Another day, another Banksy work – and, naturally, another ownership dispute. On Tuesday a large Banksy piece, this one showing a couple embracing while also checking their cellphones behind each other’s back, appeared on a wall near the Broad Plain Boys’ Club in Bristol, England, the artist’s hometown. The piece, which also appears on the artist’s website, was apparently on plywood and screwed to the wall – not Banksy’s usual approach, which is to paint directly onto the surface.

With hours of its appearance, the BBC reported, Dennis Stinchcombe, the club’s leader, saw the fund-raising potential of having a Banksy appear on his doorstep – not least because, as another youth worker explained, the 120-year-old club needs £120,000 (about $202,000) to remain open. Mr. Stinchcombe grabbed a crowbar, wrested the piece from the wall and brought it into the club, leaving a note telling passers-by that the new Banksy was now indoors and that people who wanted to see it would be asked for a donation. He also said that he planned to auction the work and that he had an offer of £1 million ($1.68 million).

That caught the attention of George Ferguson, the mayor of Bristol, who said that the wall was owned by the Bristol City Council and that Mr. Stinchcombe had no right to dislodge the painting. On Wednesday the work was carried off to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, where it will be displayed on Friday morning and will remain until the ownership issues are settled. The museum offered a civic-minded compromise of sorts: “There will be a collection box for Broad Plains Youth Club next to the work,” it said on Twitter.

> via NYT