Why 'Banksy Vs The Simpsons' offers you a great future collectible investment

If Andy Warhol was still alive, would he have appeared in an episode of The Simpsons? It's more than likely given the calibre of the show's previous celebrity guests - including Sir Paul McCartney, Tony Blair and even the reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon.


Banksy street art, sprayed in
his home city of Bristol

Alas, Warhol is no longer with us, so it's fallen to another pop artist to appear instead. Or rather a street artist: the UK's Banksy is now the latest in a long line of British talents to get involved with the show. And his effort is more creative than most...

The Bristol-based graffiti impresario has added his own slant to the show's iconic opening credits.

It includes Bart Simpson graffitiing the walls of his classroom, a gag involving a sweatshop, and Banksy's famous tag sprayed on various walls.

As well as consolidating The Simpsons's status as the longest running and most successful American animated series of all time, the episode, entitled MoneyBART, will also add to the growing collection of the show's memorabilia that is likely to bring large sums at auction in future years.

Original sketches by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, for instance, have appeared on the market priced in the region of $1,000-2,000. Although Groening doesn't animate the episodes himself, his sketches of the show's characters nevertheless remain the pinnacle of its memorabilia.


The Simpsons, sketched by Matt Groening, detail

Also popular on the markets are animation cells from the show's various episodes. As much of interest to animation-themed museums as they are private collectors, animation cells signed by Groening have appeared on the market estimated at anywhere from $150 to thousands.

And, of course, you don't need to be an art aficionado to know that Banksy artworks have sold for tens of thousands at auctions around the world, with famous celebrity collectors including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

With this in mind, its more than likely that memorabilia from the MoneyBART episode could attract significant sums at a future auction.

 

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