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Project

Ladies’ secretary desk, Spindler Co., formerly owned by Altkunst Co.

Project-ID
KU11-2014
Permanent URL
https://www.proveana.de/en/link/pro10000057
Research area
  • Cultural goods confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution

Description

The project concerns a ladies’ secretary desk with a sloping fold-down front, a style of ladies’ writing desk typical for the period around 1770 in Berlin and Potsdam. Rosewood and hornbeam have been used as base wood for this delicate piece of furniture, and the interior is finished in cedar. Various fruit tree woods have been used for the veneer; these have been stained and perhaps also dyed. The fittings are made of chased and gilded bronze.

In 2013, in accordance with the guidelines of the Washington Principles, the descendants of Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer requested the return of the ladies’ secretary desk (Inv. VI 20848) from the Stadtmuseum Berlin Foundation as their property.

The Märkisches Museum, a predecessor institution of the present-day Stadtmuseum Berlin Foundation, had purchased the desk at an auction held by Paul Graupe in April 1935. The stock of the firm Altkunst was liquidated at this auction. Altkunst was one of three art galleries in the Berlin-based Margraf group. The group was founded by Albert Loeske in 1912 and gradually expanded up until his death in 1928. In his will, Loeske named his heirs as his companion, Rosa Beer, and the manager of the group, Jakob Oppenheimer and his wife Rosa. Loeske died in 1928 and his will was contested. The legal disputes were not resolved until the beginning of 1933. The Oppenheimers’ son-in-law Ivan Bloch, who managed the Margraf group from 1932, was faced with the difficult task of generating enough money from current business operations to settle the inheritance tax debt of nearly RM 5,000,000—levied by the tax office in 1932 on Loeske’s bequest, which had been contested in an ongoing case since 1929.

The Oppenheimers emigrated to France in 1933. Ivan Bloch therefore became the main person in control of the Margraf group in Berlin until 1938. As he reported in 1939, trade at the group had declined following the Wall Street crash of 1929. Payment of the inheritance tax debt thus made Margraf’s business situation even more difficult. Bloch therefore decided to give up the three galleries in 1934. This enabled the group’s debt to the bankers Jacquier & Securius to be repaid at the end of 1935. The inheritance tax debt was paid off in installments by 1937. Bloch had therefore made the Margraf group profitable again between 1933 and 1938. The sales had been necessary in order to settle the inheritance tax debt, and these must be assessed independently of events during the Nazi era. The situation is different regarding the private possessions of the Bloch family. They had to flee Berlin on November 13, 1938 leaving all their belongings behind. The ladies’ secretary desk was not among them.


(c) Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin

Basic information

Project class
Systematic investigation of collection holdings
Holding description
Collection
Funding recipient
Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin
(Museum)
Contact person
Dr. Martina Weinland
Direktorin Abt. Sammlung, verantwortlich für Provenienzrecherche
+49 (0) 30 240 02 167
weinland@stadtmuseum.de
State
Berlin
Project duration
01.09.2014 - 30.11.2014
Website
https://www.stadtmuseum.de/provenienzforschung
Ortsbezug
Place
Berlin
Getty
,
GeoNames
Location
Germany, Berlin
Getty
,
GeoNames

Research report and other sources

For access to the research reports, a so-called “extended access” is required. This can be requested from the German Lost Art Foundation and requires a "legitimate interest". For more information, please refer to the detailed instructions. If you already have an user account with extended access, please log in.

Related content

Person/Corporate bodies

  • Verweist auf
    Oppenheimer, Jakob
  • Verweist auf
    Plietzsch, Eduard
  • Verweist auf
    Oppenheimer, Rosa
  • Verweist auf
    Bloch, Ivan
  • Verweist auf
    Beer, Rosa
  • Verweist auf
    Loeske, Albert
  • Verweist auf
    Bloch, Nelly
  • Verweist auf
    Altkunst Antiquitäten GmbH
  • Verweist auf
    Richthofen, Bolko von
  • Verweist auf
    Duve, Gebhard
  • Verweist auf
    Wilm, Ferdinand Richard
  • Verweist auf
    Spedition Franzkowiak
  • Verweist auf
    Margraf & Co.
  • Verweist auf
    Paul Graupe (Firma)
  • Verweist auf
    Galerie van Diemen & Co., Berlin
  • Verweist auf
    Kunsthandlung Doktor Otto Burchard (Berlin)
  • Verweist auf
    Bankhaus Jaequier & Securius
  • Verweist auf
    Auktionshaus Dr. Walther Achenbach <Berlin>
  • Verweist auf
    Berlin Museum

Events

  • Verweist auf
    Paul Graupe (Firma) <Berlin>: Die Bestände der Berliner Firmen Galerie van Diemen & Co GmbH, Altkunst Antiquitäten GmbH, Dr. Otto Burchard & Co GmbH. Teil 1, 25.-26.01.1935
  • Verweist auf
    Auktionshaus Dr. Walther Achenbach <Berlin>: Die Restbestände der Firmen: Galerie van Diemen & Co. GmbH in Liqu., Dr. Otto Burchardt & Co. GmbH in Liqu., 13.10.1937

Archival sources

  • Verweist auf
    Bestand Wiedergutmachungsämter von Berlin: Rückerstattungsakten Ivan Bloch | Rosa Beer | Jacob und Rosa Oppenheimer | Nelly Gerstle | Firma Alfred Panofsky
  • Verweist auf
    Dossier Bloch
  • Verweist auf
    Bestand Reichskammer der bildenden Künste, Landesleitung Berlin: Auktionshaus Paul Graupe [...]
  • Verweist auf
    Bestand A Rep. 342-02 Amtsgericht Charlottenburg - Handelsregister: Firma Gebhard Duve, früher: Margraf & Co GmbH
  • Verweist auf
    Handelsregister: L. Loeske Taschen-Uhren-Fabrikation
  • Verweist auf
    Bestand A Rep. 342-02 Amtsgericht Charlottenburg - Handelsregister: Kunsthandel van Diemen & Co.
  • Verweist auf
    Handelsregister: Dr. Eduard Plietzsch
  • Verweist auf
    Bestand Reichskulturkammer der bildenden Künste: Personenakte Gebhard Duve
  • Verweist auf
    Bestand Reichskammer der bildenden Künste, Landesleitung Berlin: Auktionshaus Dr. Walter Achenbach [...]
  • Verweist auf
    Bestand Reichskammer der bildenden Künste, Landesleitung Berlin: Auktionshaus Dr. Walter Achenbach [...]
  • Verweist auf
    Bestand Reichskammer der bildenden Künste, Landesleitung Berlin: Auktionshaus Paul Graupe, Versteigerungen vom 12.10.1935, 12.-14.12.1935, 21.12.1935, 23.-25.3.1936

Literatur & digital content

  • Verweist auf
    Auktionshaus Dr. Walther Achenbach <Berlin> (Hg.): Die Restbestände der Firmen: Galerie van Diemen & Co. GmbH in Liqu., Dr. Otto Burchardt & Co. GmbH in Liqu., 13.10.1937.

Keywords

  • Jüdische:r Kunsthändler:in
  • Jüdische:r Sammler:in
  • Museum
  • Sammler/Sammlerin
  • Sammlung
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