artist's proofs, in the Lexicon.
- After-work, in the Lexicon: the word and its history.
Considering a Banksy, or an after-work? Tell us what you have been offered, and we will tell you plainly which category it belongs to.
Sources
- Pest Control Office, "Questions". pestcontroloffice.com
- Pest Control Office, "Check or register artwork". pestcontroloffice.com
- Pest Control Office, authentication terms and conditions. pestcontroloffice.com
- Banksy, encyclopaedia entry, for the 2002 Los Angeles show, the 2009 change of agent, Dismaland and the Walled Off Hotel. wikipedia.org
Last reviewed 14 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.