Four years after buying a bust for $34.99 at a goodwill store in Austin, Texas, Laura Young said goodbye this week to a friend as the priceless 2,000-year-old Roman artifact headed home to Europe.
The statue, believed to be of military leader Sextus Pompey (c 67-35 BC), had been on display at the San Antonio Museum of Art following its temporary residence at Young’s home during the pandemic, where it served as decor and even sometimes, for fun, sported a mask.
Young, who has a history degree, says she suspected the bust was something special when she bought it at the Austin thrift store and immediately took it for authentication, where it was determined to be a marble statue dating from Julio-Claudian-era Rome.
The Texas antiques dealer also felt it necessary to engage lawyers to ensure her own and the statue’s protection, an exercise that disrupted her life and cost her considerable money out of pocket.
Through Young’s influence and guardianship, Pompey ended up at the San Antonio museum, where it was displayed for a year before its return.
Museum commentary accompanying the artifact titled “How did it get here?” explains that the earliest record of the portrait appeared in an 1833 inventory of King Ludwig I in the town of Aschaffenberg, Germany, where it was on display in a full-scale model of a house from Pompeii.
It added that the house was seriously damaged in World War II and the bust presumably looted by military personnel. It’s whereabouts remained unknown until found in 2018 by Young, who “notified the German government of the portrait’s surprising discovery and made arrangements to return it to its rightful owner.”
During an impromptu encounter with Travel Industry Today at the museum earlier this week, Young said she has visited the bust occasionally and wanted to be on hand one last time on Monday to say goodbye.
Young says she doesn’t regret finding it – or the money it cost her to do the right thing (and respect international law) by returning it – but added, “I just wish it wasn’t stolen.”
The story made national headlines around the US and resulted in a spike in sales at Goodwill stores.
Young added that she does regret that an “online ecosystem developed around him that made a lot of money for news sites that I don’t agree with.”
So, what did Young get out of it? An amazing story to tell for the rest of her life – and free membership to the museum.
And does she continue to shop at Goodwill?
“No.”