This is a brief excerpt from the document you requested from IFAR’s Art Law & Cultural Property Database.

Case Summary

Philipp v. Germany (Guelph Treasure)

Philipp v. Fed. Republic of Ger., 248 F. Supp. 3d 59 (D.D.C. 2017); aff’d in part and remanded, No. 17-7064 (D.C. Cir. 2018); reh'g en banc den., No. 17-7064 (2019) (Katsas, G., dissenting); vacated, No. 19-351, slip op. (U.S. 2021); Philipp v. Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 15-cv-00266 (D.D.C. Feb. 22, 2022); granting motion to dismiss, 628 F. Supp. 3d 10 (D.D.C. Aug. 25, 2022), aff’d, No. 22-7126 (D.C. Cir. July 14, 2023).

Précis
The Guelph Treasure, known as the 'Welfenschatz,' comprises 82 ecclesiastical medieval relics of precious metals and jewels, formerly owned by Ernest Augustus, the German Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The Duke, faced with financial difficulties in 1929, sold this collection for 7.5 million Reichsmark to a consortium of three Jewish Frankfurt art galleries: J. & S. Goldschmidt, I. Rosenbaum, and Z.M. Hackenbroch. The Consortium's plan was to later sell the individual works for a profit.

Between 1930 and 1931, the Consortium sold 40 objects, not deemed to be the most valuable, to museums and collectors throughout Europe and the U.S. However, selling the remaining pieces of the collection proved challenging.

In 1933, the Nazi regime instituted...






Click here to subscribe to IFAR's Art Law & Cultural Property Database to access this and other documents about U.S. and international legislation and case law concerning the acquisition, authenticity, export, ownership, and copyright of art objects.