A rare bronze horse's head, plundered by British and French troops from Beijing's old Summer palace, is coming home. Thursday, Stanley Ho bought the priceless treasure just as it was to go on the auction block in Hong Kong SAR. Later in the day the National Cultural Heritage Bureau of China confirmed Stanley Ho, has donated the priceless antique to the state. Earlier that day, a Hong Kong auction house announced that the horse head was acquired by Mr. Ho, at a price of 69.1 million Hong Kong dollars. The scheduled auction for the horse head was cancelled. The antique had belonged to a collector from Taiwan. He intended to offer the item at a public auction later this month. But Stanley Ho, a casino mogul in Macao, approached him and the two men struck a deal. He Haichao, official of National Cultural Heritage Bureau, said, "They reached an agreement on terms that the horse head be donated and returned home. The auction was cancelled. We hope it will set a precedent for the country's acquisition of important antiques." The statue is one of 12 bronze heads depicting the Chinese Zodiac. The figure once graced a water-clock fountain, at the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan Garden. During the Opium War in 1860, the fountain was destroyed by British and French invaders. The bronze sculptures were lost in the chaos. So far, the heads of the tiger, ox, monkey, and boar were returned to China in 2000 and 2003.