NEW YORK CITY (TND) — It's a priceless Roman mosaic dated back to almost 2,000 years ago, but for the last 50 years, it was apparently being used as a coffee table in a New York City apartment.

Italian marble expert and author Dario Del Bufalo stumbled across the discovery, he explains in his interview with CBS's "60 Minutes".

In 2013, Del Bufalo was signing books in New York when he overheard a couple say they recognized one of the mosaics featured in his book, he recounts in the interview. The woman and man were talking about how the mosaic looked exactly like one the woman owned.

The woman turned out to be gallery owner Helen Fioratti, Del Bufalo says.

Fioratti told the New York Times in 2017 she purchased the table in the 1960s from an Italian noble family. She told the Times it was "an innocent purchase" at the time.

The artifact was shipped to America, where Fioratti and her husband used it as a coffee table. “It was our favorite thing and we had it for 45 years," she said.

Now, the mosaic sits on display at the Museum of the Roman Ships in Nemi. Reportedly, the table was stolen at some point before being sold to Fioatti. It was seized in 2017 and returned.

Del Bufalo tells 60 Minutes he "feels sorry" for taking the table away from the couple, but he also says he "couldn’t do anything different."

"Knowing that my museum in Nemi is missing the best part that went through the centuries, through the war, through a fire, and then through an Italian art dealer, and finally could go back to the museum... That’s the only thing I felt I should have done,” Del Bufalo said in the interview.

Del Bufalo does wish to make a copy of the table and give it to the Fioratti's, so they can keep it in their home, telling 60 Minutes doing so would make his "soul feel better".