Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes the construction and legitimation of an African art collection residing in the US. It investigates the role of African middlemen and scholars in creating a compelling myth and manipulate history in order to attribute a high market value to questionable material.

Paper long abstract:

In the fall of last year, I was invited to assess a collection of Cameroonian art that a private collector was offering to museums for sale. The material - all from western Cameroon - was amassed over the course of 5 years by an American medical doctor. This gentleman, in the course of his medical activity in Cameroon, had been struck by the "discovery" of "ancient" Tikar bronzes and set up to acquire the "monopoly of the culture" as a form of cultural and monetary investment. Since the amassment of over 8,000 objects, the collector has proceeded to hire scholars form African and the US to write the story of the unacknowledged ancient civilization, now mainly in his possession. This paper analyzes the how this collection was built and the following attempts to prove its legitimacy and value. In particular I will focus on the crucial role of local middlemen and lawyers in creating a compelling myth, and the shrewd decision to manipulate history and visibility through scholarly publications and political alliances in Cameroon. While the collection is still lingering in a large warehouse in the US, this story is emblematic of the attempt of inventing historical legitimacy and value for material created expressly to satisfy a market demand.