Banksy painting sells for record price in Auckland

Banksy’s Keep it Real painting has this evening sold to a phone bidder for around $1.7 million.

The sale broke the record for the most expensive work by a living contemporary artist to be sold in New Zealand.

It was earlier estimated that the artwork, which depicts a chimpanzee wearing a sandwich board, would sell for between $600,000 and $1 million.

There were a number of international bidders interested in the work.

Two other Banksy prints are also up for sale at tonight's auction.

Meanwhile, last week an original Banksy artwork sold for $33 million.