Hopi tribe masks fetch record prices at Paris auction
A mask from a native American tribe in Arizona has fetched 160,000 euros (£135,000) at auction in Paris, more than three times the pre-sale estimate.
Lawyers for the Hopi tribe had asked for the auction to be cancelled on the grounds that the masks must have been stolen from the tribe.
It considers them sacred and blessed with divine spirits.
Auctioneers, however, say the masks had been bought and sold in the past and were legally acquired.
They said blocking the sale would have implications for the trade of indigenous art and could potentially force French museums to hand back collections they have bought.
‘Criminal gesture’
The masks – mysterious looking faces fashioned from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers, and painted in a vivid array of colours – are spiritual artefacts thought to have been taken from a reservation in northern Arizona in the 1930’s and 40’s.
To Hopi Indians they are sacred – tools through which the living can communicate with the spirits of the dead.