A carved Benin throne (c.1890), also from the Dimsey Collection, doubled hopes to sell to the European trade for €60,000 (£40,000).
Two more bronze plaques from Benin, of roughly the same size and period (16th/17th century) though not in quite such good condition, surfaced next day at Sotheby's (23.92/14.35% buyer's premium) - and these, too, had been acquired by a participant in the 1897 raid, Dr J.P. Howe.
Adding to their academic interest, the masks were lent to the British Museum from 1934 until they were sold at Sotheby's London in 1961. The slightly larger one, 16 x 7 3/4in (40 x 20cm), below right, featured a crocodile (symbol of Benin's Oba sovereigns) with a mudfish between its jaws; it sold to a European collector for a double-estimate €240,000 (£160,000). The second plaque, measuring 16 x 7in (40 x 18cm), featured an erere horn player and went to an unidentified buyer for €100,000 (£66,670).
Exchange rate: £1 = €1.5
Benin bronzes prove the prize catch
THE highlight of Christie's (20.93/11.96% buyer's premium) sale on June 14 was this 16in (40cm) high Benin bronze plaque (c.1580-1620), right, featuring a warrior chief, brandishing a sceptre in his right hand and a short eben sword in his left. The plaque, formerly owned by Edgar Dimsey, a surgeon on the British punitive expedition to Benin in February 1897, retained sharp detailing and sold to a European collector for a hefty €450,000 (£300,000) against an estimate of €150,000-200,000.