The culture ministry of Mexico has called on eBay to remove sale listings for 195 pre-Colombian artifacts, claiming they were obtained by way of “illicit extraction” and that they should be returned to their country of origin.
As reported by The Art Newspaper, the case was made public when Mexico’s secretary of culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, wrote in a posting on X that the Orlando, Florida–based enterprise Coins Artifacts was selling objects deemed part of Mexico’s cultural heritage by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). In a letter sent to eBay, Curiel de Icaza demanded that the company “immediately suspend the sale and return the items to the Mexican government,” adding that the export of such objects has been illegal since 1827.
INAH’s legal department “filed a complaint with the office of Mexico’s Attorney General and notified its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Interpol and US authorities including Homeland Security Investigations in an effort to halt the sale,” according to TAN. But a confidentiality policy related to the complaint means there’s no way to know which 195 objects, among thousands for sale via Coins Artifacts, are the subject of the claim.
When contacted by the Art Newspaper, the administrator of Coins Artifacts gave his name as Tom but declined to offer his surname, and said he was unaware of the Mexican government’s statement. He later told the publication that the sales were legal and that he had purchased the objects from the New York gallery Arte Primitivo. Prior to that they had been in a private collection in Nevada and once owned by David Harner of Arkansas in the 1950s and ’60s, the seller told TAN.
He further claimed that “the Mexican government is trying to intimidate and shame people on social media into returning items they have no legal right to repatriate.”
An eBay spokesperson told TAN the company is investigating the listings and will take action if they cannot be legally sold.
It’s far from the first time the Mexican government has attempted to block the sale of an artifact. In recent years, the country’s culture ministry has habitually called out sellers or auction houses offering such materials on social media.
