Woman Buys A 2,000-Year-Old Roman Bust At Goodwill For $34.99

We love stories about thrift store finds because they are so relatable. It’s the sort of thing that could happen to any one of us, at any time.

This is the story of a Texas woman who came across one of the most incredible finds that we have ever seen. When she came across this item at her local Goodwill, she knew that she had to have it.

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According to CNN, Laura Young was making her way through a Goodwill in the Dallas region when the item caught her eye. How could she have possibly turned this down?

The 52-pound marble bust would be a perfect art piece for her home, so she purchased it. “I was just looking for anything that looked interesting,” she said to CNN. It’s the type of thing you look at and know that you absolutely must-have. We certainly cannot blame her.

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“It was a bargain at $35, there was no reason not to buy it,” Laura continued. Once the piece was taken home, she decided to take a closer look. It was time to find out whether the piece had any history. As fate would have it, Sotheby’s Auction House confirmed the piece was from the ancient Roman period and is estimated to be at least 2,000 years old.

Thanks to the work of a specialist, old photos of the bust were tracked down. Photos from the 1930s were clearly visible on a database, placing the head at Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, Germany during this time period. What a fantastic find! This bust is believed to be of Pompey the Great’s son (106–48 BC). He once did battle with the one and only Julius Caesar.

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At the moment, the San Antonio Museum of Art is providing the statue with a home. According to a press release, the museum believes the bust was stolen from Germany by a U.S. soldier and eventually made its way to the donation bin in Texas.

Thankfully, the bust will be returned to its rightful home in Germany in 2023.