It sounded too good to be true – and it was.
A New Yorker who listed a Banksy canvas purportedly purchased at the world-famous graffiti artist’s surprise Central Park sale for sale on eBay Monday admitted the posting is a scam.
“It is/was a social experiment on the price of assumption,” the seller, “eventophileynyc” told The Post in an email.
“The initial plan was to cancel one day before the end of auction to see how high the price would go, but that clearly won’t work now.”
By Monday night, bidding on the item had soared to $1,125, with nine bidders vying for what they presumably believed was the real deal.
The eBay listing went up around 3:30 pm Eastern Time Monday – hours after news that Banksy had been offering his signed original spray art for just $60 a canvas at a temporary pop-up stand Saturday went viral.
Banksy’s name was not listed in connection with the auction, which the New York-based seller entitled “New York City Spray Art – Boy and Girl on Pile of Weapons.” It was priced at $59.99.
The auction offering featured a photo of Banksy’s famous “Kids on on Guns Hill,” a signed canvas of which was purchased by a woman from New Zealand at Banksy’s weekend sale stunt.
“I bought this the other day near Central Park, but realized it didn’t go with anything in my apartment (and gave the place a strange vibe). ” the eBay seller wrote in a description of the auction.
“I’m listing it for around what I paid, but I’m open to other offers. I don’t really know anything about the piece, so I’d buy it if you like.” Bidding was set to end October 21.
After The Post reached out to the seller, the item was removed from eBay .
It is unclear whether it was taken down by the online auction site or by the seller.
But the seller quickly re-listed the same artwork — with a different item number.
Bidding for the fake Bansky heated up on Tuesday morning with the price quickly rocketing above $1000.
An internet search shows the seller has so far offered the piece for sale four times on eBay.
“I will probably only list it one or two more times since the listings are being removed within hours,” eventophilenyc told The Post.
“And I’ve already proven my point.”