A woman walked into a Goodwill store in Austin, Texas, in 2018, and bought herself a bust which she found resting on the floor, under a table. Turns out, the item she purchased was actually an ancient Roman relic.

The sculpture is said to be from the late first century B.C. or early first century A.D., which had been part of a Bavarian king’s art collection from the 19th century until it was looted during World War II, the New York Times reported.

How the bust got to Texas remains a mystery.

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However, it is believed that the bust was likely taken by a US soldier after the Bavarian king’s villa in Germany was bombed by Allied forces.

The sculpture was put on display this week at the San Antonio Museum of Art. It was seated next to signage acknowledging Young’s role as to how it made the 2,000-year journey from ancient Rome to the Goodwill Boutique on Far West Boulevard.

It has been reported that the item will be returned to the Bavarian government under an agreement with Young.

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Young, who is a dealer of antique and vintage goods, first saw the bust, she knew it was probably valuable.

“I got it outside in the light,” she said. “He had chips to the base. He had clear repairs. He looks old. I’ve been to museums. I’ve seen Roman portrait heads before.”

She did a Google image search for “Roman bust” and realized, “They look a lot like my guy.”

After making the purchase, Young contacted two auction houses, Bonhams and Sotheby’s, both of which confirmed that the relic was indeed from ancient Rome.

Young was on vacation, celebrating her 40th birthday, when she got the email from Bonhams. She wanted to return home immediately.

“He was at my house, alone,” she said.

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According to Young’s attorney, Leila A. Amineddoleh, the relic was had been acquired by Ludwig I, a Bavarian king, who displayed it in the courtyard of the Pompejanum, his replica of a Roman villa in Pompeii, in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.

The Pompejanum was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in 1944 and 1945. While some items survived, others went missing, Amineddoleh said.

When Young found out where the bust truly belonged from, she decided not to keep it.

“Immediately, I was like, ‘OK, I cannot keep him and I also cannot sell him,’” Young said. “It was extremely bittersweet, to say the least. But I only have control over what I can control, and art theft, looting during a war, is a war crime. I can’t be a party to it.”

Later, Young struck an agreement to have the bust shipped back to Bavaria. In exchange, she will receive only a “small finder’s fee.” However, Amineddoleh declined to disclose the amount involved in the deal.

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“We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought was lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful location,” Bernd Schreiber, president of the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes, said in a statement released by the San Antonio Museum of Art.

The San Antonio Museum of Art will display the bust until May 2023, which was important to Young.

“He’s been hidden for 70 to 80 years. I think he deserves some attention,” she said. “And I think he deserves some attention in Texas.”

“It’s hard a little bit because this is probably going to be the coolest thing I ever find, and it’s over,” Young said. “But there’s always something else to find. If you’re an antiques dealer, there’s always something else.”