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Rennes, France: The owners thought the sculpture perched for years on the corner of a piano was a Rodin copy.

After being declared as the real thing the small marble figure has now sold for $1.6 million at auction, organisers in France said today.

Described as an “extremely rare” find by auction organiser Aymeric Rouillac, the figure was in fact an 1892 work, “Despair” by Auguste Rodin, that had gone missing after being sold at auction in 1906.

The work was put on sale at the weekend at an opening price of 500,000 euros, but eventually sold for 860,000 euros ($1.6m), according to Rouillac.

The family had long believed the 28.5cm figure of a sitting woman holding one foot was a copy of the legendary sculptor’s work, said Rouillac.

After the owners approached Rouillac about another matter, he and his team spent months investigating the origin of the sculpture, including even looking into the family’s origins.

He went to the Comite Rodin in March and the body that is considered the leading authority on the French artist confirmed its authenticity six weeks later.

Rouillac said the committee found that “Despair” was sold at auction in 1906 and then disappeared from view. “So we have rediscovered it,” he told AFP.

-Agence France-Presse