Cloak and dagger story

According to legend the mask belonged to Moise Kapenda Tsombe, erstwhile west-backed revolutionary who shot to fame as the secessionist leader of Katanga, the mineral-rich region on the eastern side of the Congo.

When Katanga split from the rest of the country in the early 1960s, Urban Leonard “Ben” Drew who shot to fame through his aerial kills over Germany during the war, was heading up a Belgium-based charter company that boasted Tsombe as one of its most prominent clients.

It takes a bit of imagination to fill in the gaps, but both Drew and Tsombe’s stories are well documented, yet the mask itself remains shrouded in mystery.

Drew, for example, attracted much controversy because of his alleged gun-running for Tsombe and others, and was even suspected of having shot down an airplane that carried Dag Hammerskjold, the UN’s Secretary General at the time, killing all on board.

In a video-graphed affidavit Drew vehemently denies this, relating in great detail events surrounding his coercion by the CIA in shady cold war deals, his friendship with Tsombe, and yet he makes no mention of the mask.

By the time the historian phoned Heritage Watch (HW), the only account of the mask that HW could work on was an evocatively told story by Drew’s widow who spoke of his deep love and respect for Tsombe.

Closer inspection of the mask itself, however, raised questions of how it is that an artifact from a landlocked region in Africa is adorned with shells.

It served to cast doubt on the mask’s provenance; and then the historian’s call came.

She explained that traders once used shells as currency, and that the amount of shells festooning the mask indicates the high station of Joseph Kapenda Tsombe, a well-to-do businessman and father of Tsombe junior.

She also pointed to several other aspects of the mask that, in addition to the story Drew’s widow told HW, also verifies its importance as a high-value relic of African antiquity.

“It’s fascinating how the shells that initially made it seem unlikely that the mask could be Congolese, is now adding to the weight of its historic significance,” says Chico da Silva, managing member and founder of HW, a project created by Consolidated Auctioneers.

Meanwhile, back in current times, Consolidated will hold a heavy-duty disposal on February 26 where it brings to market an array of industrial assets that include trucks and plant items interspersed with LDVs’ as well as bigger bakkies.

The range of mechanical horses itself is worth attending the auction. There will be volume and variety, all from the heavy-duty sector, at one auction.