Two dozen sacred items are being returned to three tribes in Arizona after they were put up for sale in a controversial auction in France.

The Annenberg Foundation purchased the items with the intent of returning them to the Hopi Tribe, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The non-profit paid $530,000 for the sacred property.

“Of course you’re going to be emotional, and of course it’s going to have an effect on your health, the welfare of your people,” Vernelda Grant, the director of the Historic Preservation and Archaeology Department for the San Carlos Apache Tribe, told the Associated Press. “It kills them, it killed us emotionally. Those items were taken care of until those times came. We were forced to hand them over so we could get what? A box of rations, a blanket?”

Some 21 items are going to the Hopis. Two are going to the San Carlos and one is going to White Mountain.

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