All preColumbian creation is funeral home

November 8, the study Binoche Renaud Giquello must yield 241 pre-Columbian art objects. It is an event in Paris. Not because the dispersed collection is exceptional. It is mainly a set together by a German couple in the relatively modest means, estimated 400,000 euros in total. But simply because the vast majority of the art market operators decided to stop its activities in this area. Since December 2005, Christie's has ceased to hold auctions of pre-Columbian objects. Ditto for Sotheby's. In Paris the last irreducible is the renowned expert Jacques Blazy that operates in collaboration with the auctioneer Jean-Claude Binoche. The reason A multiplicity of claims of the country of Latin America to the first rank of which the Peru, the Mexico, the Colombia, under the protection of their heritage. France is the Unesco convention on the protection of world heritage, dated 1972 which applies. It was ratified in 1997. Concretely, that means that any object out of one of its countries illegally after 1997 should he be returned.

June 14, for example, Jean-Claude Binoche flung 26 pre-Columbian objects that had belonged to Jacques Kerchache (collector friend of Jacques Chirac at the origin of the Museum of the Branly Quay) and had the first, in 2008, was banned from sale be reassigned to their owners. "The market suffers from these systematic claims, especially on the part of the Mexico procedures." They are orchestrated the eve of the sales, which causes a deadweight loss to the organizers. Price impacts are important. "Activity in this sector has become very low," observed Jacques Blazy.

Village culture

The expert, the prices are now extremely attractive in this specialty. "A quality, five to ten times lower than those of African art", he said.

With respect to the sale of November 8, Jacques Blazy said the legal origins of the whole. "The Mexico sent us a letter asking the origin of the objects." But you need to know that the collection was formed in the 1970s and that she has been exposed in 1992 in the Rijkmuseum of Leiden.

The collection is devoted to ceramics of the Mexico. All pre-Columbian creation is funeral home. A significant set of what is presented owned village cultures of the West Coast with apo - gée 100 b.c.-250 a.d. Average estimates amounted to 2,000 euros for statuettes of terracotta. Many of them represent to strange women squatting large oval-shaped stylized head rest their heads on their knee. The expert Associates this posture with a sign of power. Another remarkable gesture: a statuette of the same origin representing a female character to knees to pinching 38 centimetres high breast estimated 4,000 euros. One of the more unusual parts, reproduced on the cover of the catalogue, is a seated woman (31 cm high) between the legs with a large Cup, Brown terracotta, estimated 15,000 euros. Other ceramic depicts a woman being given birth. His skull is ritual deformation and arms are cells by two rings. Estimate: 10,000 euros.

Because of the decline in auction offer, prices tend to stagnate since 2005. These parts, where they have a proven traceability and are assessed by a recognized professional, constitute an interesting opportunity to purchase.