I was wondering if they were going to be deliberately obtuse in the article…
…but no. As the article notes: the bust disappeared in 1944 Germany, and clearly it ended up in some GI’s possession. And since it finally ended up in a Goodwill, it’s probably safe to say that the guy who looted it never told his kids that it might be valuable. I’m going to assume that he took the story to his grave, in fact. It’s a better story that way.
:solemnly: Don’t loot Roman artifacts from Axis locations! Bad GI! Bad! No biscuit!
Moe Lane
PS: …Did anybody check the rest of the stuff at that Goodwill? You know. Just in case.
Makes a good seed for a campaign…
“We confirmed the bust, and based on the time it disappeared, we suspect the McGuffin may have been looted by the same GI. Go find it before Something Happens.”
Mew
It would have been sad, had he been busted for the bust.
I’m not against looting, so long as it’s done tastefully and discretely.
Torturing peasants about where they buried their coins is right out.
But an artifact taken from a defeated foe, or an item “appropriated” from a muckety muck who doubtless gained it in a fashion immoral?
What you do is, you go get the peasants, and you have them show you where the good stuff is (because the muckety-muck damn sure didn’t lug it himself). Then you divvy it up: the peasants get a fair share of the cash (because it can’t be traced), and you get the stuff that has to be fenced. And nobody knows nothing about nothing, see?
…Or so I suppose.