A 2,000-year-old bust of an ancient Roman general was found by an antique dealer in Texas, UNITED States, hidden under a table in a thrift store for only $34.99 (262 yuan).
Antiques dealer Laura Young told Art that in 2018, she found the bust on the floor of a charity in Austin, Texas, while she was trying to pick up the leak.
To thank her for generously buying the "big trash," the charity's employees even helped her carry the bust to her car. Ms. Yang said the bust was tied to the back seat by a seat belt.
She said the bust "looked dirty", but turned out to be more than 2,000 years old and is believed to be a statue of Roman General Drus German, brought back to the United States after being ransacked by a U.S. soldier during World War II.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Yang said she was trying to get the information when sotheby's in London sold the ancient bust. Sotheby's suggested that the bust was illegal in the United States because of the theft involved.
An American antique second-hand shop
A Sotheby's antiquities expert said the bust of Germania dates back to the 1st century AD, and it was the adopted son of the Roman emperor Tiberius and the father of the Roman emperor Caligula, who was exhibited in a museum in Aschaffenburg, Germany, before World War II.
Known as the Pompeii Museum, the museum was built by Bavarian King Ludwig in the 1840s to house antiquities and other objects, but during World War II, Aschaffenburg was heavily bombed.
Bombed-out Pompeii Museum
Stephen Mudd, a professor of art history at the University of Austin, said in an interview: "So unfortunately, this painting may have been looted by an American soldier himself, or it could have been purchased from a marauder."
Ms. Yang told the media she knew she would not be able to keep a looted artifact, so she contacted New York lawyer Lyra Armindol to arrange for the bust to be transported back to Germany. In Germany, the bust is thought to have been lost or damaged.
"I advise Laura not to sell it, either publicly or privately, that is, through the black market." Ms. Armindall said. "If she tries to do so, she will face costly lawsuits or criminal penalties."
The bust of German nix will be on display at the Museum of Modern Art of San Antonio for a year before returning to Germany in 2023 to be taken over by bavaria's state-owned Palace, Gardens and Lakes Authority.
The Texas Museum said in a press release that it might then be on display at the Pompeii Museum, with a plaque mentioning Ms. Yang's name.
Bernd Schreiber, chairman of the Bavarian State Palace, Gardens and Lakes Authority, said in a statement: "We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we believe has been lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful place."