The object of the day: 19th-century Tlingit "mosquito mask"

19th century Tlingit "mosquito mask" from the Pacific Northwest, around the border of present-day northern B.C. and southern Alaska. It sold at a Christie's auction December 13, 2011.

It became the focus of an intense bidding war this week at a major auction of aboriginal art in France: a 150-year-old wooden "mosquito mask" from the Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest, a Canadian historical treasure that was expected to fetch about $40,000 but drew a top bid of nearly $400,000 before the hammer finally came down at a Christie's saleroom in Paris.