Banksy Wrong War Happy Chopper Triangle Road Sign, Found London 2003 During Iraq Protest Season
Banksy Wrong War Happy Chopper Triangle Road Sign, Found London 2003 During Iraq Protest Season
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $2,803, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
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How the estimate is reached · Ask for a figure on this piece
- Character
- Resplendent 8.5 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Print, painting and frame
Condition report
Very Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
Wrong war, right place
For the collector of the anti war works of 2003.
Best for: Street art collections with room for a large object
Condition notes
Kept as it left the street: weather, scratches, old fixings and paint loss are part of its history. No restoration is recorded.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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A large warning triangle bearing an attack helicopter with a yellow bow and the words Wrong War, recorded in London during the marches of 2003.
The Piece
The triangle is sprayed white inside a soft red edge. The helicopter hangs in the centre in black, armed and ribboned, with smaller craft behind it, and the two words are set beneath in heavy black capitals. The stencilled name runs up the right hand side. The back is bare metal.
The history given places it in London in 2003, in the weeks when hundreds of thousands walked against the invasion. Works from before the middle 2000s are the scarcest of the street pieces.
The Image and Its Street Life
The armed helicopter wearing a bow, known as Happy Choppers, dates from the months when Britain marched against the invasion of Iraq. With the words Wrong War beneath it, the image was carried on placards through London in 2003 and has remained one of the defining pictures of that protest. Road signs were among the first surfaces the artist used. An altered sign works twice: once as an order from the state, and once as the joke that undoes it. Signs made for English councils carry the label of their maker on the back, and that label is part of how these pieces are read.
Details
- Work: Wrong War
- Support: Aluminium road sign, warning triangle
- Medium: Spray paint and stencil
- History: London, 2003
Sizes are measured by hand; please allow a small margin.
Condition
- Kept as it left the street: weather, scratches, old fixings and paint loss are part of its history.
- No restoration is noted.
- Every photograph is part of the description.
Condition grade B (good) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
This piece is offered as a street work by the artist on the strength of its recorded history, the marks it carries and the papers shown in the photographs. Pest Control, the office that speaks for the artist, does not certify works taken from the street, and no certificate from that office accompanies it. Collectors who wish to examine the history in full, or to arrange an independent opinion, are invited to write to the Desk before buying. Examined and photographed in Japan before dispatch.
Delivery from Japan
Packed by hand in Japan in a rigid case and sent insured by express freight; because of its size the delivery charge is quoted and agreed with you before purchase. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally.
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