The bronze miniature of French sculptor Auguste Rodin’s most famous sculpture, ”The Thinker,” which was recovered from the debris of the World Trade Towers, has disappeared, officials said on Monday.
Fire Department representative Frank Gribbon and a representative for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that an internal investigation is underway to find the sculpture, owned by the Cantor-Fitzgerald brokerage house, which formerly occupied the 105th floor of the twin towers.
The 71-centimeter piece was recovered by a fire fighter during rescue work at ground zero near the end of December, but later disappeared under circumstances that are less than clear.
”This matter is under investigation by the Department of Investigations, and we are cooperating with it,” said Gribbon, referring to a city agency.
Several other Rodin works from the Cantor-Fitzgerald collection were recovered during the removal and sorting of the more than one million tons of rubble from the World Trade Center site.
A head of ”The Bourgois de Calais” was also sent to the FBI on March 11 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, owner of the site, said representative Greg Travor.
Several other pieces are currently stored in a container in Fresh Kills, a site on Staten Island where the twin towers debris is sorted.
Gerald Cantor, one of the founders of Cantor-Fitzgerald, had assembled one of the most important private collections of Rodin works over the years, some of which were on display in the entrance to the corporate offices, which used the sculptures for its logotypes and advertising brochures. – Sapa-AFP