Stolen Nikola Tesla bust surfaces in online auction after 10 years

CLEVELAND — Lou Rebrovic typed his last name into Google last weekend hoping to find some longlost relatives to connect with now that he is retired.

Instead, he may have made a break in a mystery that has baffled his family and thousands of Clevelanders for nearly a decade: Who stole Nikola Tesla’s head?

Or, more precisely: Who stole a bronze bust of Tesla that disappeared from its pedestal in the Cleveland’s Serbian Cultural Garden in 2014?

Rebrovic said he was shocked when he saw one of the first results the search engine spat out: a listing on Liveauctioneers.com, a popular auctioneering website that allows galleries and private individuals to list works of art for online auction.

“Bronze Bust of Male Figure Signed M.L. REBROVIC,” the listing, from Premier Auction Galleries, was titled.

When he saw the picture, Rebrovic instantly recognized it as the famed Serbian-american inventor whom his father, Matthew Louis Rebrovic, sculpted and gifted to the garden for its 2008 dedication.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s dad’s statue,’” Rebrovic recalled in a phone interview Monday.

Rebrovic identified the bust as his father’s based on the initials carved into the bust’s back left shoulder. He also said the sculpture that disappeared from the Serbian

Cultural Garden was the only bust of Tesla that his father had cast into bronze.

Rebrovic said he and his wife spent the last few days trying to get in touch with someone from Liveauctions. com and from the gallery that listed the bust for auction, Premiere Art Gallery in Chesterland, to ask about it. They have received no response.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer also has reached out to both entities, as well as a Cleveland police spokesman for an update on the investigation.

Alex Machaskee, the former Plain Dealer publisher who is a founder and president of the Serbian Cultural Garden, said that the elder Rebrovic was his friend and that the Tesla bust was one of the first ones given to the group before the garden opened in 2008.

“I’m happy that it’s turned up and not rotting away somewhere,” Machaskee said.

Machaskee’s son discovered that the bust was missing in August 2014, when he showed up to do some routine maintenance in the garden. He reported it to the police.

When the bust remained missing, the group paid for a replacement statue of Tesla that has sat on the pedestal since 2017.

Premier Auction Galleries, which is located in a strip mall in Chesterland, bills itself on its website as an expert in liquidating estates. A Florida couple sued the gallery in 2020 on accusations that its owner, Jesse Matthews, sold items below market value and without giving the couple their share of the money. The case settled out of court and was dismissed in 2022.

Matthew Rebrovic, a chemist by trade and artist by hobby, had a healthy obsession with Tesla and made several statues of him, including one that is on display at a university in Belgrade.

The elder Rebrovic died in July 2014 — less than one month before his statue disappeared. He was 92.

“My sister and I always joked that dad must have taken it with him,” Lou Rebrovic said.

Tesla famously died poor and in obscurity as his work never received much recognition during his lifetime.

It was only fitting that the listing of the sculpture did not identify it as a bust of Tesla.

“Bronze bust of male gentleman,” the description read.

The item had a single bid for $50 as of Monday afternoon.

When asked what he wanted to see done with the bust if it is recovered, Lou Rebrovic said he hoped to see it continued to be displayed for the public. He said his father wanted to spark curiosity and inspiration in those who may not know Tesla’s story.

“I have lots of things of his,” Rebrovic said of his father’s artworks. “The idea that his statue would be in a nice place is comforting.”