[CPProt.net] Art objects are part of ownership dispute (Carved masks from Africa are at the heart of a custody battle between a salesman and a local museum)

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Art objects are part of ownership dispute

By JEFF REINITZ, Courier Staff Writer

WATERLOO --- Carved masks from Africa are at the heart of a custody battle
between a salesman and a local museum.

The collection --- which includes eight masks and a wooden head --- ended up
on display at the African American Historical and Cultural Museum in April.
Exactly what happened and who owned the art in between is in dispute.

Museum Director Melvina Scott said the items are on loan to the museum. They
were loaned, she said, by Ruby Abebe, who received the items from friends
and family who traveled to Africa.

But Bassirou Mbacke, who sells African art, maintains the masks and head
were stolen from the garage behind his Dixon Drive apartment in early April.

"That's horrible," Mbacke said.

The masks came from tribes in Zaire, Liberia and Cameroon in Central Africa,
Mbacke said.

Waterloo police seized the disputed collection from the museum in the
Black's Building on Sycamore Street on April 28. The two sides claiming
ownership will argue for custody during a court hearing scheduled May 20.

Mbacke, 36, came to the United States from Senegal in Western Africa and
used to sell African art and imported handbags and clothing at Bassir Arts
in Crossroads Shopping Center. He now offers his wares through a Web site
and by traveling to fairs and special events.

Mbacke was working one such event --- a fashion show --- in Missouri in
April when he returned to find his Waterloo garage had been raided. He
reported the incident to police April 11.

According to the police report, Mbacke told police boxes were stacked neatly
in his garage when he left April 7. They were in disarray when he returned
April 10. The overhead garage door, which had been locked, was open but with
no apparent damage.

Among the items Mbacke listed as missing were 14 masks valued $800, as well
as clothing, jewelry, metal boxes and statues.

After seeing a flyer for an exhibit at the museum, Mbacke paid a visit.

"Right there I saw the stuff on display," Mbacke said.

Mbacke said the items on display are nearly identical and bear similar scuff
marks based on photos he took of the missing items and those on display at
the museum.

Scott said Abebe loaned the museum the masks from her own collection to
decorate the window and draw passersby to an exhibit on Ghana on display on
the eighth floor of the Black's Building. The masks in dispute weren't part
of the Ghana exhibit, which is made up of art and artifacts owned by the
University of Northern Iowa, she said.

Abebe, 56, who married a man from Africa and whose children have been to the
continent, said she accumulated the masks from friends and relatives who
traveled to Africa over the years. She loaned the items to the museum.

"I'm just trying to share," Abebe said.

She said she has documents proving ownership and is willing to show them to
Mbacke.

Police are holding the disputed artwork, and investigators haven't
determined if the items from the window display are the items missing from
Mbacke's garage, Capt. Tim Pillack said.

Mbacke said a neighbor returned some of the missing items taken from his
garage, but a number of others still haven't been accounted for.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz at wcfcourier.com.