U.S. foundation buys Hopi masks at auction to return to tribe
(Reuters) - An American foundation bought nearly two dozen Native American artefacts and will return them to the Hopi tribe in Arizona, which had mounted legal challenges to their planned sale by a French auction house.
The Annenberg Foundation said on Wednesday it had paid $530,000 for the 24 artefacts sold by Eve Auctioneers in Paris on Monday. Twenty-one will be returned to the Hopi Nation and three to the San Carlos Apache, the Los Angeles-based charitable foundation said in a statement.
"These are not trophies to have on one's mantel; they are truly sacred works for the Native Americans," said the foundation's director, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten. "They do not belong in auction houses or private collections."
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/11/us-france-auction-idINBRE9B80QJ20131211
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I don't recall the ins and outs of all this (which means my foot could be heading toward my mouth) but I wish the masks had been given or deeded or something back to the tribes without all of this auction stuff happening.
That said, I am still glad that they are going home to their people. I'm sure they have been missed by the people and the masks have wanted to be home.
Now we go on. How many more religious artifacts are out there that ought to be repatriated?
