Paris, 20 December 2012
Drouot Richelieu announced the result of the Native North American art auction held on 16 December 2012 at Eve auction house, with pre-emption from the Musée du Quai Branly.
The two collections of Hopi masks, 28 pieces altogether, represented the greatest ensemble of Native American masks ever displayed in Paris, both in terms of quantity and quality. Auctions exceeded by far initial estimates. For instance, the Kachina PUCH TIHU (mountain lion) mask rose to €24,784 BPI, while it had been estimated between €5,500 and €6,500.
Eight pieces, including a Kachina SIO HEMIS mask (1890-1900), pre-empted €26,023 BPI by the Musée du Quai Branly, came from the ancient collection of Mrs Grace Wilcox Oliver. Owner of a private museum, The Antelope Valley Museum, numerous pieces had previously belonged to her father, archaeologist, ethnologist and a collaborator of Jesse Walter Fewkes (1850-1930), famous anthropologist who initiated the preservation of ancient sites of the American Southeast. Certain pieces were directly issued from his research work in situ, in collaboration with natives and Jesse Walter Fewkes himself.