Cameron Crabb with his Banksy-designed record sleeve. He bought the album for $1 from Porirua's Trash Palace - not because of the cover but because he liked one of the tracks on the electronica compilation.

A Porirua man has discovered a record he bought for $1 at Trash Palace in Porirua could be worth up to $1500.

Cameron Crabb picked up We Love You ... So Love Us at the recycling centre about three years ago. It is a vinyl compilation of 1990s electronica put out in 2000 by independent British record label Wall of Sound Records.

But it's not the music that makes it valuable – it's the artwork on the cover, which turns out to be a limited edition print by graffiti artist Banksy.

The artwork known as Rage, Flower Thrower became more widely known after it appeared on a wall in Jerusalem in 2003.

The album sat on Crabb's shelf with about 400 other records until Tuesday, when he showed it to a Wellington art expert who said the same record had sold for between US$900 and $1200.

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The sleeve art is one of Banksy's most famous creations, known as the flower thrower. But the work did not come to international attention until several years later, when it appeared on a wall in Jerusalem.

SUPPLIED Trash Palace in Porirua, where Crabb picked up the album about three years ago.

Crabb discovered it was worth more than all his other records when he entered the details online last month to discover it was a limited edition Banksy print.

He admits he had no idea about cover when he bought it. What attracted him to the album was simply a song by the 90s electronica outfit Skylab.

"I thought it was a good find," he said. "I thought it might have been worth about $50, not $1500.

MAARTEN HOLL/ FAIRFAX NZ The electronic compilation album, from 2000, was put out by Britain's Wall of Sound record label.

"Pretty mind-blowing that a record could be worth that much because of Banksy."

James Blackie, owner of Page Blackie gallery in Wellington, which has handled several Banksys, said the British artist was "one of those artists that doesn't follow all the rules of the art world".

Most artists included a signature or number on their work, whereas Banksy remained anonymous.

DOMINICO ZAPATA/FAIRFAX NZ An exhibition in Tauranga last month featured the most extensive assembly of works by Banksy in the southern hemisphere.

"It is unusual to have something like that just pop up."

Trash Palace manager Marion Tongariro congratulated Crabb on his find.

"For a lot of people, it is just a used item, and for someone else it is a treasure," she said.

"I am sure there are lots of incidents where people have bought a bargain from us."

But some things were not important simply because they wre worth a lot of money. "There is value in everything we sell."

BANKSY: HIS, HER OR THEIR LIFE AND WORKS

* Banksy is the name given to a street artist whose work emerged in the Bristol area of western England in the 1990s

* Some reports have identified him as Robin Gunningham, but others have speculated the artist may be a woman, or a collective of several people

* The renowned work Rage, Flower Thrower first appeared on a wall in Jerusalem

* Nine 'holiday snaps' appeared at Ramallah, on Jerusalem's West Bank

* Banksy Rat: Toolley St, beneath London Bridge

* Les Miserables: outside French embassy, London

* Mobile Garden: delivery truck, New York

* This is not a Photo Opportunity: 40m cliff, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset

* Washing Zebra Stripes: Timbuktu, Mali