SRS made a good point above (12 Apr 13 - 04:52 PM), and the NPR she article posted earlier is worth reading. These articles aren't "ceremonial masks", regardless of what the museum catalog said. They are katsinam, more popularly called katsinas - which is the name of the Hopi religion itself. Similar, but not identical, figures are sold in the tourist trade, and the Navaho make them as well (a discussion of the relationship between the Navaho and the Hopi can be left for another day). For that matter, I can go into a few local shops and find ones with 'Made in China' printed on the bottom.

I think it would have been appropriate to delay the sale to allow time for a Hopi expert to get there and weed out the sacred figures from the dreck.