Rare cabinet found near pizzeria washroom

YORK, England, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The missing bottom half of an ornate 17th century wooden cabinet was spotted by the head of Sotheby's auctioneers outside a pizzeria washroom in York, England.

Mario Tavella told the Daily Telegraph it was a chance encounter at the Ask pizzeria when he spotted the intricately-carved piece.

"This was a console I have been looking for the last 20 years," he said. "It's arguably the most important piece of Roman baroque furniture that has ever appeared on the market."

Sotheby's has been holding the top half of the cabinet, which features hand-carved images of the pope blessing crowds in Rome's St. Peter's Square.

Now, the two pieces will be reunited and auctioned as a single piece in London on Dec. 4, the report said.

The building where the bottom was found is owned by the York Conservation Trust, which rents space to the pizzeria. It wasn't immediately clear how the two pieces came to be separated, but Tavella said it likely happened soon after World War II, the newspaper said.