Jim Morrison's bust never deserved what it got. Maybe fans thought it would be cool and awesome and things like that if they decorated the icon's Paris grave with graffiti. That is how it was after the bust was placed over Morrison's remains, but then one day, the bust was gone.
37 years ago, the statue was stolen. One might assume that after four decades, it might never be seen again. If one assumed that, we would be wrong. According to Parisian police, during an investigation into another fraud investigation, they discovered the marble shoulders and head of Morrison.
The nose was gone, but it had been for decades. The garffiti remained. The bust no longer looks much like the Doors' singer, but after what fans did to it when it was still on the gravesite, including chiseling pieces of the bust off for their own keeping, Morrison wasn't exactly Morrison 37 years ago.
Doors fans rejoice as Jim Morrison's bust has been recovered
The story of the marble bust will probably only increase the price, assuming it is sold. Placing back at the gravesite as it was would seemingly not be smart. It was easily stolen once before and would be again. Plus, the general public did not respect it when it was at the Père-Lachaise cemetery.
Paris police are not giving many details about where the bust was found or who might have stolen it. They might not know that at this point anyway. The point was not to find Morrison, but to find something else. Learning about the Doors was simply a bonus. Or, um...finding the bust of Jim was gravy on a bad tasting cake.
The Morrison bust was created by Croatian artist Mladen Mikulin and was placed at the gravesite in 1981. This was 10 years after Morrison's death. Seven years later, someone took the bust. How could someone not notice it happening is anyone's guess. Maybe we were all in on the scheme.
Perhaps the bust should go somewhere safer. It might make for a wonderful artifact to have at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. No one could paint on it then, but being untouchable was never Morrison's style.