Banksy's Mobile Lovers has sold to an anonymous buyer in a private sale, netting £403,000 ($668,931) for the Broad Plain Boys' Club in Bristol, UK.
 The controversy over the ownership of Banksy's Mobile Lovers received worldwide press |
Mary McCarthy of MM Contemporary Arts, the organisation that facilitated the sale, told the BBC: "I won't be revealing the buyer, but it's a private individual, a philanthropist who was very keen on investing in young people's institutions.
"I was able to find a buyer of significant value to be able to support them, not forever, but a little nest egg for a few years."
The work appeared on a wall near the club in April. The club's owner, Dennis Stinchcombe, moved the work inside the building, and offered members of the public the chance to see it for a donation.
This led to a heated debate over ownership, resulting in the work being removed by the council and housed in the Bristol Museum.
Banksy then weighed in, stating in a letter to the boy's club that while he hadn't intended it as a donation "you have my blessing to do what you feel is right with the piece."
Stinchcombe commented: "Mobile Lovers has been a fantastic gift to us; without it, the club would definitely have shut within the next 12 months or so.
"The sale of the work has given us a cushion, to assist us in carrying on with our valuable work with the young people of Bristol."
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