Friday 19 June 2015

Hitler's artworks go under the hammer in controversial auction

news24

Nuremburg - Fourteen watercolour paintings and drawings allegedly by a young Adolf Hitler are set to be auctioned in the German city of Nuremburg this weekend, the Weidler auction house said on Friday.
The works, which are set to bring in between $130 000 to $51 000 each and are dated between 1904 and 1922, include a watercolour of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and several still lifes.
Hitler's artistic endeavours are widely considered to be of limited merit, but their sale - though controversial - continues to fetch thousands of euros at auction houses each year.
In 2014, a Hitler watercolour depicting the town hall of Munich allegedly fetched €130 00 after the same auction house sold it to an anonymous buyer from the Middle East. Other interested parties were from Asia and the United States.
The works are allowed to be sold in Germany as long as there are no Nazi symbols or swastikas depicted on them. However, their sale is highly controversial as 80 per cent of the proceeds go to private sellers rather than a good cause.
The auction house, which said on Friday that any complaints about the planned auction should be addressed to the sellers, told Sueddeutsche newspaper several days ago that of the 20% commission it receives, a percentage will be given to charity.

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