Against the clock, seven Latin American countries try to stop the sale of their archaeological heritage at the Millon & Associés auction house in Paris. The date for the bid named The Empires of Light IV: European Private Collections of Pre-Columbian Art It is April 3 and they intend to sell 109 pre-Columbian pieces from Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama and Colombia.
The embassies of those countries have decided to act in a coordinated manner and rejected the sale of these cultural assets. “We deplore that, once again, practices of illicit trade in cultural goods that undermine the heritage, history and identity of our peoples are maintained”, they stated in a joint statement to the French government and invited to “stop the transactions”. It is not the first time that they have come together to try to stop the auctions and it is not the first time that this Parisian house decides to put the pre-Columbian heritage up for sale. “(Auctions) encourage looting, illicit trafficking and laundering of assets perpetrated by transnational organized crime,” say the ambassadors.
Colombia, which prevents the sale of 8 pre-Columbian pieces, has joined the rejection and has indicated that these sales “encourage looting, illicit trafficking and laundering of assets perpetrated by transnational organized crime.” The Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Government of Gustavo Petro has confirmed that these are authentic archaeological pieces.
Luis Armando Soto, director of cultural affairs at the Foreign Ministry, has explained that the Institute of Anthropology and History (Icahn) found no history of loss or theft of these pieces, but they have some tentative lines on the way in which this heritage was removed from the country. “It is difficult to identify when a piece leaves the territory. Mexico has proposed that instead of the countries having to prove how they came out, it is the one who auctions the pieces that demonstrates the legal origin of what they were selling and not the other way around, ”he says. Colombia is close to that position.
France has been one of the main destinations for the illegal trafficking of archaeological pieces from Colombia. In 2016, he (Icahn) found that 21 pieces from different cultures were auctioned at the Christies gallery in Paris; another 26 from the Tumaco, Tayrona and Quimbaya cultures, in the Gaia house in the French capital; and in Millon, where the operation is now being repeated, they auctioned off one from the Muisca culture and 14 from Tumaco.
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According to the Icanh expert report, the first of the eight pieces that Millon intends to sell now is a facial mask from the Calima culture, from between 200 BC and 500 AD. It shows the face of a shaman lord with a grim expression under the effect of a tropane alkaloid (a mixture of coca leaves with lime). “The back of the piece has a pure circular shape. Carved, embossed and openwork gold, assembled on the reverse” says the Casa Millones website, which also explains that this piece was revised in July 1997 by the company Conservation and technical services Ltd, from Birkbeck College of the University of London.
Others are “three circular ornaments.” This is how Millon titled the carved, hammered and assembled gold figures of the Quimbaya culture, from 200 to 1500 AD. A ceremonial embossed and openwork gold pectoral from the Calima culture, from between 100 BC and 500 AD, also appears for sale. images of three heads of shamans under the effect of an alkaloid. “Her alert and dynamic gaze is accentuated by her wide eyes,” says the Auction House page, adding that it has “some small chips, slightly wrinkled edges, tears, and indigenous restoration from the pre-Columbian period.”
The others are a gold earring that they sell together with other pieces from Peru and Mexico; an offering bowl from the Nariño culture with two stylized naturalistic deer and Terracotta checkered decoration; and a lithic ax with an angular edge that comes from the Tairona culture.
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