A rope used to pull down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, along with a Banksy T-shirt given to one of the 'Colston Four' defendants, is being auctioned by Auctioneum Ltd. The lot is expected to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000 in a specialist sale on December 29, 2025. The four protestors were acquitted of criminal damage in 2022 after a jury trial.
The sale matters because it commodifies a pivotal moment in Britain's reckoning with its colonial past and public memorials. The rope and shirt are not just collectibles but symbols of a global movement that challenged how history is commemorated. Auctioneer Andrew Stowe calls it 'one of the most defining moments in modern history,' and the items' rarity—the shirt is one of only four signed by Banksy—adds to their cultural and historical significance.