Auction Of ‘Stolen’ Igbo Artifacts Goes Ahead In Paris
July 21, 2020
4:17 pm
Christie’s proceeds with sale of artifacts, says the transaction lawful given that objects were sold at past auctions.
Auction house Christie’s has gone ahead with a sale of statues which Nigerian museum officials said were stolen during the country’s civil war in the 1960s.
Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments had demanded Christie’s stop the sale of the artifacts, which were collected by an art dealer and adviser of the late French President Jacques Chirac.
But at Monday’s auction in Paris, the pair of “museum quality” Igbo statues were sold for 212,500 euros ($239,000). Meanwhile, a “major Urhobo statue” …
