Handmade African Wood Mask / 1970's / Carved / Tribal Art from Africa / 19" buying Unique and Hand-Carved Red-Toned Mask Art/ Heavy redwood

Art from Africa is unique and one-of-a-kind. This tribal art inspired mask from the early 1970's has a slightly reddish tone, and hand-carved with traditional African patterns. Handmade in Africa, mask art is a traditional part of the culture. This is an original piece that you can add to your African art collection or as an addition to your home decor. This piece is made from a very dense heavy wood. It weighs 4lbs and 7 ounces. and measures 19"x7.5"x3"

Please Note: This will get shipped via FedEx and packed by experts with air-pillow packaging.

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The Magnus Collection is the story of true hidden treasure...

In the early 1970s, an entire jet of art went missing, not to be seen by the public for another 40+ years. This is the incredible story behind this great collection:

During the 1960s and early 1970s, a group of about twenty art collectors began procuring a large collection from all across the African continent. After collecting thousands of pieces, the art collectors agreed to pool their efforts and transport the collection on a single jet back to America.

It was once the collection touched ground in America that things took an unexpected turn. There were disputes around how much each collector owed towards the total bill for transportation, tariffs, and duties. In the end, the transport company was able to take possession of the cargo and from there on refused to negotiate with the collectors. The entire collection was transferred into a boarded up hotel the transport owner happened to own, without him telling another soul in the world.

Fast forward 20 years, and the largest privately owned African art collection in North America remained tucked away in that same buying old hotel. The hotel owner's children were approached by the local township and told to either fix up their ailing father's old properties, or sell them to someone who would. An older woman made a serious offer for the hotel, with the goal of fixing up the face of the building to how beautiful it was when she was much younger. The offer was accepted, ultimately including all the crates and boxes of assumed garbage throughout the building.

With the sale complete, the woman hired a company to clear out all the junk in the hotel. It was only then that she learned what she'd actually acquired… a hotel, filled with this incredible art collection that had been hidden from the world all this time!

She would go on to complete her renovation of the hotel face, selling the art collection to fund the final phase of construction. I was the fortunate person who just happened to be available when she decided it was time to sell this great art collection. Myself and our great staff spent most of that summer moving the art collection from that hotel, back to various buildings we held in the area. I continued meeting with the hotel owner for years afterwards, collecting pieces that were returned to the hotel after being on loan to various museums, but also to enjoy some time with a great person who had the most wonderful stories to tell.

That was 2003 - 2004, and now some 15 years later we've brought the entire collection into a single building for the first time since it left that hotel. After much consultation, my family has decided to begin offering the collection for public viewing and sale.

Please take your time looking around this shop. It's as much an attempt to share the beauty of this collection as anything else. We will be diligently adding pieces to the store as quickly as our schedules allow, so be sure to keep coming back… and thank you kindly for taking the time to hear our story!