When an elderly couple from Nimes, France, decided to clear out their home in 2021, they came across a quirky-looking wooden mask with a beard. The item had been passed down to the husband from his grandfather, who had been a colonial governor in French-occupied Africa.

Wanting to get rid of it and make some money on the side, the unnamed pair (81 and 88 years old) contacted a local antiques dealer known as Mr. Z, who bought the art piece for $158.

In 2021, an elderly couple was clearing out their home when they came across a wooden African mask with a beard

Image credits: France 3 Occitanie

Little did they know that Mr. Z would go off to sell the same item for $4.4 million at a specialized auction in Montpellier.

The valuable Ngil mask is believed to date back to the 19th century, and was used for purification rites. Carved from wood, it belonged to the Ngil, a Fang secret male society that operated in Gabon, Central Africa, until the 1920s.

The pair contacted a local antiques dealer, who bought the item for $158 and later auctioned it for over $4 million, according to court records

Image credits: France 3 Occitanie

The valuable Ngil mask is believed to date back to the 19th century and is one of twelve in the world

The elderly couple has taken the art dealer, known as Mr. Z, to court

 

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The pair claims that Mr. Z withheld information about the real value of the mask

Image credits: africanews

“This piece of kaolin-coated cheesewood is exceptional in terms of its rarity, as only a dozen or so other reference specimens are known to exist worldwide in Western museums and collections,” Artnet News reported.

Though the mask had initially been listed for sale by the auction with an estimate of between $318,000 and $420,000, the item sold in March 2022 for much more.

The elderly couple, who found out about the sale by reading the newspaper, has taken legal action against the art dealer, arguing that the man withheld information about the real value of the mask.

In a similar case, the French court ruled in favor of the original owners of the art piece

Image credits: africanews

They claim he didn’t display the traditional piece in his shop and instead got in touch with three auction houses in France to have African artifacts specialists estimate the price of the artwork.

The last update on the case came on June 28 of this year, when an appeals court in Nimes ruled that the case “appears to be well-founded in principle.”

“Only a person with a perfect knowledge of the art market is capable of mounting a sale through an auction house after having requested carbon-14 expertise [a scientific method used to determine the age of an artifact] and enlisted the help of an expert in African masks,” the couple stated.

The French court said that the case “appears to be well-founded in principle”

The defense, on the other hand, argued that Mr. Z “is a second-hand dealer and not an antique dealer and cannot be considered a valuation professional.”

According to Artnet News, the court has ordered the proceeds of the sale to be frozen until a verdict is reached.

Mr. Z has tried to settle the case out of court by offering to pay the elderly couple $315,000 in compensation, but the pair’s children opposed.

The defense, on the other hand, argued that Mr. Z is a “second-hand dealer and cannot be considered a valuation professional”

Image credits: Marie-Lan Nguyen (not the actual photo)

In the past, there’s been a similar situation in France that could hint at a possible resolution of the case. Owners of paintings by Nicolas Poussin, which were misattributed to another lesser-known painter, were able to obtain restitution after the art pieces were authenticated, Le Monde reported.

Most people defended the art dealer, saying that, unless he lied about the mask’s worth, he’s not guilty of anything

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