Statue Sold for 40,000 Won... A 2,000-Year-Old 'Ancient Roma Artifact'

Antique Dealer Reveals Identity... Agrees to Return Items After Receiving Only a Courtesy Fee

Antique dealer Laura Young posing with antiques. Photo by Laura Young.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Woo-seok] An antique sculpture sold for 40,000 won in the United States has been revealed to be an ancient Roman artifact, attracting attention.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 6th (local time) that a marble bust sold for $34.99 (about 44,000 won) four years ago in Texas was identified as a Roman-era artifact and will be returned to Germany.

The identity of the bust was discovered by antique dealer Laura Young. In 2018, Young visited a donation goods store, Goodwill, where she found the bust. At the time, the bust had a price tag of $34.99.

Young compared the antique with Roman busts through internet searches and decided to purchase it, suspecting it might be a genuine artifact.

She then contacted auction houses Bonhams and Sotheby's to verify the sculpture's identity, and it was revealed that the bust was an ancient Roman artifact estimated to be from the late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD, and was part of the 19th-century Bavarian royal collection in Germany.

The antique is believed to be modeled after either the son of Pompey, who was defeated by Julius Caesar during the Roman civil war, or a Roman military commander who occupied the Germanic region.

According to follow-up research by the Bavarian state government, King Ludwig I of the Kingdom of Bavaria displayed this artifact around 1883 in the Pompejanum courtyard, a Roman-style villa. However, during World War II, the site was damaged by Allied bombing of Germany, resulting in the loss of some artifacts.

The NYT stated that the Pompejanum was occupied by U.S. forces after the Allied bombing, and it is highly likely that a U.S. soldier brought the bust from Germany to the United States.

The Bavarian state government has never relinquished ownership of the bust and requested its return, to which Young agreed.

Young decided to receive only a token commission as a reward for discovering the artifact. She said, "Art theft and looting during war are crimes, so I cannot participate in such acts," adding, "I cannot keep or sell the bust."

The San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas, where the artifact is currently stored, plans to exhibit it until May next year before returning it to Germany.