A Sculpture Purchased for $6 and Used as a Doorstop Is Actually a Masterpiece Worth Millions

Nearly a century ago, a Scottish town council purchased a bust created by the celebrated French sculptor Edmé Bouchardon for about $6. Over time, the importance of the 18th-century sculpture was forgotten and relegated to being used as a doorstop. Now, the piece is expected to sell for nearly $3.2 million.

Bouchardon was a French sculptor lauded for his neoclassical statues, many of which he created during his time as an artist in the court of the French King Louis XV. Neoclassicism is a style of art that began in the 1760s and drew inspiration from ancient Greece and Rome. Bouchardon made incredible art throughout his career, including the Fountain of the Four Seasons and Cupid Cutting His Bow From the Club of Hercules.

After his time working in the court of King Louis VX, he created a bust of John Gordon, an 18th-century local landowner who “was believed to be the founder of the town of Invergordon,” according to a statement from the Highland Council, of the region that includes Invergordon.

Gordon's family owned Scottish lands and met Bouchardon in Rome, where he created the marble sculpture in 1728, according to BBC News’ Steven McKenzie. Gordon's family held the bust at their castle in Invergordon for years before the town council purchased it at an auction in 1930. However, it seemed to have been misplaced until it was spotted holding a door open at a barn in the late 1990s.

Since its rediscovery, the Highland Council has held the piece, and there has been much debate over whether or not to sell it. Now, the council has agreed to sell the bust to an anonymous buyer who approached them via Sotheby's with an offer of about $3.2 million.

The proceeds will go to Invergordon, the town in northern Scotland that originally purchased it almost 100 years ago. “The community and visitors will be able to enjoy the replica bust and the history behind the original for years to come,” Councilor Lyndsey Johnston said in a statement to CNN.