Editor’s Note
This article discusses the suspension of a major jewelry auction following protests. The sale of items from the collection of the late Heidi Horten has drawn significant controversy due to the historical context surrounding the source of the family’s wealth.
The sale of 300 pieces scheduled for November has been suspended in the face of massive protests from Jewish organizations.
In May of last year, the sale of the extensive jewelry collection of billionaire Heidi Horten, who died in 2022, already brought in $202 million – the highest revenue from a jewelry auction to date. However, the auction house Christie’s underestimated the reactions to the auction: Since Horten’s husband Helmut Horten, who died in 1987, had profited from the “Aryanization” of Jewish department stores during the Nazi era, the auction was seen by Jewish organizations as “whitewashing” and heavily criticized.
A relativizing expert opinion, commissioned by Horten herself during her lifetime, did little to change this, nor did the fact that the proceeds were intended to benefit philanthropic purposes (including the preservation of the private museum in Vienna).
Now Christie’s has canceled the upcoming sales of further pieces from Horten’s jewelry treasure – upon inquiry, the auction house confirmed a corresponding report by the industry service Artnet to the KURIER. Around 300 pieces were to go up for auction in November – likely only a small addendum to the record auction, but the cancellation is symbolically significant.
The auction house had not proactively addressed the roots of Horten’s wealth initially and only reacted to the topic after media reports and complaints from wealthy customers. A museum in Tel Aviv canceled an event sponsored by Christie’s in July – precisely on the topic of art theft and restitution.
Offers to donate parts of the auction proceeds to the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and other institutions were rejected by the institutions. The concession is now being celebrated as a success by critics.
