The French judicial system deals with special cases. A couple sold a piece of art or something they thought was worthless to an antiques dealer. Later, the same work of art is sold for a higher price. Today, an elderly French couple is seeking compensation. This raises the question of whether a person can seek compensation for selling a work of art at a low price, when he perceives it to be valuable. An anonymous elderly French couple – an 81-year-old woman and her 88-year-old husband – found an African rug while cleaning one of their rooms.
They sold most of the items at the garage, but decided to sell the mask to an antiques dealer to get a better price for its value. The seller agreed to buy the mask for €150, or about $157 (about Rs 13,000) in September 2021.
A few months later, they found out in the newspaper that the African rug, which they thought was worthless, was sold for 4.2 million euros or 4.4 million dollars (Rs 36 crore) this time. trades in Montpellier. It turns out that the mask is a rare item called the Fang Mask. According to available information, it was used in rituals and rituals of purity in African secret societies. This item was brought from Gabon by the father-in-law, who was a ruler in Africa at the beginning of the 20th century.
The couple took the antiques dealer to court because they believed they had been duped. On June 28, a French court ruled that the couple’s complaint against the seller was based on established principles and stopped the sale of the mask while the case continued. The couple reportedly suspected that the seller had a fair idea of the value of the item when he bought it from them. It seems that the seller, when buying the mask, did not show it in his store, but connected to the auction house, which gave an estimated price from € 100 to € 600 each ( Rs 8,836 to Rs 53,020). However, the client requested a third opinion. After analysis through carbon-14 dating, the mask was found to be from the 19th century.
This artefact is so rare that only a dozen examples exist worldwide in museums and a few Western collections.
