Dispute Erupts over African Mask with Exorbitant 2,800,000% Price Hike

A French second-hand dealer is being taken to court after allegedly tricking a couple into selling an African mask for €150 ($130), which he then resold for €4.2m ($4.9m). The elderly couple discovered the mask at the home of a deceased relative who was a colonial governor in Gabon. They sold the mask to the dealer in 2021 without knowing its true value, only finding out after it was auctioned six months later. Gabon's government has requested that the proceedings be stopped, and the mask be returned. The couple, who are in their 80s and reside in central France, had asked the dealer to clear their holiday home near Alès. The mask was found in a cupboard, with the dealer claiming he had no knowledge of its value when he bought it. In March 2022, the couple learned about the rarity and worth of the mask after reading about it being sold at an auction in Montpellier. Believed to be a rare 19th-century "Ngi" mask made by the Fang people of Gabon, experts have stated that only around 10 such masks were ever made by Fang masters. The couple filed a civil case to have the sale nullified, while the Gabonese government argues that the mask was stolen and should be returned to its home country. France voted in 2020 to return looted artifacts to Senegal and Benin, and currently holds around 90,000 African artifacts, the majority of which are from sub-Saharan Africa.