'Serious buyer' for Highland Council's £3.1m Sir John Gordon bust

Highland Council says it has accepted a "serious offer" for a valuable 18th Century marble bust of Highland landowner Sir John Gordon. The local authority, which looks after the sculpture, has proposed selling it to raise funds for the community of Invergordon, a town named after the Gordon family. Auctioneers have recommended selling it for £3.1m but the council has not disclosed how much they have been offered. Invergordon Naval Museum and Heritage Centre has told BBC Scotland News that it is behind the bid. Invergordon Town Council bought the sculpture for £5 in 1930, but it was later placed in storage at an industrial estate and its value was not widely appreciated until recent years. Highland Council confirmed it had received a serious offer, but that due to a confidentiality agreement it could not name the prospective buyer. It said the buyer had five months to raise the necessary funds. The son of a banker, Sir John Gordon's family owned large areas of land in Sutherland and Ross-shire and established the town of Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth. Gordon was a young man travelling through continental Europe when he met the renowned artist Edmé Bouchardon in Rome in 1728 and