- Laura Young told Insider she found a $35
Roman bust at a Goodwill in Austin, Texas, in 2018. - Young thought it was a replica, she said, but it turned out to be a 2,000-year-old
artifact .
Laura Young loves thrifting for hidden treasures that she can sell.
But there's one acquisition that's been sitting in her home for years that she can't put a price on: a 2,000-year-old Roman bust she picked up at a Goodwill store in Austin, Texas, for a mere $35.
Young, who told Insider she has been an antiques dealer for almost a decade, said she learned that the artifact once belonged to a Bavarian king, and likely made its way to the US after being stolen during
Speaking with Insider, Young said she saw the item under a table at her local Goodwill in 2018 and decided to buy it because it was solid marble. She took it home as a decorative piece to display on her entryway table, she said.
"Once I got him outside and really looked at him, he looked Roman, and he looked ancient, but he could have been an antique replica," she said of the bust.
Young said she emailed two auction houses, Bonhams and Sotheby's, to see if they could give her any additional details about the piece.
Young said Bonhams confirmed that the bust was indeed Roman and probably around 2,000 years old, while Sotheby's said they had tracked down photos of the bust in a German database and told Young she needed to contact the German government to see how the bust might have ended up in a Texas Goodwill. (Representatives for Bonhams and Sotheby's did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.)
Through her research, Young said she was able to confirm that the head belonged to King Ludwig I of Bavaria, whose antique collection is owned by Germany. According to Young, Sotheby's told her the Roman bust was that of Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, also called Drusus the Elder, a Roman politician and military commander.
Young's attorney Leila A. Amineddoleh, told The New York Times that Ludwig I acquired the bust sometime before 1833 and displayed the piece in the Pompejanum, the king's replica of a Roman villa in Pompeii, in the town of Aschaffenburg.
Amineddoleh told The Times that following bombings in 1944 and 1945, which caused damage to the Pompejanum, some items from the property were missing. The attorney added that an American soldier had probably stolen or traded the bust.
"It was really exciting to figure out the mystery, even though at that point I knew I couldn't keep him or sell him," Young told Insider. "It was absurd. It was surreal. It was ridiculous."
After having the bust in her home for four years, Young said she made a deal to return the bust to Germany.
While plans are in motion to send the historical item back, Young said she wanted to show it off a bit more first. She worked with the classic and art-history department at the University of Texas, Austin, to coordinate restoring and loaning the head to the San Antonio Museum of Art, where it is on display.
A representative for the German government and the Bavarian Administration of Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes told Insider it's grateful the museum is helping with the ancient bust's return.
"Approximately 80 years since its disappearance, the bust will be brought back to Bavaria once the current exhibition in Texas finishes. The antique portrait shall be presented at its original location at the Pompejanum in Aschaffenburg," the representative said.
The representative added that the bust will remain at the San Antonio Museum of
"It feels good to do the right thing. I'm glad I got to be a part of his history, and I'm glad I'm the one who found him," Young said.
While she isn't going to get back the money she spent on the bust, Young told Insider that the whole experience for her was worth more than the $35 she paid for the item. According to The Times, Young will get a "small finder's fee" when she ships the bust back to Germany, but her attorney wouldn't disclose the amount.
"I got to enjoy this extremely rare, insane artifact in my house for years, so I do think I definitely got my money's worth," she told Insider.
Representatives for the San Antonio Museum of Art and Young's attorney did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.