Banksy's Gangsta Rat goes under the hammer The canvas, which is signed and dated from 2006, is being sold at Bonhams's auction of Urban Art in Hollywood on 29 October. Pre-auction estimates for a sale price indicate the print could go for between £62,000 and £93,000. The 'Gangsta Rat', which depicts a rat wearing a baseball cap, chain necklace and carrying a ghettoblaster, first appeared in 2004. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model. Banksy began his career as a freehand graffiti artist in Bristol in the early 1990s. His work became better known when he began using stencils for his work in Bristol and London in the late 1990s. His distinctive style has since made his works some of the most recognisable in the contemporary art world. To date, the record sale of a Banksy is for his defaced version of fellow artist Damien Hirst's Pharmaceutical, called Keep It Spotless. It fetched £1.16m in 2008. In 2010, his first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, was released. It was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Earlier this month, it was reported that actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had commissioned Banksy to create a huge mural inspired by Hurricane Katrina to hang in their private gallery in France.