Overview
- Magna Art Auctions opened the sale in Madrid on Tuesday after being commissioned by the Martínez‑Bordiú y Franco family to sell 689 lots removed from the Pazo de Meirás.
- The catalogue lists furniture, porcelains, paintings, portraits of Francisco Franco, a 1970 photograph dedicated by Juan Carlos I and everyday household items with starting prices from €20 to €5,000 and a total opening value near €200,000.
- The auction house director said the removals and catalogue were supervised by the Abogacía del Estado and the Xunta de Galicia, and the Ministry of Culture said the State had not claimed the specific goods and declined to say if it would exercise a right of tanteo.
- Memorialist groups and some local officials have asked for inspections or a suspension, calling the dispersal an expolio of public memory and arguing that some lots may be public property or protected because the Pazo is a Bien de Interés Cultural.
- Early sales exceeded €2,000 for several pieces, including a Qing porcelain tureen at €2,750, and the dispersal of items now on the market could limit efforts to keep the Pazo’s movable heritage intact and reduce public access to those objects.