2 TikTokers Hope This 'Banksy' Art Is Real & They Bought It For Cheap In The NYC Subway

Selling cheap art in a New York subway is just the kind of thing that Banksy would do.

It's also just the kind of thing a knockoff artist would do.

Two New Yorkers say they may have just bought some original Banksy artwork for about $60 each after spotting a low-key sale in the subway earlier this month.

Then again, they might've just been ripped off by a copycat.

Users @worldofpau and @colalex are going viral on TikTok with their separate stories about the sale after they each shared footage of their potentially big finds.

User @colalex's story about the art sale has racked up more than 5.9 million views so far, and she's posted several follow-up videos to expand on what happened.

She says she saw a bunch of Banksy-style pieces on the ground while switching trains at the Eighth Avenue subway station last week. She initially continued on her way but she couldn't shake the thought that it might be a Banksy sale, because he's done this kind of thing before.

She took out some cash, went back to the sale and paid a guy in a ski mask for two pieces, she said.

"I'm shaking and maybe I'm going to make myself look like an idiot," she says in her TikTok video. "But... I can't stop thinking about the chance that this might be real."

She describes the story in more detail in later videos, and she admits she still has her doubts. "I'm not claiming these are real," she says in one video, before adding that she likes the uncertainty. "The longer I wait to authenticate them, the longer I get to hold onto that hope."

User @worldofpau also claims to have bought a few pieces from the same sale, and she posted photos of the scene in her TikTok video.

"I'm either rich or I got scammed," she wrote in the video.

"Please tell me it's Banksy," she added in the caption.

Banksy is famously camera shy, and he's known for pulling all sorts of pranks while avoiding the spotlight. He once shredded a painting after it sold in an auction, and he had Christopher Walken destroy another work on video earlier this month.

A lot of his graffiti shows up in the U.K., but he's known to have left pieces behind when he goes to other cities — and he just happens to have a show running right now in New York.

Of course, there's an easy way to solve this particular Banksy mystery: both TikTokers can contact the artist's official authenticator to find out if the works are real.

There's no charge if your piece is found to be fake. And if it's real, £100 + tax (about CA$200) is a small price to pay to know for sure.