LA library offering $10,000 reward for information on sculpture's missing pieces

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Central Library is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to three missing sections of a long-lost sculpture, the "Well of Scribes."

One piece of the sculpture was recovered from Arizona late last year. An article published in Alta Magazine ignited the search for the missing artwork. Now, the Los Angeles Public Library in partnership with Alta Magazine, is seeking the public's help to recover the other two missing pieces. While there is speculation that the sculpture could have been melted down due to the value of its bronze, the Los Angeles Central Library is determined to campaign for the historic artifact's recovery.

The bronze fountain sat in front of the Los Angeles Central Library from 1926, then went missing in 1969 when the library's west lawn was razed to make room for a parking lot.

The well is a nod to the library's theme, the light of learning, which honors history's greatest writers. The recovered piece depicts six scribes, from the Americas and Europe. The missing pieces complete the sculpture and depict Eastern scribes and a Pegasus.


Anyone with information on the missing sculpture is asked to contact Alta magazine at tips@altaonline.com.