French Judge Rules That Auction of Hopi Masks Can Proceed

A French judge ruled Friday that a disputed auction of sacred Hopi Indian masks can go forward in Paris despite last-minute efforts by lawyers and tribal advocates to block the sale.

Municipal Court Judge Magali Bouvier rejected arguments by the the tribe’s lawyer that selling the masks, which the Hopis use for religious rituals and consider to be living spirits, would be an immoral act under French law.

“These masks, despite their sacred character for the Hopi, cannot be likened to dead or alive beings,” she said.

Gilles Néret-Minet, the head of the Néret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou auction house, which is holding the sale of the 70 brightly colored and decorated artifacts later on Friday, said, “Well it ends the suspense, but I was certain of this outcome because in France you cannot just up and seize the property of a person that is lawfully his.”

The Hopis say the masks are not intended for sale and were stolen from their Arizona lands decades ago. Mr. Néret-Minet said the masks had been collected legally in the United States by their owner, a Frenchman in the film industry who is selling them anonymously.

Mr. Néret-Minet said there was a large eager crowd at the Hôtel Drouot, a renovated 19th-century building and the site of the mid-afternoon auction. “The sale has been publicized for a long time and the tribe and the lawyers ought to have contacted me sooner if they wanted a compromise,” he said. “Now it is too late.”

“I admit I am mystified by the ways of American Indians,” he added. “I hope I am alive after the sale.” The auction could bring in $1 million, he said.

The attorney representing the tribe pro bono, Pierre Servan-Schreiber of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said that the ruling was a “sad ending” and signaled “that French institutions are still not fully aware of the devastating consequences” such sales have on Indian tribes. He added, “These objects will now be sold and dispersed, and the likelihood that they will eventually return to their true home amongst the Hopi is severely reduced.”

Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, a global tribal-rights organization that joined in the suit, said: “Potential buyers should be aware that the Hopi are profoundly distressed at their sale, and regard them as the rightful property of the Hopi people.” His group passed out leaflets today in front of the auction house.

The case drew diplomatic attention when United States Embassy officials met with their French counterparts on Wednesday to express concern over the auction, and issued a statement on Thursday calling for its postponement.