Collector Leaves $1.3M Artwork on Train

And it does not show up in lost-and-found
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 1, 2014 3:29 PM CST
Collector Leaves $1.3M Artwork on Train
People prepare to board a TGV train in France.   (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

If you've ever accidentally left something behind on a train or plane, magnify that feeling by, oh, say a million or so to understand how art collector Francesco Plateroti is feeling. After he got off a train in Switzerland, Plateroti realized he didn't have his prized possession—a 13th-century Chinese scroll worth $1.3 million, reports the Telegraph. Plateroti notified authorities, and the train got searched at the very next stop, but, alas, there was no sign of The Banquet of Immortals on the Terrace of Jade by Wang Zhenpeng.

“I was crushed when I realized I didn’t have it with me,” Plateroti tells the Local. “It was a massive shock." The collector had been in Paris to display the scroll, and the stories don't make clear whether it's insured. But Plateroti at least still has the certificate of authenticity, which would make the piece harder to sell. "You have to be optimistic," he says. (Sometimes, good things do happen to absent-minded train travelers.)

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