"Neptune's Daughter," a bronze sculpture that stood prominently in the Garden of Enchantment to the right of the de Young Museum until 2011, was vandalized that year and quietly removed from the garden without any press attention. The four-foot statue of a young girl atop a sea horse, created by artist Melvin Earl Cummings in 1926, was on prominent display at the museum for nearly 90 years before unidentified vandals pried off one of its arms and disappeared with it. And now, thanks to some Good Samaritans and the good will of the insurers, the arm has been restored and Neptune's Daughter will be rededicated next month.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, the museum had insured the sculpture with Lloyd's of London, who paid the museum just under six figures for it after a search of Golden Gate Park three years ago turned up no trace of the missing bronze arm. Per the agreement, as with many such agreements insuring art, Lloyd's was to take possession of the 2,000-pound sculpture, which was to be ferried to London where it might have been displayed somewhere, armless.

But then in 2012, some anonymous park volunteers discovered the arm "in bushes between two park-area boulevards," and returned it to the museum. This led to some awkwardness with Lloyd's, which still technically owned it. But then a British art guy, Sir Mark Bowen, who loved San Francisco, passed away, and some friends were able to persuade Lloyd's to donate the sculpture back to the de Young in his honor. So, the piece will be rededicated on Sir Mark's birthday, October 17, and restored to its proper place in the Garden of Enchantment.

Here ends your happy news for this Monday.

[WSJ]