‘Missing papers’ frustrate auction of Mandela statue
A RARE document worth millions of rands and signed by Nelson Mandela has mysteriously vanished from Denmark’s most prestigious auction house.
Investigations are now under way to find out what happened to the “certificate of authenticity” that accompanied a life-size bronze statue of Mandela that was to have been auctioned by Copenhagen-based Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers on June 17.
The owners of the statue, the Thanda Foundation, halted the sale after discovering that the document had disappeared from the auction house’s vault.
The statue was to be sold to raise funds for the Mvezo Development Trust, headed by Mandela’s grandson Mandla.
With the certificate, the statue had an estimated value of R14.2-million. Without it, the value plummets.
The foundation has hired Danish lawyers to get to the bottom of the mystery. Its CEO, Pierre Delvaux, said investigators were being “stonewalled” by the auction house.
“It might be a criminal matter,” said Delvaux. “They gave us no answers, and that makes us suspicious.”
Delvaux arrived in Copenhagen a day before the auction.
“I was devastated. They could not confirm if it was misplaced or had been stolen. I had entrusted them with the original certificate. There was no explanation at all. When they couldn’t give us credible answers, we had no option but to withdraw from the auction.
“For the oldest and most reputable auction house in Denmark to lose an original document is just outrageous and unacceptable,” said Delvaux.
He said the statue was one of three identical sculptures of Mandela which were made in 2008 by artist Kobus Hattingh. The design was presented to Mandela soon after his 90th birthday. Each of the statues was accompanied by a “certificate of authenticity” signed by Mandela, Hattingh and Mandla Mandela.
One of the statues was unveiled at the new Mvezo Museum on Mandela’s birthday on July 18.
The other stands at the Thanda Foundation head office in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal.
“Mandela . . . only ever signed three certificates for life-size statues of himself. No other statue has a certificate of authenticity. That’s what makes them so valuable, especially since he has passed away,” said Delvaux.
Without the certificate, he said, the statue had lost significant value.
“I flew from Durban to Mvezo and met [Mandla’s] mother and collected the signed document. Then I flew to Copenhagen and gave them the original certificate for safekeeping. They’ve kept it in their vault ever since,” he said.
Delvaux said he hand-delivered the certificate to Bruun Rasmussen in June 2012 but a planned auction was delayed after Mandela fell ill at that time.
Bruun Rasmussen’s evaluation and sales director Kasper Nielsen confirmed that the statue was meant to go on sale in June but that “we did not succeed in selling the statue”.
Asked about the certificate, he said: “Due to client confidentiality, we can’t provide you with any further information.”
Mandla Mandela said he had been briefed about the missing certificate.