The French judiciary approved (Tuesday) an auction in which a rare African carved mask was sold for 4.2 million euros ($4.6 million) after it was purchased in 2021 by a used goods dealer, “Roubabikia,” from a couple in their eighties for 150 euros, rejecting a petition submitted by The State of Gabon, which participated in the trial as a third party.
According to the Alès Court in southern France, the original owners of the mask, an 88-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife who called a second-hand goods dealer to dispose of old items accumulating in their secondary home, “did not show any interest in assessing the just historical and artistic value” of the mask.
“Their negligence and indifference characterize the unjustified nature of their request,” according to the judicial decision that rejected the request of the couple wishing to cancel the sale and recover the amount paid by the buyer, who remained anonymous.
Among several seemingly worthless items was a carved wooden mask belonging to an ancestor, a former colonial governor in Africa, which the elderly couple eventually sold for 150 euros in September 2021, along with spears, a circumcision knife, bellows, and musical instruments.
On the occasion of a sale of African art pieces, the used goods dealer contacted the Montpellier auction house in southern France, which subsequently conducted in-depth analyses that concluded that this mask dates back to the nineteenth century, and estimated its value at between 300,000 and 400,000 euros. The initial estimate requested by the second-hand dealer was between 100 and 600 euros.
The court concluded that insufficient evidence was presented to show that the used goods dealer, “before the sale, was aware of the unique value of the mask sold.”
The used goods dealer had set the price “based on specialized websites,” and on the opinions of auction commissioners who “did not want to take possession of the piece,” as his lawyer, Patricia Bigo, said during the trial at the end of October, stressing that her client “is not a professional in evaluation or art.” African”.
In its ruling, the court confirmed that the used goods dealer “did not have specific knowledge of African art.”
The Republic of Gabon intervened in the trial to demand that the sale be canceled and the mask be returned to the country, but the French court rejected this request.
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