Update: The wall of masks has been sold to a lovely couple here in San Miguel. He very quickly offered to buy them all to augment his own collection. Thank you to everyone who expressed an interest in the entire collection or in individual masks. You are all appreciated!

In another life, Rose Alcantara traveled the world, settled in The Gambia for a couple of years, and eventually returned to California to raise two beautiful children.

Along the way, between 1978 and 1992, she collected masks, the way other people collect souvenirs.

Well, not really the same way. Souvenirs are mass-produced. She looked mostly for one-of-a-kind creations from the original artists.

Over the years, the masks became her diary. Each would trigger fond memories of visits to Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Mozambique, Senegal, the Philippines, and more.

When we moved to Belize, Rose gave up a good part of her collection. Not the best part. She saved her favorites, and they now hang on a wall in our home here in San Miguel de Allende.

Rose had a massive Nutcracker collection, too, a result of her years as a professional ballerina and dance teacher. Before we left California, she spent weeks matching up just the right Nutcrackers with just the right friends. She had a lot of Nutcrackers and a lot of friends.

We still have a couple of full boxes that come out every Christmas.

But about the masks.

I’m finally getting to the point of all this. We are moving to another home in San Miguel and there is just no place for the mask collection.

That’s Rose’s call. Not mine.

She doesn’t want them sitting in boxes for another decade. “They need to be out where people can see them,” she said the other day.

Rose wants to sell them. All of them. But she doesn’t want to be the one who sells them. That’s where I come in, I guess.

There are about 25 masks, many hand-carved from native wood. There’s one that has tiny teeth — real teeth! Another with real hair. There are two with empty eye sockets, but I swear the light plays games and their eyes follow me around. There is one devil mask from Mexico that has always given me the shivers.

On the whole, as a person who knows nothing about indigenous masks, I’ve long thought this group was pretty cool. Especially when they fill one wall. It is like a universal chorus, each singing in its own unique voice.

That’s how Rose would like to see them go — as a family. If someone in San Miguel is interested in an instant collection of amazing masks from around the world, you can have it all for $13,000 pesos — about $650.00 in U.S. dollars.

I’ll post images of the masks and the asking price of each. If you are interested, please contact me at robertj.hawkins2012@gmail.com