Christie's scraps auction of $150m Nazi jewellery collection

However, a large number of Jewish groups had asked Christie's to halt the sale describing it as "indecent” and demanding that the auction house do more to determine how much of it came from victims of the Nazis.

Christie's has now cancelled the second auction of the collection after holding a first controversial online and in-person sale in Geneva of part of the large stash of jewels in May.

In a statement, the auction house said: "Christie's has taken the decision not to proceed with further sales of property from the Estate of Heidi Horten."

The auction house acknowledged that "the sale of the Heidi Horten jewellery collection has provoked intense scrutiny."

"The reaction to it has deeply affected us and many others, and we will continue to reflect on it," they added. 

A report published in January 2022 by historians commissioned by the Horten Foundation said Heidi’s husband Helmut had been a member of the Nazi party before being expelled.

In 1936, three years after Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Horten took over textile company Alsberg, based in the western city of Duisburg, after its Jewish owners fled.

He later took over several other shops that had belonged to Jewish owners before the war.

Christie's defended its decision to go ahead with the initial sale in May and said all of the proceeds would go to charity.