An elderly French couple is taking legal action against an art dealer who purchased an African face mask from them for £129 and later sold it for a staggering £3.6 million.
The couple, aged 81 and 88, from Nimes, France, decided to sell their ‘Ngil’ mask while clearing out their home in 2021.
The mask, a traditional Fang mask from Gabon, is used in rituals like weddings and funerals. It’s an exceedingly rare artifact, with fewer than a dozen known to exist in museums worldwide.
The husband’s grandfather, who was a colonial governor in Africa, brought the mask to France. The couple had no knowledge of the mask’s true value until they read about its sale in a newspaper.
They believe they were cheated by the art dealer, identified as Mr. Z, and have filed a lawsuit.
The lawsuit is ongoing, but a ruling by the court of appeals in Nimes on June 28 indicated that the couple’s case “appears to be well-founded in principle.”
As a result, the proceeds from the mask’s sale have been frozen pending the case’s conclusion.
The couple contends that the dealer withheld his suspicions regarding the artifact’s value and, instead of displaying the mask in his shop, sought estimates from three auction houses in France.
The last of these specialists analyzed the mask, leading to its listing with an estimated value of £259,416 to £345,888 at an auction. However, it sold for much more in March the following year.
The dealer initially offered the couple £259,416 when faced with legal action, but their children opposed the offer, leading to the ongoing lawsuit.
Fang masks are intricately carved from wood by the Fang people residing in regions spanning Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.
This specific mask features decorative elements resembling a long beard on the lower half.
Experts dated it to the 19th century and noted its use by the Ngil, a secretive male society within the Fang community responsible for overseeing judicial matters.
Court documents cited by Artnet News described the mask as “exceptional in terms of its rarity” with only a dozen or so similar reference specimens known to exist globally in Western museums and collections.
