According to Christie's, Kerchache would have received the pieces in either Cameroon or Paris via local dealers. "We suspect that some were taken out of Nigeria against the UNESCO convention of 1954 on antiquities taken from conflicts." A representative of Christie's Paris branch disputes this, claiming "we received this correspondence and replied to try to address these concerns, and to assure that these objects are being lawfully sold." "But we cannot allow Nigerian artifacts to be sold abroad as they mean so much to us." "We acknowledge there are nuanced and complex debates around cultural property and history," the Christie's source said.

Source: CNN June 27, 2020 16:52 UTC