The auction of two 17th-century Dutch still-life oil paintings of flowers was halted at Apple Tree Auction Center in Newark, Ohio, after the Monuments Men and Women Foundation and the Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project identified them as Nazi-looted art. The paintings, originally part of Adolphe and Lucie Haas Schloss's collection, were seized in 1943 and later stored in Hitler's Führerbau before being looted again. Foundation founder Robert Edsel traveled to Ohio to alert the auction house, which cooperated by removing the works from sale and placing them in a vault. The consignor's identity remains undisclosed, and the foundation is working to return the paintings to the Schloss family.
This case matters because it highlights ongoing efforts to recover art looted during the Holocaust, nearly 80 years after World War II. The involvement of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, known for their work in cultural restitution, underscores the persistence of provenance research and the moral imperative to return stolen property to heirs. The halt of the sale also demonstrates how auction houses and local institutions can cooperate with restitution organizations when alerted to potential Nazi-looted works, setting a precedent for similar cases involving unclaimed items from safety deposit boxes.