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August 23,
2021, updated 23-08-2021. 12-09-2014: 1 fake Hitler in the USAa 24-11-2014: a presumably fake Hitler in Germany sold for €130,000. Exchange rates / value of money 2014 12-09-2014: 1 fake Hitler in the USA
The American auction house Rock
Island Auction sold a 'documented architectural
watercolor' attributed to Hitler, depicting a
castle, for $34,500. The work measuring 25.5 cm x 14 cm,
and signed 'A. Hitler '11' is said to originate
from the collection of Gertraud 'Traudl'
(Gertraud) Junge (1920-2002), a former secretary
to Hitler. The documents accompanying this
painting consisted of two documents and
photographs of Traudl Junge. One document is a typewritten letter
'from' Traudl Junge, claiming that her husband (SS
officer Hans Junge, killed in 1944) would have
received the work from Hitler's servant Heinz
Linge in the early 1940s. After a meeting with Dr.
August Priesack, the latter is said to have
authenticated the work. The letter is dated 19
April 1995. The other document is a Certificate
of Authenticity (CoA) by the notorious
authenticity swindler August Priesack, dated
23.8.1982. As the work is a plain fake (Hitler
made no landscapes), then the accompanying
documents must be of a fraudulent nature. To start
with the Priesack document: Priesack authenticated
everything, after being paid to do so. His CoAs
have no value at all.
Source To top of page. 24-11-2014: a
presumably fake Hitler in Germany
Auction house Weidler in Nuremberg sold
on November 24 2014 an alleged Hitler watercolor for
€130,000. Standesamt München, watercolor signed
"A. Hitler", 28 x 22 cm. Click to enlarge. It is known that Hitler made at least some watercolors which looked very similar to the one auctioned by Weidler. Two of these are depicted in full color in a 1984 book. So, was the 2014 work a copy of the reproductions published in 1984? Or was it really an authentic one? According to an invoice glued on the back of the work, two works titled “Altes Rathaus in Petersbergl” were sold in 1916 by the Munich art gallery Alois Baldauf, Schützenstraße 1, Munich, to a “Herr Wilhelm … [unreadable]” for 250 Reichsmark. This Herr Wilhelm would have been the grandfather from the sellers. In an interview published in January 2014, one of the sellers told that her grandparents, who had lived in Thüringen, had bought the work in 1916. Only in 1941 they allegedly realized it was made by the Führer. After the death of the grandparents the
work was inherited by an aunt. After she died, about
2004, it was inherited by four of her cousins.
According to the alleged granddaughter in 2014. Who didn´t know
anything about the second “Altes Rathaus”, that
according to the invoice, was also bought by Herr
Wilhelm. 
Click to enlarge. TAZ, January 2014: “The grandparents, on the other hand, have no doubts after Bormann's letter. They want to donate the painting to their hometown and thus acquire lifelong residential rights. But this does not happen: the couple dies after the war. When the aunt later flees to West Germany, she hides the painting behind another painting. She cuts off the letterhead of the Bormann correspondence so that no one would think that the family had anything to do with the Nazis. The officials at the German-German border do not find the hidden painting. In her new home, the aunt stows it away in the cupboard.” This rather incredible story must have happened somewhere between 1949 and 1989. In a time when alleged Hitler paintings were not very valuable. Why risk fleeing with a Hitler work? It doesn´t make sense. It also doesn’t make sense that four
separate cousins inherit one painting. Inheritances
simply don´t work that way. Alarm bells Moreover, many Hitler forgeries are accompanied by trumped-up paperwork. Documents like the ones attached to this watercolor function as alarm bells. As far as is known the 2014 Weidler has never been forensically researched. And therefore it must be regarded as a forgery, unless the authenticity is proven beyond any doubt. TAZ reported too, in January 2014: “ A few years ago, the Bavarian Main State Archives (Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv) was donated a number of alleged Hitler paintings. The authenticity check took weeks: several experts examined the style, content and brushstrokes. The State Criminal Police Office used ultrasound to search for hidden layers or signatures in the paintings. Nothing. There is much to suggest that they are originals, but not everything. "As long as no one can be one hundred percent sure, we have to assume that they are forgeries," says Sylvia Krauss, who manages the estates in the archive.” And so it is.
Erneut wird Hitler-Aquarell in Nürnberg
versteigert. Welt, Berlin, 05-11-2014. Sven Felix Kellerhoff. Ist angebotene Hitler-Aquarell eine
Fälschung? Wellt, Berlin, 06-11-2014. Adolf Hitler watercolour painting fetches
$185,000 at auction in Germany. ABC
Net, Australia, 22-11-2014. Ishaan
Tharoor. Hitler painted this watercolor, and someone
may pay $60,000 for it. Washington Post,
Washington, 18-11-2014. Isabel
Lauer. Nürnberger Zeitung, Nürnberg,
24-11-2014. Jaap
van den Born & Bart FM Droog. On the authenticity of the alleged Hitler
watercolor. 'Standesamt München' Lot 4074, 79r.
Auktion, Hermann Historica, May 24, 2019. Droog
Magazine, Eenrum, 2019. To top of page. Exchange rates / value of money 2014 1 euro = 1.37 US dollar. 1 US dollar = 0.73 euro. 1 euro = 0.82 UK pound 1 UK pound = 1.22 euro 1 euro = 1.22 Swiss francs 1 Swiss franc =0.82 euro Wisselkoersen archief ECB, 15-05-2014. https://wisselkoers-euro.nl/archief-wisselkoersen/2014-05-15/ CPI Inflation Calculator – for US dollars.This inflation calculator uses official records published by the U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/ Convertisseur franc-euro. Pouvoir d'achat
de l'euro et du franc. Le
convertisseur franc-euro mesure l'érosion
monétaire due à l'inflation. Historischer Währungsrechner. Österreichische Nationalbank (Geldwertrechner). https://www.eurologisch.at/docroot/waehrungsrechner/#/ Value of the Guilder/Euro. International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam. http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php © Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2021. |
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