A San Francisco man says a routine landscaping project led to an unusual discovery in his yard: a 150-pound stone sculpture buried beneath the grass, according to UPI Odd News.
Greg Gatwood told KTVU-TV that he first thought he had uncovered a rectangular piece of concrete while doing grading work in the Russian Hill neighborhood. After digging it out and turning it over, he found an intricately carved face on the stone slab.
Gatwood’s partner, artist Judy Gittelsohn, said she has spoken with other artists and began to wonder whether the piece could be linked to Ralph Stackpole, a well-known San Francisco artist who died in 1973. Stackpole’s work includes a statue outside San Francisco’s old Stock Exchange, and he also taught at the California School of Fine Arts.
Bruce Marwick of the Sacramento Art Deco Society told the San Francisco Chronicle that it would be difficult to confirm the sculpture’s origins without a signature or other historical documentation. Gittelsohn says she is still trying to solve the mystery, and for now the sculpture will serve as the centerpiece of the couple’s newly renovated garden.
