Editor’s Note
This article reports on the record-breaking auction of a jewelry collection with a complex and troubling provenance. The sale highlights ongoing discussions about art, wealth, and historical accountability.
A jewelry collection owned by the wife of a German businessman who amassed wealth by collaborating with Nazi Germany was sold at auction for a total of $202 million (approximately 270 billion won), according to foreign media reports including Bloomberg and AFP on the 15th (local time).
This marks the highest price ever achieved for a private jewelry collection at auction. The previous record was set in 2011 by the jewelry collection of Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor, which sold for approximately $116 million (about 150 billion won).
Bloomberg reported that the jewels offered on the first day of the auction alone fetched a total of $155 million (approximately 200 billion won), already setting a new all-time high record.
