While some tried to figure out what just happened, others reportedly noticed an elusive man dressed in black sporting sunglasses and a hat “scuffling” with security guards immediately after the fiasco. This led some to speculate that Banksy might have personally carried out the stunt.

The unusual heist of the artwork is completely new for the art world and, while the piece was lost forever, the scraps and remnants could now be worth more than the original intact masterpiece itself. “You could argue that the work is now more valuable,” Branczik said. “It’s certainly the first piece to be spontaneously shredded as an auction ends.”The auction house is now trying to figure out what to do next. “We have talked with the successful purchaser who was surprised by the story. We are in discussion about next steps,” Sotheby’s said in a statement to the Financial Times.

Girl with Balloon was one of the “most widely recognizable images” ever painted by the anonymous British icon. The spray paint and acrylic on canvas that was mounted on board depicted a small girl in black and white reaching out towards a red, heart-shaped balloon attached to a string.

“Unlike the other editioned iterations of this famous motif, the present work is a rare unique painting that was given to the present owner by Banksy in 2006 following the artist’s warehouse show, Barely Legal, in Los Angeles,” Sotheby’s said of the lot.