It’s gorgeous George

LOST AND FOUND: ‘George’ is back with his owner after he mysteriously turned up at Murrays Bay Beach.

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The case of an abandoned flame-haired stone statue has been solved.

Torbay resident Bronwyn Gee is delighted to be reunited with 'George' after the North Shore Times reported its mysterious appearance at Murrays Bay Beach.

"I can't wait to see him," she says.

"He got stolen off my property. I was in the process of moving so I didn't notice for a few weeks."

She says she acquired him from an inorganic waste collection on Carlisle Rd.

The previous owner was Auckland University associate professor Jason Ingham.

He says he put the distinctive sculpture out for collection when he moved house.

"He was snapped up in about five minutes."

He says the sculpture, which was named Oscar, was a prize at a conference in Wellington and had to be couriered to his Browns Bay home.

"Perhaps he was supposed to live inside but we kept him on the deck and he started looking a tad tatty after a decade, but in particular his head snapped when we moved him."

But his new owner didn't mind.

"I went past him in the work wagon and I thought: 'I want that'," she says.

With a bit of help, she loaded George on to her truck and after a week got five men together to place him at the front of her house.

"I had him at the front section because I thought no one's going to nick him."

- © Fairfax NZ News