A French auction house withdrew a Pueblo shield from a contested sale of Native American artifacts Monday after protests from the United States.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Phil Frayne called it a "small victory in a larger battle" to repatriate tribal artifacts to their original homes. Frayne told The Associated Press that the U.S. government believes the 19th-century shield might have been taken illegally in the 1970s, and so it was withdrawn by Drouot just before the auction Monday.