Last May, the auction house sold the largest part of Heidi Horten’s collection of 700 jewels, built up from her husband Helmut’s fortune. The collection had been built up during the Second World War, thanks to plundered Jewish assets. In the face of the outcry, Christie’s had to cancel the last sale session scheduled for this autumn.
The final round in the sale of the jewels of Austrian billionaire Heidi Horten, widow of Helmut Horten, will not take place after all.
Shocked reactions from Jewish organizations to the dispersal of a collection made from a fortune born during the Nazi regime finally decided Christie’s Auction House to throw in the towel.
Last Friday, Christie’s Auction House sent an e-mail to AFP, stating that it had “taken the decision not to proceed with any further sales of assets from the estate of Heidi Horten“. In so doing, she confirmed a report in the New York Times.
“The sale of Heidi Horten’s jewelry collection has been the subject of intense attention, and the reactions to it have touched us and many others deeply, and we will continue to reflect on this,” Christie’s added.
Reversal
This is a major turnaround for the auction house.
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On May 10 and 12 in Geneva, Christie’s had sold most of the 700-plus lots of jewelry belonging to the widow, for a total of $202 million.
The last lots were due to be sold in November.
To justify its decision, Christie’s had explained that all proceeds would be donated to philanthropic causes, with a significant portion going to Jewish institutions and Holocaust education.
The American Jewish Committee and the Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (Crif) were not convinced by their arguments, and described the sale as indecent.
According to the New York Times, Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial, as well as other organizations, refused to accept a donation from the sale.
Original fault
In their view, the Horten collection was tainted by an original fault, which can easily be described as “blood jewels“, in reference to blood diamonds from African conflict zones.
German Helmut Horten began his fortune at the age of 24, in 1933, by profiting from the high-pressure sale of business assets by German Jewish families. After escaping prosecution after the war, he became the eponymous builder of Horten, Germany’s fourth-largest department store chain.
With his wife Heidi, 32 years his junior, married in 1966, they collected numerous works of art and jewelry.
Heidi continued her hobby after her husband’s death in 1987, collecting hundreds of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and brooches from the most famous houses (Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany, Harry Winston and Van Cleef & Arpels).
A record auction
After his death in 2022, the executors of his estate entrusted Christie’s with the task of selling what was the largest and most valuable private collection of jewels ever put up for auction.
With dazzling gems such as the “Bulgari Laguna Blue“, a blue stone that fetched 23.1 million euros, and the diadem, an Art Deco masterpiece worn by George VI and Elizabeth II at their coronations (sold for 867,000 euros), the first hammer-raises of Christi’es in May had already brought in the big bucks.
By abandoning the last sales session, Christie’s is limiting the damage. While preserving its reputation. And the auction house’s owner, François-Henri Pinault, via his personal holding company Artemis, knows that reputation is priceless…
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Front page photo: Heidi Horten Collection, part 2 © Christie’s
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