Mexico condemns a new auction of pre-Hispanic objects in the United States

Stone figures for sale on the AuctionNinja.Auctionninja portal

The Ministry of Culture of Mexico has condemned a new auction of pre-Hispanic objects that takes place this Tuesday in the United States.

The authorities have alerted that 70 pieces for sale through the AuctionNinja digital portal "are pre-Hispanic goods that are part of the heritage" of Mexico.

The lots that are commercialized and that the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador claims include anthropomorphic figures, vessels, supports and fragments from different periods and regions.

The petition is part of the My heritage is not for sale campaign, which has made it possible to recover more than 9,000 archaeological assets since the beginning of the six-year term.

The experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) concluded that the three lots at auction include 70 pieces and fragments that are Mexican heritage assets "defined and protected by the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Monuments and Zones."

Some come from the center of the country and are dated to the Preclassic period, between the years 600 a.

C. and 200 d.

C. Others are of Teotihuacan, Mexica, Cholulteca, Zapotec or Mixtec style, from Oaxaca, the Gulf Coast, the western part of the country and the Mayan area, in the southeast.

The archaeologists also identified an ammonite fossil that is at least 70 million years old, according to their analysis.

Screenshot of a posting on the AuctionNinja auction portal.

The lots that Mexico is claiming this time are offered by the Clearing House Estate Sales company.

They are promoted in the decorative objects category on the AuctionNinja portal, an auction firm created in 2012 by Christie Spooner and Grant Panarese to "manage their estate settlement business."

The sale has not been suspended despite the claim by the Mexican authorities.

At 12 noon this Tuesday, with seven hours to go before the auction ends, the best offers for these lots reach $130 (almost 2,500 pesos) in one case, $70 in another, and only nine in the third.

In a letter sent to the US portal, the Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto, has expressed her "strong disapproval" of the event because "it contributes to cultural dispossession and threatens the memory of the peoples."

In addition, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office and has notified Interpol.

It is the protocol that Mexican authorities normally follow when they discover an auction of pre-Hispanic objects.

Claims with these have been made during different governments, but the current Administration has intensified diplomatic and awareness efforts.

Since 2018, Mexico has recovered more than 9,300 pre-Hispanic objects, according to the most recent official data provided to EL PAÍS, in November.

Most are deliveries made by individuals of their own free will, such as the return of 2,522 archaeological objects delivered anonymously by a Catalan family to Mexico in July.

The suspension of auctions in New York, Paris or London, among other cities, is always more difficult because firms like Christie's or Sotheby's are guided by the regulations of each of the countries where they operate.

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