If there was ever a reason to visit a train station’s lost and found, Franco-Italian art collector Francesco Plateroti has one. When leaving a Paris-Geneva TGV train, on November 21, Plateroti forgot to bring an extremely valuable art piece along with him, the Local reports.
The piece in question is a 13th-century Chinese scroll called “Le banquet des immortels à la terrasse de Jade” (“The banquet of immortals on the terrace of Jade”), a piece created by Wang Zhenpeng. It’s estimated to be worth $1.25 million (€1 million) and dates back to the Yuan dynasty (1280-1329).
Plateroti reportedly got off the TGV train at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine — a town near the Swedish border and the second-lost stop on the train route — after presenting the work in Paris. He didn’t immediately realize his mistake, but by the time he did the train had already left for Geneva.
“I was crushed when I realized I didn’t have it with me,” Plateroti told The Local. “It was a massive shock.”
He told the station staff about his scroll, who contacted their colleagues in Geneva, but a search of the train turned up nothing. The Local says that all lost items end up in a central office in Berne, Switzerland, but so far there’s been no reports of anything turning up.
His attempts at getting it back so far gone the way he hoped. He placed an ad saying he would pay a reward for anyone who could bring the scroll back to him. So far he’s received many calls from people he claims are trying to take advantage of the situation — people saying they have the painting but won’t give it back until they receive the reward money.
Plateroti is staying positive for now, and on the bright side, his scroll can’t be legally sold because he still holds the work’s certificate of authenticity.
