Dallas — After a heated bidding war, a Robert E. Lee statue removed from a Dallas park in 2017 as a result of a City Council vote has a new owner. A bidder known only as “LawDude” bought it for $1,435,000, reports CBS Dallas.
Another bidder, “MustangJerry,” who was the first to place a bid – of $450,000 — topped out at $1,432,500 after placing 20 bids.
The Lone Star Auctioneers Inc. website said online bidding for the bronze sculpture ended Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
The council voted earlier this year to sell the 1936 Alexander Phimister Proctor, “Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Soldier” sculpture at auction for no less than $450,000.
That enables the city to recoup the funds spent to take the statue down.
The decision to remove the statue proved very controversial, CBS Dallas reported.
Just hours after the City Council vote, a judge granted a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans a restraining order that blocked the removal.
But a judge dismissed the restraining order of Sons of Confederate Veterans member Hiram Patterson, saying he hadn’t proven that the removal of the monument violated free-speech rights or that the City of Dallas hadn’t provided due process for its removal.
*story by CBS News