Q: I believe this mask I have is merely decorative in value. Some of the Mexican masks that were collected at the same time as this one have references to a book written by Donald Cordry. I have 9 of them, 8 of which are double-headed. Eric, 1411
A: Cordry is famous to Mexican mask collectors. He wrote an important book, Mexican Masks– published in 1980. It was read by thousands all over the world, and for a few years was the bible for students and collectors. When he died at his vacation home in Guerrero, his collection was given to an art museum in the Southwest.
Later we find out that he was an alcoholic and was easily duped by sellers telling him about the masks’ history and high value. This was a scam, but he filled his book with many pretty photos and descriptions that were completely false. These tourist masks were mostly from the state of Guerrero and nice to look at, but not authentic. The museum soon sold all of these fakes.
As I recently said in post #1409, Mexican decoratives are not all junk. They can be excellent and very creative art. C
