LONDON — Art lovers looking for a way to mark U.S. Independence Day may want to consider a rare bust of George Washington being auctioned by Sotheby's in London.

But this is not a July 4 knickknack.

Experts believe it will fetch more than $490,000 when it is auctioned on July 9. Until then it will be on display at Sotheby's.

The bust of America's first president comes from the workshop of Jean-Antoine Houdon, a French sculptor who was commissioned by the U.S. Congress and the Virginia Legislature to produce a life-size sculpture of Washington.

Houdon traveled from France to Philadelphia in 1787 to make a series of studies of Washington, then produced a small series of sculptures when he returned to his Paris studio.

Sotheby's specialist Carolyn Miner called it a "superb rendition of George Washington."