Navajo Officials Buy Back Seven Tribal Masks For Sale At Paris Auction House

By Carrie Jung
Published: Monday, December 15, 2014 - 12:06pm

Seven masks considered sacred to the Navajo Nation went on sale at a Paris auction house Monday morning. However, the tribe successfully bid and purchased all of them.

Navajo Nation officials arrived in Paris on Friday to begin repatriation efforts.

Tribal vice president Rex Lee Jim said the masks are believed to be of Navajo origin, and can be dated back to the early 1900s.

Jim said the masks are considered living beings, created to perform specific religious ceremonies and should not be bought or sold.

"But there comes a time when you need to do what is necessary," said Jim. "And so the Navajo Nation has come to that point where, given the circumstances, that one option that we need to take was to buy them back, and so we did that."

Several items considered sacred to the Hopi tribe also went on sale at the Drouot Auction house Monday.

The Navajo delegation is scheduled to return to Window Rock, Ariz., with the masks on Tuesday.