Sotheby’s Halts Auction of Letters, Some by Serra; Legality Questioned

A collection of early California letters and documents, including some written by Father Junipero Serra, the founder of Mission San Juan Capistrano, has been withdrawn from a scheduled auction in London by Sotheby’s in the wake of questions raised about the legality of the sale.

“We decided that we will postpone the sale,” said Roy Davids, head of the book department of the well-known auction house. “We really don’t feel we are able to offer them for sale with a clear title,” Davids said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

For the past 10 days, rumors have circulated among church archivists, library officials and private collectors in California that the letters, although genuine and acquired legally, may have been taken from Mexico in violation of government regulations.

Typically, Serra and his colleagues made as many as six copies of each letter, sending them by various routes to make sure at least one copy would arrive safely. They also would send archive copies to the order’s College of San Fernando in Mexico, to church superiors and to the Archive of the Indies in Spain. Copies of those listed in the Sotheby’s catalogue seem to be in other collections.

“We had raised questions, and several others had done so as well,” said Anthony Bliss, rare book librarian at UC Berkeley Bancroft Library, which had planned to bid on the lot of more than 50 letters. “We wouldn’t care to buy tainted merchandise.”

Serra letters are highly prized, in whatever form. One of the surviving letters, written in 1775 and not among those offered for sale in London, was owned by the Honeyman family of San Juan Capistrano. In 1967, Msgr. Vincent Lloyd-Russell, who then headed the Capistrano mission, translated the letter into English, and Robert B. Honeyman Jr. printed a limited edition of 750 for his friends. In 1976, 10,000 copies of the translation were made for sale to the public. That year, a group called the Portola Riders commissioned a bronze plaque for the mission with Lloyd-Russell’s translation.

In the letter, Serra listed the supplies, livestock and personnel necessary for starting “the Mission of San Juan Capistrano which is about to be established in the valley of the same name or in its vicinity between the Missions of San Diego & San Gabriel of the Earthquakes, about twenty leagues from both & two from the coastline of the South Sea. . . . “

Representatives of the Mexican government in the United States, who asked not to be named, said that they had not heard about the scheduled sale but that Mexican law and international treaties signed by Mexico prohibit the export for sale of historic documents.

“It’s a very desirable collection,” said Father Francis Weber, archivist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Weber said he thinks the letters must have come from Mexico because “it’s almost impossible for this collection to have been in the United States and not be known. The big question is about the title--were they legally taken out of Mexico?”

Doris Harris, a Los Angeles autograph dealer and bookseller, said Serra letters only “come along now and then.” Only three documents signed by Serra have been listed at public auction since 1965, she said, selling for between $1,300 and $9,000 each.

The Sotheby’s catalogue estimates that the letters and manuscripts, including seven signed by Jose de Galvez, an early Spanish governor of California, would sell for about $75,000.

Harris said it is much more common for Serra letters and other documents of that era to be sold by private collectors through agents. She said that she has sold three such documents over the past six years, for between $2,500 and $3,500 each.

“The price is right,” said Weber of the Sotheby’s offering, but he added that even so, the archdiocese would not be bidding. The largest collection of Serra documents is believed to be at the Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library.

‘Better to Be Cautious’

Daniel Woodward of the Huntington Library in San Marino said his institution was aware of the impending auction and “looked at it with much interest” but had not planned to participate because of “lack of money.” The Huntington has several documents signed by Serra, all of which were donated.

Davids emphasized that although “we don’t know that there is a problem” with the documents, “it’s better to be cautious than sorry.”

Davids said that the material came to Sotheby’s “through people we would consider substantial,” and that the auction house’s customary form asserting clear title had been signed.

In the short time remaining before the auction, Davids said, “there’s nothing we can do to check the title . . . it’s not as crystal clear as we would hope.”

Disputes More Common

Disputes over the right to sell works of art and cultural relics have become more common in recent years, and, for Sotheby’s, “this isn’t the first time,” Davids said. An auction announcement of items frequently “flushes out old problems by putting them out for sale.”

In 1984, Sotheby’s in New York withdrew a collection of Judaic artworks when questions were raised about ownership of the items, which were smuggled out of Europe to keep them from falling into the hands of the Nazis. Before the wrangling was concluded, the matter had brought the intervention of the state attorney general.

“We don’t want a situation like that here,” Davids said.

Last month, Christie’s, an equally venerable British auction house, canceled the sale of a portrait by Francisco Goya when the Spanish government objected. The portrait, “Marquesa de Santa Cruz,” was owned by Lord Wimborne, who purchased it in 1983.

Davids said the letters would not be rescheduled for auction before November.