Title Unclear, Serra Papers Pulled From Sotheby’s Sale

A collection of early California letters and documents, including some written by Father Junipero Serra and other Franciscan missionaries, were withdrawn Wednesday from a scheduled auction in London by Sotheby’s in the wake of questions raised about their origin.

“We decided that we will postpone the sale,” said Roy Davids, head of the book department of the famous 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 last 10 days rumors have circulated among church archivists, library officials and private collectors in California that the letters, while genuine and legally acquired, may have been taken from Mexico in violation of Mexican government regulations.

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

Cite Mexican Law

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 said that both 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 felt that the letters must have come from Mexico because “it’s almost impossible for this collection to have been in the U.S. and not be known. The big question is about the title; were they legally taken out of Mexico?”

Serra was an 18th-Century Franciscan who founded the chain of California missions. Weber said the diocese would not be bidding on the letters. The largest collection of Serra documents are believed to be at the Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library.

Doris Harris, a Los Angeles autograph dealer and bookseller, said that Serra letters in particular 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 estimated 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 last six years, for between $2,500 and $3,500 each.

Daniel Woodward, of the Huntington Library in San Marino, said that 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.”

Title Form Signed

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.”

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

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.

Judaic Artworks

In 1984, a collection of Judaic artworks were withdrawn by Sotheby’s in New York 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 brought the intervention of the state attorney general.

Last month, the equally venerable British auction house, Christie’s, 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.