Arthur Brand Helps Two Collectors, French Police, an English Auction House and a French Museum [UPDATED]

A heart-warming story of the cautious collector doing pre-purchase due diligence, the famous art detective, a collector that repented of a good faith purchase, and the dealer that steps in to help out.  According to Paul Kirby ('Stolen Roman statue returned to France after 50 years' BBC News, Feb 2 2022)

Almost half a century after it was stolen, a Roman statue of the god Bacchus has been handed back to the French museum where it was displayed. The 1st Century bronze of Bacchus as a child was taken by thieves in December 1973, along with 5,000 Roman coins. Art detective Arthur Brand traced the statue to the museum when a client was offered it by an Austrian collector.[...] [Arthur Brand] described how he had been contacted by a client who wanted to know more about the statue after he was offered it by an Austrian collector, who had bought it legally and in good faith. There were no databases in 1973 but Mr Brand eventually found a reference to it in an archaeology magazine dating back to 1927, and French police then found their report from the time of the theft. "I contacted the collector. He didn't want to have a stolen piece in his collection so he wanted to give it back, but French law dictates that a small amount has to be paid for safekeeping." That small amount in relation to the statue's value is still a considerable sum of money. While half was paid by the local authority in Chatillon, the rest was provided by an auction house specialising in ancient art in the English port town of Harwich. "The piece belongs in the museum so it's only right people can get together and make that happen," said Aaron Hammond of Timeline Auctions.

Well, that's a bit odd, a seven-second Google search reveals that a seller of stock photos has one of this statue (same stains in the patina) labelled: Roman bronze of the infant Bacchus found at Chatillion-sur-Seine France, Photographer: CM Dixon, Collection: Heritage Image... Shooting date: 26/01/2011. Odd. Chatillion-sur-Seine is 18 km from the findspot but is the location of the museum from which the statue was stolen in 1973. You can get giclee prints of this photo too. Is this a photo of a copy of the statue on display in the place of the missing one? 

Update Feb 2 2022

Over on Twitter, detectophage orchidoclaste has found a publication dedicated to this statue, showing it in better condition than the one in the museum:

Et la référence idoine pour ce Bacchus: Héron de Villefosse Antoine. Bacchus enfant, statuette de bronze trouvée à Vertault (Côte-d'Or). In: Monuments et mémoires de la Fondation Eugène Piot, tome 3, fascicule 1, 1896. pp. 51-58. http://persee.fr/doc/piot_1148-6023_1896_num_3_1_1749

It transpires from this, that when dug up the infant Bacchus held a quatrefoil in his right hand - which seems to be the case with the copy displayed in the museum, but in the condition when it was offered by the Austrian collector, this had been removed in an extremely crude manner by one of its previous handlers. It is a shame that the Austrian collector did not know of this reference when they were the owner. They would not then have confused it with "Adonis"!

The missing element

Update Update Feb 3rd 2022

Interestingly, an article in French which we find linked to by Arthur Brand himself gives a different story (France 24, 'Une rare statue romaine rendue à la France 50 ans après son vol', 02/02/2022):

La statue a refait surface par pur hasard il y a deux ans lorsqu'un client autrichien contacte Arthur Brand, [...] Le client autrichien lui demande d'enquêter sur une statue d'un garçon qu'il a achetée légalement sur le marché de l'art. [...] Après des mois de recherche, une photo de la statue dans un magazine archéologique daté de 1927 révèle finalement un indice : la sculpture représente Bacchus enfant et appartenait à un musée français.[...] Choqué d'apprendre que la pièce avait été volée, le client autrichien demande alors à ce qu'elle soit rendue au musée. "En vertu de la loi française, il a reçu une petite somme - une infime part du prix de la statue, qui pourrait atteindre des millions d'euros – pour la +garde+" de l'objet, explique M. Brand. Deux collectionneurs d'art britanniques, Brett et Aaron Hammond, ont parrainé la moitié du montant, et la Ville de Châtillon-sur-Seine a payé l'autre moitié de la somme, non divulguée.

Confusing, isn't it? How many clients? The British guys are just collectors, or auctioneers?