Missing: Lunch Bunch Worker

Artist Sergio Furnari's life-size sculpture based on a photograph of construction workers during Rockefeler Center's construction has been a familiar site all over the city. But someone had the gall to steal the 100-pound worker on the right. Furnari told the Post, "People loved that guy the most, because he was holding a bottle. He's probably sitting in the [thief's] living room having a drink."

Furnari says he noticed the sculpture was missing from his truck (parked in Long Island City) Wednesday afternoon, and even though he could recast the worker, it wouldn't be the same. The statue definitely seems like an awkward thing to steal - we'd guess at least two people were involved. Furnari says he'll offer a reward for the statue's return and addded, "I'm an immigrant glorifying our immigrants. That piece belongs to the American people."

The original photograph, Lunchtime Atop a Skyscraper was taken by Charles C. Ebbets.

Update: It seems that Furnari has taken the Lunch Bunch - sans the guy on the right - out to SoHo today. We wonder if the police dusted for fingerprints.

Top photograph of the complete Lunch Bunch by Lizzy Vegas on Flickr, lower photograph of incomplete Lunch Bunch by Tien Mao; Harris Graber saw the Lunch Bunch in Astoria late last year