An elderly couple in France, the wife was 81 years old, her husband was 88 years old. They are suing an antique dealer for cheating them. The story begins when the couple reorganized their second house. They saw some stuff that they didn’t need should be sold. One of those stuff was the African Mask, it looked worthless and cheap stuff. They sold the mask for $157 in 2021. A few months later, the couple learned that their worthless mask was auctioned for $4.1 million. The worthless mask is a ritual mask in an ethnicity in Gabon country in Africa. There are a few similar masks like the couple mask in the world, which is why it was auctioned for $4.1 million. At first, the lower court in France allowed the dealer to keep $3 million money after the deduction of auction fees and taxes. The couple brought their case to the higher court, and the judge allowed the case should be heard again, so the judge froze $3 million of the dealer’s bank account. The dealer offered the couple $400 thousand for settlement, but the couple declined the offer. The case will go ahead in later months.
The mask was brought to France by the husband’s grandfather who was a governor of an African country during colonial times of the early twentieth century. I hope the court will give some money for the couple and some money for the dealer. The dealer is the job to buy and resell to make money. What do you think about this story? Please leave comments below.