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In 2021, a couple sold an African mask for 150 euros to a Gard second-hand dealer. This same mask was sold for more than 4 million euros at auction a few months later.
It’s an African treasure, a fang mask, carved in the 19th century. For a long time, he slept in a family home in Gard. Then, the owners called on a second-hand dealer to empty the premises. “This mask immediately attracts the attention of this antique dealer, because it is a rather particular, original mask (…) and he immediately offers them a sum of 150 euros.says Mr. Frédéric Mansat-Jaffré, the lawyer for the former owners of the mask.
Auctioned at 300,000 euros
The deal is done. A few months and an appraisal later, the mask was put up for sale at 300,000 euros, and the bidding skyrocketed. There are only around ten of these masks in the world. “This type of mask is rarer than a painting by Leonardo da Vinci“, notes Vernand Bulot, expert in African arts.
Shock among the former owners, who are seeking the cancellation of the initial sale in court. For them, the second-hand dealer deceived them. The trader’s lawyer recalls for her part that her client had offered 300,000 euros to the couple, on the eve of the auction. The Alès court (Gard) will decide the dispute on October 31.