Antique Marble Bust Found in Texas Thrift Shop Turns out to 2,000-Year-old Roman Relic
A thrift store find from 2018 has created quite a stir for one Texas woman after discovering that the marble bust is 2,000 years old.
When Laura Young bought the sculpture at an Austin Goodwill in 2018, her thoughts were that it was "clearly antique - clearly old," she told Matt Largely with KUT 90.5 radio.
Young, who is an antique dealer, researched the piece and discovered that it was a portrait bust of Drusus Germanicus. An auction house in London used a 100-year-old catalog of a German art museum to confirm her findings.
It is unclear how the ancient relic arrived in the U.S., however, Young was concerned about the possibility that it had been stolen.
"At that point, I realized I was probably going to need some help," Young said. "I was probably going to need an attorney."
During the spring of 1945, a battle was fought in Aschaffenburg and a local museum was bombed. Stephennie Mulder, an art history professor at UT Austin, told KUT that many of the museum's objects were either destroyed or looted. It was likely the bust suffered a similar fate.
While the legal matters were dealt with, the bust was kept safe in Young's home.
"It was on a small credenza close to the entryway of our house, facing the TV. So you could see his reflection in the TV when you're watching TV," she told KUT. "Every time you walk into the kitchen, you pass the head. Every time you walk into the house, he greets you. He's there. He was a constant presence."
She even gave it a name - Dennis Reynolds, from the TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
"He was attractive, he was cold, he was aloof. I couldn't really have him. He was difficult," Young said. "So, yeah, my nickname for him was Dennis."
The decision was made to return the bust to Germany next year. It will be part of a one-year exhibition with other artifacts in a Roman antique collection at the San Antonio Museum of Art until next summer.
"It hurt a little bit. It was bittersweet," Young pointed out. "Like, it's nice that there's a resolution to it and that it's working out for the best. It'll be a little bittersweet to see him in the museum, but he needs to go home. He wasn't supposed to be here."
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