Christie’s under fire for selling jewels that belonged to billionaire Nazi’s widow
CHRISTIE'S AUCTION HOUSE/AFP via Getty ImagesAdvertisementLots 1 and 2 are by Van Cleef & Arpels and by René Boivin.This Bulgari necklace is valued at up to $1.5M.“He was a sheer opportunist who saw an opportunity to grow from a small business owner to a department store mogul by the end of World War II. He expanded from Germany into German-occupied territories” to score businesses on the cheap.Her father, Reinhold Stephan, worked for the largest department store in Amsterdam.
Pressured by the Nazis, the owner sold and planned on escaping to America, but before that could happen, he was captured by the Nazis.“My father led a lawsuit against Horten, consulted lawyers and spent a lot of money in the process,” she said. “Unfortunately, since most of the judges were old Nazis, and Horten had good relationships with them, my father lost the case.”In addition to her jewels, Heidi Horten collected art.
Cerutti also acknowledged “…awareness of the well-documented business practices of Mrs. Horten’s late first husband during the Nazi era when he purchased Jewish businesses sold under duress.”“For Christie’s this auction is a matter of prestige and a matter of sales,” she said, apparently unimpressed by the green diamond pendant with a high estimated value of $1.5 million.
This sapphire and diamond necklace could go for $1.5 million, despite that fact that it has ties to ill-gotten Reichmarks.It’s difficult to say whether or not Heidi Horten knew about her husband’s unsavory get-rich scheme when she married Helmut in 1966, when she was 19 and he was around 50 years old.They point to a report that Heidi commissioned, hiring a historian to research and write about his past.
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