Woman finds 2,000-year-old Roman relic at thrift shop: "I was just looking for anything that looked interesting"
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When a woman discovered that a $50 marble bust from a Goodwill thrift store she purchased was actually a relic from ancient Rome, she realised she had gotten more than she paid for.
The bust, which weighed 52 pounds, was discovered in an Austin Goodwill in 2018 by Laura Young, who has been reselling antiques for 11 years.
"I was just looking for anything that looked interesting," said Young, adding: "It was a great deal at $50; there was no reason not to buy it."
Following the purchase of the bust, Young sought information from a number of auction houses and sculpture experts to learn more about the artwork.
A specialist used a digital database to track down the bust's origins and discovered photos from the 1930s that showed the head in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, Germany, where the bust was originally displayed.
It was eventually confirmed by the fine arts company Sotheby's that the bust was estimated to be approximately 2,000 years old and had originated in ancient Rome.
The bust was traced to Germany in the 19th century, as part of a Bavarian king’s art collection. Credit: AP.
Lynley McAlpine, a postdoctoral fellow at the San Antonio Museum of Art, believes that the bust most likely belonged to Roman military leader Sextus Pompey, who was a general in the Roman army.
Pompey's father was Pompey the Great, a political ally of Julius Caesar who later became an adversary.
The bust was once housed at Pompejanum, a replica of a Pompeii-style Roman villa built in the 1840s on the orders of King Ludwig I and dedicated to the memory of the monarch.
Pompejanum displayed the bust until the outbreak of World War II, when groundskeepers moved the sculpture and other relics to a storage facility as the villa came under attack from German forces.
For approximately the next 80 years, the bust's whereabouts were unknown – until Young discovered it at a Goodwill store.
Bernd Schreiber, president of the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes, said: "We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought was lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful location."
This might just be your sign to explore your local op-shops, folks! You never know, you might discover a piece of ancient history in your local Vinnies or Salvos as well…
