Mystery surrounds the location of an 8m-high sculpture commissioned by the Dunedin College of Education nearly 40 years ago.
Sculptor Murray Thompson made two sculptures in 1976 when he was a student at the college, which has been incorporated into the university as the University of Otago College of Education.
Both works are now missing.
One of the works - an 8m fountain called the Tree of Life - was commissioned by the college for its centenary. The other, a smaller sculpture called the Tree of Knowledge, was donated by Mr Thompson.
''I was on a tree phase at that point,'' he said, laughing.
The college paid for materials to make the fountain, because it had commissioned the sculpture, while it asked Mr Thompson if he would give the smaller sculpture to put inside the college.
''I said it would be fine.''
Mr Thompson first noticed they were mssing about a decade ago, when he attended one of his children's highland dancing competitions at the college.
He inquired about them at the time, but nobody knew what had happened to them, he said.
''There was no sign of [the sculptures], and not much interest.''
Mr Thompson was ''disappointed'' the works were missing, particularly because they had been donated to commemorate the teachers college centenary celebration.
''There was a proper copper plaque ... It'd be nice to see them again. They're sort of like old friends.''
But he had ''moved on'', he said.
''Oh well, that's life.''
In recent months, Mr Thompson's former wife Linda Munro has made further inquiries, but to no avail.
In an email exchange Ms Munro provided to the Otago Daily Times, Associate Prof David Bell said ''it seems that Tree of Life has been lost - a very sad loss, in my own view''.
Prof Bell, who was the college's head of art, said neither of Mr Thompson's sculptures had appeared in the college's art inventory, because they had never been formally bought by the college.
Prof Bell speculated they might have been ''damaged, and subsequently removed'' during renovation at the college in the early 1990s.
The works were no longer at the college in 1997 when he began working there, he said.
In a further email to Ms Munro, college executive officer Shelley Morgan said the sculptures were not in storage anywhere on campus.
Mr Thompson knew of at least one other sculpture that had been donated during the centenary and had gone missing.
''[It was] a sculpture of a guy kneeling down, shackled to the ground, [made of] about a ton and a-half of concrete and steel,'' he said.
''Because [the college] didn't have to pay for [the sculptures], they didn't keep a check on [them], I guess.''
A university spokeswoman said while there were ''rigorous processes in place'' to keep track of university-owned artwork, the sculptures ''pre-dated'' the college's incorporation into the university.
''Unfortunately, there is no record of the sculptures ... Any information about the sculptures would be very much appreciated.''
