Matthew Perry’s Banksy artworks sell for nearly £1MILLION including iconic Girl with Balloon
DECEASED Friends actor Matthew Perry has sold two original Banksy artworks for nearly £1million – including the iconic Girl with Balloon.
The star tragically died in October 2023 after accidentally drowning in a jacuzzi while high on ketamine, with 127 items from his estate having now been sold at auction.
A pair of iconic Banksy artworks, Girl with Balloon and Nola, that Perry owned have been sold for £975,000.
The Hollywood actor, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit TV sitcom Friends, died at the age of 54.
His estate has since been put up for auction with the money going to the Matthew Perry Foundation which helps substance users to recover.
The Girl with Balloon 2005 includes two spray-painted stencils on separate canvases of a child reaching for a red heart-shaped balloon.
Following an intense bidding war, it sold for a massive £709,674.
After including the 25 per cent buyers premium, it sold for £887,093.
The other iconic artwork, Nola 2008, is a screen print in colours on wove paper of a young girl holding an umbrella while sheltering from the rain.
It was the first Banksy Perry ever bought, according to Heritage Auctions.
The monochrome picture fetched £70,967.
Including the 25 per cent buyers premium, it sold for £88,709.
Both artworks have Banksy’s signature on them.
Other items sold at the auction included signed Friends episode scripts, TV guide displays, and a custom Chandler bobble head.
It also sold Batman memorabilia like a custom ping pong table and The Dark Knight Rises watch.
Perry’s cause of death was determined to be the acute effects of ketamine with drowning as a contributing factor.
A year after the celeb’s tragic passing, the street dealer who supplied the ketamine, Erik Fleming, was jailed for two years.
Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, was also jailed for more than three years after injecting the actor with the drug.
Both pleaded guilty to the charges during their court appearances.