An elderly couple has sued an art dealer who purchased an African face mask from them for a mere $158 before selling it for $4.4 million.
I'd be pretty annoyed too.
It can often be worth venturing into the attic to see what lost antiques you have knocking around because you might be sitting on a gold mine without knowing.
But as this story shows - make sure to get it valued by someone who you trust so they don't scam you out of a few million dollars...
As reported by the Daily Mail, an unnamed French couple were having a clear-out in 2021 and decided to sell their 'Ngil' mask.
The mask originated from Gabon and is a Fang mask used for rituals such as weddings and funerals.
Fewer than a dozen of these masks have made it outside of the country to museums, so to find them around the world is a rarity - hence the price it was eventually sold for.
A description of the mask on Artnet News reads: "This piece of kaolin-coated cheesewood is therefore exceptional in terms of its rarity, as only a dozen or so other reference specimens are known to exist worldwide, in Western museums and collections."
In September 2021, the elderly couple took the mask to an art dealer known as Mr. Z, who reportedly told them that it wasn't worth much so bought it for $158.
The couple was then understandably shocked to see a newspaper report of the very same mask selling for a whopping $4.4 million at auction.
The husband's grandfather had brought the mask to France from Africa where he was a colonial governor.
The elderly couple are now in the process of suing Mr. Z after they were left feeling "cheated" after he misguided them on the true valuation of the mask.
The lawsuit is ongoing, and a court case in Nimes ruled that the couple's claims "appear to be well-founded in principle".
The art dealer allegedly refrained from putting the mask in his shop and instantly called three auction houses to get a valuation on his new purchase.
When the item went to auction, it was given an estimate of $317,416 to $423,222 but then sold for considerably more.
The couple was initially offered $318,000 by the dealer to settle the lawsuit, but their children rejected the offer on their behalf.
The lawyer for the couple argued: "[Mr. Z is] a second-hand dealer and not an antique dealer and cannot be considered a valuation professional. He has no knowledge of African art."
The case is still being disputed in France.
