Girl With Balloon

"Girl With Balloon," one of the most recognized works of the England-based street artist known as Banksy, fetched a hefty $1.37 million) at a Sotheby's auction in London on Friday.

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Shortly after the auctioneer's gavel fell, Girl With Balloon demolished itself. The artwork passed through the bottom of its golden frame, producing a partially shredded canvas. With some of the image hanging down in strips, the 2006 work of spray paint on canvas of a girl reaching for a red, heart-shaped balloon was swiftly carried off.

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"A few years ago I secretly built a shredder into a painting," reads a caption, before a person wearing a hoodie installs the device. The video then cuts to a final annotation, "In case it was ever put up for auction..."

link of the Video showing installing the shradrer and when it starts working

"It appears we just got Banksy-ed," Alex Branczik, Sotheby's head of contemporary art in Europe, said on the auction house's website.

The auctioneer's hurried attempts to bring the shocked spectators' attention back to the block led some to suggest that Sotheby's employees were in on the scheme.

Whether the Banksy painting's final bidder is expected to pay "as is" for the painting is unclear. On the Sotheby's website, the work was still listed as having sold at £1.04 million at the time this story was published. But after the head-turning display, commenters on social media surmised the Balloon will soar in value, once the shredded pieces are patched back together.