Canadians acquire part of coveted native artifact collection

Last Updated: Friday, October 6, 2006 | 1:09 PM ET

CBC Arts

Part of a valuable collection of native artifacts originally taken from British Columbia — including a Tsimshian wooden face mask sold for $1.8 million US — will return to Canada after a record-setting Sotheby's auction in New York.

This Tsimshian wood face mask, part of the Dundas Collection of Northwest Coast American Indian Art, sold for $1.8 million US at Sotheby's in New York on Thursday. The sale set a new record for the sale of a so-called American Indian Art object at auction.
(Sotheby's)

About 80 items from the Dundas Collection of Northwest Coast American Indian Art were on the block Thursday. Museums around the world have been trying for years to acquire the intact collection but negotiations repeatedly failed, prompting the owner to finally place the majority of the collection on the block.

Several Canadian buyers were successful in scoring pieces from the collection, acquired by Rev. Robert Dundas of Scotland in October 1863 in the Tsimshian village of Metlakatla, located near what is now Prince Rupert.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization spent about $82,000 on its four winning bids.

The Ottawa museum acquired five objects: a wooden bowl, a wooden comb featuring a high relief carving, a decorated wooden food dish and a pair of Athapaskan birch bark baskets.

"I am pleased we are carrying out our mandate of protecting important national heritage through this action," museum president and chief executive officer Victor Rabinovitch said in a statement.

The face mask — the sale of which set a record for the highest price ever paid at auction for a native object — was among several of the auction's highlights reportedly picked up by Canada's Thomson family.

According to the Globe and Mail, the multicoloured mask, a club of carved elk or caribou antlers, and a clan hat were purchased by David Thomson and his family in memory of his father, Kenneth Thomson, the former newspaper magnate and renowned art collector who died in June.

Two B.C. museums teamed up to purchase this Northwest Coast wood spoon for $22,800 US at the auction.
(Sotheby's)

The Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria and the Museum of Northern B.C. in Prince Rupert, with help from the Department of Canadian Heritage, successfully bid $22,800 US (with buyer's premium) on a intricately carved polychrome wooden spoon that dates from between 1850-1870.

"I think it's really important that this material, this object, be back close to the Tsimshian nation, where they can then talk about how important this is, [how] culturally significant to their nation and to their history," Pauline Rafferty, chief executive officer of the Royal B.C. Museum, told CBC News.

The spoon will be displayed at the Prince Rupert museum.

Overall, the Sotheby's auction set a record for the sale of native art, taking in a total of $7.03 million US.

The Dundas Collection had been passed down through Robert Dundas's family until its latest owner Simon Carey — Dundas's great-grandson — decided last spring to put most of it on the block.

B.C. native groups had been calling for the collection's repatriation to the Tsimshian.