This Nov. 22, 2013, file photo released by Heritage Auctions shows Anna Hyatt Huntington's bronze statue The Torch Bearers, in Bridgeport, Conn.BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - The Discovery Museum and Planetarium in Bridgeport has sold a massive bronze statue for $300,000 to finance a major upgrade to its science education program for schoolchildren.
Board Chairman Joe D'Avanzo said the 15-foot sculpture, "Torch Bearers," was sold to an unidentified Houston, Texas, buyer on Friday. The statue was to sell for at least $325,000 but was sold in a settlement because the purchase price fell short.
The museum is raising money to outfit and program a small satellite attached to a NASA rocket beaming back data on space dust. The material will be analyzed by students in high-school and younger at the museum's Challenger Learning Center.
D'Avanzo said that because the museum can expand its science education officials are not "totally disappointed" the statue did not sell at a higher price.