reflections on the cancellation of the queen - Afrikanet.info

But what more does the cancellation tell us Very little except that the proposed
auction will not take place as announced. Will the auction take place sometime
in the future and somewhere else other than at Sotheby’s Will the mask be
silently passed on to one of the so-called “universal museums” without our
knowing
It is stated that the Benin objects “have been withdrawn from sale at the request
of the consignors” Did the “owners” withdraw because of the protests from
Nigeria Liberty Forum and others, and hope to present them at a future date or
have they arrived at the conclusion that it is wrong to sell the cultural property
of others, especially in a case like this where the object has been acquired by an
ancestor in a violent attack of the owners Are they prepared to renounce their
alleged rights to these blood artefacts Did the consignors realize that the sale of
such blood artefacts can only revive wounds that may still be felt by the
successors of those killed in the process of invasion Do the Galways intend to
return the Queen-Idia mask and the other artefacts to the people of Benin or
simply keep them out of public sight as they have done twice after exhibitions
in 1947 - “Ancient Benin” and 1951 - “Traditional Sculpture from the Colonies”
Sotheby’s and the Galways may have been amazed by the massive public outcry
at the announcement of the proposed auction. The timing of the proposed
auction may have been arbitrarily chosen but it is noteworthy that a week or so
before, Sotheby’s had auctioned an African artefact, a Luba female caryatid
stool, for $7.1 million without any problem. This may have encouraged them to
think it was the right time to make a huge profit on African artefacts. The history
of that piece is different from that of the Benin pieces that are heavily charged
with sentiments and emotions. Moreover, the Queen-Mother Idia hip mask has
become a Pan-African symbol and thus invested with a symbolism and
significance that extend far beyond the boundaries of Benin and Nigeria.
But Sotheby’s and the Galway successors need not have been surprised since
protest at the possession of Benin Bronzes by Western museums and private
collections has a long history.
Various Nigerian governments and parliaments have called for the return of
these objects. When a museum was to be opened in Benin City, Ekpo Eyo, on
behalf of Nigeria made several requests to all the museums holding Benin
objects to return a few of them. Not a single object was returned and the
museum was opened with photographs of some of the Benin Bronzes:
“By the end of the 1960s, the price of Benin works had soared so high that the
Federal Government of Nigeria was in no mood to contemplate buying them.
When, therefore a National Museum was planned for Benin City in 1968, we
were faced with the problem of finding exhibits that would be shown to reflect
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