Mexico Demands NY Auction Not Sell Pre-Hispanic Artifacts

Bonhams' New York auction scheduled for Wednesday includes about 155 sculptures, ceramic vessels and other artifacts from the Aztec, Mayan and other cultures.

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History said Friday it had asked Bonhams to withdraw the pieces. It added it plans legal measures to recover the genuine ones.

The auction house referred questions on the catalog to a woman in St. Louis, who said she knew about only two pieces in the auction, both of which she said were from Guatemala.

The institute said its experts had studied the catalog and found a quarter of the . . .