Stop and Search
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Arches wove paper
Year: 2007
Sheet: 76×56 cm (30×22 inches)
Edition: 500 signed
Publisher: Pictures on Walls, London
“Banksy would doubtless have you believe this print is an ironic comment on the paranoid nature of our security-minded times. But seriously, how much is this guy courting the pink pound? It’s got a man in uniform, latex, and Dorothy herself all in one spanky package.”
Stop and Search was released in 2007 as an edition of 500 signed prints. This work portrays, in monochrome, a storyline with Dorothy (the central character from the Wizard of Oz), her dog, Toto, and a splash of blue in the police officer’s latex gloves. The police officer is searching through Dorothy’s basket, and appears to be questioning her about something he has found in her basket.
This print relates to the plot of The Wizard of Oz and suggests that Dorothy and Toto are being prevented from getting home. The purity and naivety associated with the protagonist in the film is embedded within the artwork and only accentuates the absurdity of the search itself. Dorothy is a character representing innocence and freedom, and yet even she is not free from the menacing influence of the state.
Stop and Search illustrates a theme dear to Banksy: defiance towards authority and law enforcement, a topic he revisits in many of his works. For example, a mural by the same name appeared in Palestine in 2013 except that. in this work, it is the school age girl in a pink dress searching the soldier. This is a classic, humoristic twist employed by the artist whereby the roles are reversed to further highlight how unfair, absurd, and excessive he feels the state’s reach has become.
Auction Results
2026 Auction Results
Phillips London: 22 January 2026
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 23,220 / USD 31,230
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches 88 paper
Signed in blue pencil and numbered 390/500 in pencil
Published by Pictures on Walls, London
2025 Auction Results
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 23,000 (Hammer)
GBP 30,235 / USD 40,515
BANKSY (b.1974)
Stop and Search (Signed), 2007
Screenprint in colors on on Arches paper
Signed in blue pencil
Numbered from the edition of 500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp
2024 Auction Results
LA Modern: 10 October 2024
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 44,100 / GBP 34,455
BANKSY (b.1975)
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches
Signed and numbered to lower edge ‘166/500 Banksy’
2023 Auction Results
Forum Auctions: 24 May 2023
Estimated: GBP 32,000 – 42,000
Hammer: GBP 33,000
GBP 44,220 / USD 54,685
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, lower right
Numbered in pencil from the edition of 500
2022 Auction Results
Stop and Search sold 6 times at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of GBP 353,213 (USD 441,067) at an average price of GBP 58,869 (USD 73,511). The highest price paid in 2022 of GBP 69,300 (USD 91,476) was achieved at Christie’s online on 15 March 2022.
2022 Auction Results
Sotheby’s online: 17 August 2022
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 50,400 / USD 60,480
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, lower right
Numbered 378/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Heritage Auctions: 28 July 2022
USD 62,500
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, lower right
Numbered 235/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s London: 30 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 50,400 / USD 61,992
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, lower right
Numbered 334/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Phillips London: 15 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 69,300 / USD 85,239
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, lower right
Numbered 222/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Sotheby’s online: 26 April 2022
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 63,000 / USD 79,380
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, lower right
Numbered 98/500 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower left
Christie’s online: 15 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 69,300 / USD 91,476
HIGHEST PRICE PAID IN 2022
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, numbered 481/500 in pencil, with the publisher’s blindstamp
2021 Auction Results
Stop and Search sold 12 times at auction in 2021 for a total turnover of GBP 1,036,748 (USD 1,438,655) at an average price of GBP 86,396 (USD 119,888). The highest price paid in 2021, and world auction record for Stop and Search of GBP 112,500 (USD 155,250) was achieved at Christie’s online on 1 April 2021.
2021 Auction Results
Christie’s online: 23 September 2021
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 87,500 / USD 121,625
BANKSY
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, numbered 210/500 in pencil, with the publisher’s blindstamp
Sotheby’s online: 17 September 2021
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 75,600 / USD 105,084
BANKSY (b. 1974)
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, dated, numbered 467/500, with the publisher’s blindstamp
Phillips New-York: 20 April 2021
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 126,000
BANKSY
Stop & Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches 88 paper
Signed in blue pencil and numbered 114/500 in pencil
Christie’s online: 1 April 2021
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 112,500 / USD 155,250
WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR STOP AND SEARCH
BANKSY (B. 1974)
Stop and Search, 2007
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed in blue crayon, numbered 410/500, with the publisher’s blindstamp