PARIS.- The auction house Binoche and Giquello, auctioned off an American collection of pre-Colombian works of art, March 31. The sale totaled 3 million euros, which is twice its estimate. During two hours, collectors from around the globe battled to obtain one of the sixty masterpieces out of the sixty-eight lots offered.

The queen of the auction, the Venus Callipyge of Chupicuaro led the sale. The winning bid came on the phone, double her estimate, at 285 750 €. This Venus is similar to one preserved in the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, of which she is now the muse. By style and size, these two Venuses are sisters, certainly coming from the same workshop. The last owner purchased it in 2008. (Lot N°48)

Among the finest auctions, these works are particularly memorable:

• A standing figure carved in gray-green diorite, from the Chantal culture, State of Guerrero, Mexico, was sold for 266,700 €. The work is dated around 300-100 BC, corresponding to the recent pre-classical period. It is suitable for the Merrin collection in New York. (Lot N°24)

• An anthropomorphic mask of the Teotihuacan culture, on the high central plateau of Mexico, reaped 222,250 €. Sculpted in yellow-green onyx, it dates from the classical period, between 450 and 650 BC In 1979, J.-C. Peter G. Wray, Scottsdale, bought the work of John Stokes, acquired in 1964. Then it belonged to Richard Manoogian, Detroit. The last owner of the object at the Merrin Gallery in New York in 1991. (Lot N°53)

• A Venus made of ceramic with the red and black winding, of the Chupicuaro culture, in the State of Guanajuato in Mexico, sold 110 490 €.This is a recent pre-classical work, dating from 400-100 BC This statuette was acquired in 1972 by Ann Nisensen, Los Angeles, then belonged to James Bodishbaugh, Santa Fe. By Hy Zaret, Westport and the last owner of the work in 2008 at the Lands Beyond Gallery in New York. (Lot N°49)