In 2004, the British street artist and perennial prankster Banksy printed £1 million worth of his Di-Faced Tenner bills. A riff on a “defaced” tenner bill, Banksy’s Di-Faced Tenner replaces an image of Queen Elizabeth II with that of the late Lady Diana, issued by the “Banksy of England.”
Featuring Charles Darwin on the reverse, the bill also proclaims: “Trust no one.” Banksy has rained the bills down on crowds of people at the Notting Hill and Reading Festivals, and “spilled” a briefcase full of the bills at the Liverpool tube station in London at rush hour.
The British Museum acquired a Di-Faced Tenner bill in 2019, where it joined the coins and medals collection and represented the first Banksy acquisition for the museum.
