Despair to delight: lost Rodin 'copy' sells for $1m

A small marble sculpture thought to be a copy of the French artist Auguste Rodin's work has turned out to be the real thing, selling for almost $1m at an auction in France on Monday.

The sculpture, called "Despair", a figure of a woman hugging her knees and holding one foot, is a work by the famed sculptor from 1892 that had disappeared after being sold at an auction in 1906.

For the owners, "Despair" turned to delight when the piece they believed to be a Rodin copy was confirmed as authentic by the Comite Rodin after a six-week probe.

French auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac described it as an "extremely rare" find and the work was put up for auction and eventually sold for €860,000 (£725,000; $982,000).