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July 11, 2020 - Droog Magazine periodical for investigative journalism

The Hitler Forgery Industry

to Hitler Forgery Industry main page - to Droog Magazine

1960 | Auctions | Certificates of Authenticity

The strange business of selling fakes, forgeries and other concoctions attributed to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and other Nazi criminals.

On May 4, 1960 the first known post war auctioning of alleged Hitler art works took place in London, at Sotheby's.

Two watercolors attributed to Hitler, titled 'Parliament and Ringstrasse' and 'Karlskirche') and were bought by the bookstore owner Harold Mortlake for Henry Frederick Thynne (1905-1992), the 6th Marquess of Bath, for 600 pound sterling.

The works originated from Mrs. Monica Fischer from Austria.

600 Pound sterling in 1960 was the equivalent of ca. 6300 guilders/7100 D-mark; anno 2019 this would be, after inflation correction, about 18,900 euro.

In press reports about this auction it was mentioned that Hitler had most of his paintings destroyed and that only 50 works had survived the ward - a concoction launched in 1959 by the Austrian Hitleriana swindler dr. Johannes von Müllern-Schönhausen.

One of the two alleged Hitlers sold in 1960. This seems to be the same as Price 233, 'Karlskirche nach Gewitterregen'. Image from Der Spiegel, 1960. The other one is very likely to be Price 246.

Sources

A.A.P. - Reuter. Hitler's sketches for sale. The Canberra Times, Canberra (Australia), 28-04-1960.
NN. Doeken van Hitler op Londense veiling. Leeuwarder Courant, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, 28-04-1960.
[Sale room correspondent] Protest at sale of Hitler drawings. The Times, London, 05-05-1960.
NN. Aquarellen van Hitler op een veiling. De Volkskrant, Amsterdam, 07-05-1960.
NN. Hitler's aquarellen brachten f 6000 op. Verkoop ging onder protest. De Telegraaf, Amsterdam, 07-05-1960.
NN. Frühe Hitlers. Der Spiegel, Hamburg, 01-06-1960.
Robert Harris. Selling Hitler. The story of the Hitler diaries. Faber & Faber, London, 1986. Reprint Arrow Books, London, 2009, page 113.
Hugo Vickers. Obituary: The Marquess of Bath. Independent, London, 01-07-1992.

Calculation inflation correction. Waarde van de gulden/euro. [Value of the guilder/euro]. International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam, 06-01-2020.