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Paris auction of hopi tribal masks goes ahead

A Paris auction of sacred objects from the Hopi and San Carlos Apache Native American tribes will go ahead on Monday, despite objections from the United States and activists said the Eve auction house.

Hopi tribal mask, Arizona, 1920-1930.
Hopi tribal mask, Arizona, 1920-1930. © Antoine Mercier/Dan Graphiste
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The US embassy had asked Paris to suspend the sale of the ceremonial masks and head-dresses following the failure on Friday of a legal challenge by the advocacy group Survival International, on behalf of Arizona's Hopi tribe.

In a letter to the Eve auction house, the embassy said it had requested a suspension so that the two tribes "might have the opportunity to identify the objects, investigate their provenance and determine whether they have a claim to recover the items under the 1970 Unesco Convention on the Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, to which France is a signatory, or under other laws".

But Eve announced on Monday that "Firstly, the Hopi tribe had the opportunity to put its arguments before a judge and the case was dismissed, and secondly, there had been an exchange of detailed letters with the San Carlos Apache tribe".

"The sale will therefore take place in an entirely legal manner," auctioneer Alain Leroy said in a statement.
 

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