Bust used to block doors costs 80 billion VND

(CLO) Recently, Sotheby's auction house (USA) is about to auction an 18th century marble bust that was once used to block doors for a price that could reach up to 3.2 million USD (equivalent to about 80 billion VND).

According to CNN, this marble statue, which was bought for $6 (about 150,000 VND) and used as a doorstop, could be sold for $3 million at Sotheby's upcoming auction after a Scottish court gave the green light to sell the sculpture.

It has taken years to decide the fate of this Bouchardon bust, created by the early 18th century French sculptor Edmé Bouchardon and modeled after politician John Gordon.

The bust of Bouchardon was used as a doorstop in Scotland in the 1990s. Photo: Sotheby's

The local authority that owns the statue received court approval in Scotland to sell the work last week.

The Bouchardon bust survived a 19th-century castle fire but was never displayed and was thought to have been lost since 1930. In 1998, it was discovered being used as a doorstop for a warehouse in an industrial area.

In a report in May, a foreign collector contacted Sotheby’s offering $3.2 million to buy the piece. He also offered to pay for a museum-quality replica of the statue that could be displayed locally.

Officials said the Bouchardon bust had never been exhibited locally because of its high value. In fact, the work had been loaned to the Louvre in Paris in 2016 and to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles a year later.

In 2018, a rock that had been used as a doorstop at Central Michigan University for three decades was identified as a meteorite fragment and sold for $75,000.

PV

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/buc-tuong-ban-than-dung-de-chan-cua-gay-bat-ngo-khi-co-gia-gan-80-ty-dong-post321239.html