The picture sold at the auction house's evening sale in London on October 5 and later that month it announced the buyer of the £1.04m (including buyer’s premium) picture had agreed to keep the work which was renamed Love is in the Bin.
Art experts say the new work has hugely risen in value due to the publicity around the prank and it has inspired hundreds of imitations since.
Dealer Lougher Contemporary in Bristol posted a number of Banksy tributes on its Instagram account in October including this selection.
The gallery questioned whether it was time to move on from the parodying, but others haven’t been able to help themselves.
Parkersburg Art Center in West Virginia, in the US, made headlines around the world with its Christmas tree version of Banksy’s shredded picture.
The art center displayed its tribute in the run up to Christmas and quoted Pablo Picasso: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”
Even Westminster is getting in on the act. The London Evening Standard reported that former deputy speaker of the House of Commons Nigel Evans had “channelled Banksy this Christmas” with his Christmas card. The Evening Standard asked: “What could he mean?”
What does it all mean, indeed.