Q: Bought in Liberia in 1982 when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Was among several that I bought from one of three Mandingos who came to my house in the Gola tribe area (just north of Monrovia and the Vai tribe territory) to show their masks to a few of us PCVs. The sale of this one mask was suspicious, because the seller did not want his colleagues to know that he had it. Could have been a ruse, but he looked genuinely fearful of his colleagues. I don’t think that he was supposed to be selling it. Dimensions: 11.5″ x 7.5″ X 3.75″ Now that I’m in my…

Q: I have a collection of African old tribal masks which I took over from an old collector who for health reasons is unable to give much info. Here is one of many, I was thinking African, Mali possibly.  Natasha, 588 A: Sorry to take so long to answer.

Q: I wonder if its authentic and if it is a Dan Ngere?  Leon, 585  (Leon also sent along a poem about masks which you can read at the end of my comments.) A: The Dan group of tribes spread over parts of both Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Q: I’m totally ignorant about masks, but my father found this in a garage here in Italy and now I would like some informations about it. I looked into your website for similar masks, but I haven’t found anything identical. Can you please tell me from which part of the world it comes? The dimensions are 60×50 (cm) and it’s made of wood.  Alexandru, 584 A: Being the Mask Man is a humbling experience.

Q: I bought this mask from a guy on the internet from Serbia. That country was famous 30 years ago for its good relationship with Africa,  so I guess that the mask is African.  Zarko, 582 A: I agree that it is African, and it is nice looking.

Q: It was part of collection of items left over from a Free Trade Import store that closed. The seller back in the mid 90’s told me that it an authentic ceremonial mask; whereas, other’s in the collection were passport mask made for tourist and not of much value. The mask has holes along the sides and I was told these held grasses at one time which would cover the lower part of the face as the mask rest upon the forehead. From the top of the crown to the bottom of chin measures 11 1/2″ and from ear to ear 6 3/4″. It is made of a very light…