Banksy West Bank mural 'Donkey Documents' expected to sell for $700k at auction

The work will be auctioned alongside another mural from a Detroit factory called 'I Remember When All This Was Trees'

Banksy's Donkey Documents (2007) is expected to sell for $600,000 at auction (Getty Images )

A political Banksy mural painted during the artist’s time in Israel in 2007 is expected to sell for $600,000 (£380,000) at auction.

The Bethlehem work depicts a donkey having its papers checked by an armed soldier and was one of a series of politically-aimed artworks left by Banksy along a concrete barrier dividing the West Bank from Israel.

The work, called “Donkey Documents”, will be auctioned alongside another mural entitled “I Remember When All This Was Trees”, which was painted on the wall of a crumbling factory in Detroit in 2010.

The Detroit mural is expected to sell for $400,000 (£256,000), according to Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills.

“These are considered conservative estimates. These pieces could fetch more. It's hard to say,” Michael Doyle, director of business development at Julien's told Reuters.

“Slave Labour”, a mural painted by the elusive street artist on a shop in London, sold at a private auction for $1.1 million (£704,000) in 2013.

In April, Palestinian police confiscated a bombed-out doorway bearing a recent Banksy painting after the original owner complained he had been swindled into selling it to a local man for $175 (£111).

Doyle declined to give details on the Bethlehem mural but said Julien's had been approached by the owners after the work was removed from its original location. The mural was posted by Banksy on his website shortly after its creation, which is seen as a mark of authenticity

The Detroit mural is owned by the city's small non-profit 555 Gallery and is being sold to raise funds for community arts programmes. It depicts a young boy wearing a hoodie with a red paint can and a brush and bears rare finger prints in red paint that are believed to have been left by Banksy.

With additional reporting from Reuters.