Dealer who bought €4m African mask for €150 wins case in France

An antiques dealer who paid €150 for an African mask before selling it for €4.2 million at auction has won a court case in Alès in the south of France against the elderly couple who sold him the artefact as part of a house clearance.

The couple, in their 80s, who were clearing a holiday home, claimed the dealer must have known it was worth more and wanted the sale annulled or for some of the higher proceeds to be given to them.

One of their ancestors had been a governor in what is modern day Gabon, and collected items of African art, including the wooden mask identified by experts as coming from the Fang tribe and dating from the 19th century.

The former governor returned to France in 1910, and his collection, which also included lances, knives and musical instruments ended up in what became a holiday home.

The couple sold the mask in September 2021 alongside many other articles from their ancestor’s collection, including spears and musical instruments. They received €150 for the antique mask.

The antiques dealer who bought the mask subsequently sold it at auction for €4.2m.

In their court case, the couple tried to annul the auction sale and have the artefact returned to them, or to have at least €1million from the proceeds of the sale awarded to them.

Read more: French couple sue dealer over €150 tribal mask that he sold for €4m

But the court in Alès (Gard) ruled that before selling the items, “they had made no effort to appreciate the just historic and artistic value of their goods.”

And it added: “Their frivolous handling of the sale and their negligence characterise the inexcusable character of their demand to be compensated.”

The couple claimed that the antiques dealer must have known of the value of the mask when he bought it, and he had a legal duty to tell them it was valuable.

The state of Gabon, which wants the mask returned to it, also had its own case rejected.

But the dealer said he carried out searches on specialist sites which estimated similar masks for sale at between €100 and €600, and it was only later, after he had bought the mask for €150, that he decided to carry out further research to see if it was worth more.

It was then that he asked for papers from the sellers, proving the authenticity of the mask.

At auction in Montpellier, the estimate was between €300,000 and €400,000 but enthusiastic bidding meant it went for €4.2 million.

The couple said they intend to appeal after the verdict.

During the hearing of the case, held in October, the antique dealer’s lawyer told the court that he was not a specialist in art or African art.

And she added that as part of the research after buying it, he had unsuccessfully approached auctioneers for valuations, before deciding to push ahead with tests to prove the authenticity of the mask, including having the wood it was made of scientifically dated.

In its judgment, the court accepted the argument that he did not know the value of the mask when he bought it.

The couple’s lawyer said they were shocked by the court’s accusation that their handling of the matter was frivolous and negligent.

He also claimed that it was the first time a court had ruled that someone selling a rare object was obliged to carry out due diligence before doing so.

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