Buddha figurines found in the American River are not artifacts, yet

The mysterious Buddha figurines found in the American River this summer have a more recent history after all.A Sierra College art professor on Friday said he made thousands of Buddha figurines this past summer in his garage, and dropped them in an area near the Iowa Hill Bridge Road bridge, where he cools off on hot summer days."I just put them there as keepsakes for locals and tourists to find," said Casey O'Connor, a Colfax-area resident.The figurines whipped up a storm of interest after federal agents visited Jim Bowers' Better than Naked T-Shirts and Gifts shop in Colfax on Feb. 22 and confiscated two dozen of them.Under federal and state laws, it is illegal to remove archaeological artifacts from public land.Bowers' figurines and the investigation were turned over the next day to California State Parks because the find was in an area under state jurisdiction, State Parks Ranger Donna Turner said Feb. 22. Bowers, 49, who believed the figurines were old, said he purchased them in January from George Herman Henry of Colfax for $300 cash and about $2,500 of quartz and gold.Henry, 57, on Feb. 23 said he found hundreds of Buddha heads in August while searching for gold in the American River.Henry, who is a janitor at Giovanni's Restaurant in Colfax, was arrested the next day on outstanding warrants for alleged illegal weapons possession and driving on a suspended license. He was released the same day on $9,500 bail, according to the Sheriff's Department.Alerted by friends of what was going on, O'Connor contacted Placer County Sheriff's Department on Thursday to clear up any misunderstanding. Placer County Sheriff's Lt. George Malim on Saturday confirmed that O'Connor contacted the Sheriff's Department.O'Connor, 43, said he has left figurines behind at friends' and various places in Southern California, San Francisco and Oregon.The artist, who still has a 5-gallon bucket full of the porcelain figurines in his garage, said he does not know what he will do with the Buddha heads and seashell figurines in his possession. "Another 100 years, they'll be artifacts, but not today," O'Connor said.Henry may not have been the first one to find O'Connor's figurines in the American River.Eric and Lisa Hickman of Weimar on March 1 said they saw hundreds of Buddha figurines while they snorkeled in the area last July."They were all over," Eric Hickman said. He and his wife did not think they were antiques and threw them back out in the water for a treasure hunt later."We really had a good time finding them," Lisa Hickman said last week.On Tuesday, Bowers said he has yet to hear any news from California State Parks. Jay Galloway, State Parks superintendent for the Auburn State Recreation Area in Auburn, on Tuesday said the Buddha figurines in State Parks' possession will "probably" be returned to Bowers. But he will leave that decision to Turner, the investigating ranger, he said. Turner, who was on vacation Tuesday, is scheduled to return to work later this week.Galloway said O'Connor could have been cited for littering."But we have no intention of doing that," he stressed, adding the artist meant well.