The 2,000-year-old bust found in an American thrift store will be sent back to Germany

Bees was taken to the United States without permission after World War II. Without knowing the story, a woman bought the item in 2018 for less than $ 35. In 2018, when buying a marble bust for less than $ 35 at a thrift store in Austin, Texas, a woman is unaware that she is buying, in fact, a historical item. The value of the piece, which weighed 25 kilograms, was only recently revealed when the woman contacted several auction houses with the intention of resaleing the price. The famous auction house Sotheby’s responded with surprising information: the bust belongs to the Roman period and is about 2,000 years old. An employee found photographs in a digital database of the work of the Pompeii in the Bavarian city of Askafenberg in the 1930s. By law, the bust still belongs to Germany and will soon return to the country. The bombshell, which was on display during World War II, was preserved with other artifacts after being badly damaged by the bombing. It is believed that American soldiers stationed in Germany then took the bust to the United States, where, many years later, it ended up in a thrift store in Austin. The Bavarian castle management told DW in an email that it was “very pleased to have rediscovered a piece of Bavarian history that was considered lost.” The bust is believed to represent Sextus Bombay, the son of Julius Caesar’s ally and military leader. The work will be on display at the San Antonio Museum of Art in the United States for a year, first being exhibited in 1850, before returning to Bombay, Germany. Pompeii is a replica of the Pompeii House built by the king. Ludwig I, 1840 to 1848, designed by architect Friedrich von Gardner. After World War II, the museum was restored in the 1960s. le (dw)

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