It appears that a brand-new Banksy was taken from a street in south London today, less than an hour after its authenticity was confirmed.
Soon after lunchtime, the artist verified on Instagram that the piece of art, which is a traffic stop sign covered with three military drones, was indeed his.
Following the discovery, a throng of locals descended on the location to snap cellphone pictures of the installation.
However, the quiet scenario was upended at 1:30 pm by the appearance of two men, one of whom teetered on a Lime e-bike and quickly used bolt cutters to take down the sign.
'Watched in astonishment', the e-bike rider (who asked only to be called Alex) said he saw the man balance on the saddle and 'bashed' the symbol with his hands.
After passersby yelled at the man in a red jacket to halt, he took off with the sign in less than sixty seconds. He walked away from the bolt cutters.
The incredible scenes took place near a zebra crossing in Peckham at the intersection of Southampton Way and Commercial Way.
In the past, Banksy's artwork has brought in millions of pounds at auction. The men's identities remain unknown, and it's still unclear who exactly was responsible for the removal and whether it was a publicity ploy. But it has been asserted that
Ed Damon reported that he saw Banksy installing the artwork at 7 a.m. yesterday and later saw it being taken.
The 45-year-old noticed a man in his 40s with grey hair standing on a pair of steps at a lamppost on Commercial Way while out for an early morning run.
'I thought that was a bit unusual, but the person did not linger around,' he told MailOnline. After climbing a few steps, he simply ran across the street. I was blind to where he went. There weren't many other people there, but there were a few cars.
Civil worker Mr. Damon noticed a group of people gathered under the sign this afternoon as he was making his way back to his Peckham residence.
"This guy just cut it down and ran off," he remarked. Nobody attempted to halt him.
Before Banksy made it public and placed it on his social media, I don't think anyone realised it was his work.
It's a little strange to watch it rise and then fall.
Alex, 26, claimed that after learning about the sign on social media, he had travelled to it on an e-bike.
"I was about to go on my lunch break when I opened Instagram and saw it was posted four minutes earlier," he added. When I arrived, there were roughly two individuals there.
"I snapped a picture for my pals and didn't give it any more thought." I only found out today that it was a Banksy.
