Report of the Spoliation Advisory Panel in respect of fourteen clocks and watches now in the possession of the British Museum, London (Paperback)

In January 2011, Mr Eric Koch of Toronto, Canada wrote to the Spoliation Advisory Panel, with regard to a possible claim for six clocks in the collection of the British Museum which had belonged to his late mother, Ida Netter, formerly Koch. Mr Koch was claiming also on behalf of his brother and the two sons of his late sister.The Panel's task is to consider claims from anyone (or their heirs) that have lost possession of a cultural object during the Nazi era (1933-45) where such an object is now in the possession of a UK museum or gallery. Ida Netter was the widow of Otto Koch and Emil Netter, Koch was a sleeping partner in a jewellery firm which was "aryanized" in 1938 under the Nazi policies of the time. Otto Koch had been a collector of clocks and watches of which Ida had managed to bring to England some 161 such items of the collection. The Netter collection as a whole had been sold in 1939 at a sale at Christie's.There were four issues being considered - was this a forced sale? was it a sale at an undervalue?; if it was a sale at an undervalue, was Mrs Netter otherwise compensated after the war? And is there any moral obligation on the Museum? The Panel concluded that although the sale could be considered to constitute a forced sale it is at the lower end of the scale of gravity of such sales. The evidence from Christie's sale indicates that a fair and substantial market value was paid to Mrs Netter in 1939. Under the moral obligation they conclude the Museum owes none in this case. Despite the impact of the Nazi era on the claimants circumstances it is insufficient to justify a recommendation that the timepieces be transferred to them or an ex gratia payment be made. The Panel does recommend in the display alongside the objects that their history and provenance is given during and since the Nazi era with special reference to the claimants' interest therein.