Poster Collection Taken By Nazis To Be Sold

A valuable and rare collection of 3,600 posters that had been stolen by the Nazis in 1938 and were recently returned to the owner's son by order of a German court will be put up for auction.

The posters had been in the hands of the German Historical Museum in Berlin until a federal court in Germany ruled that Peter Sachs, the 74-year-old son of the collector Hans Sachs, was the rightful owner.

Mr. Sachs' collection, estimated to be worth millions, arrived in the United States last month. It includes travel, sports, propaganda, cabaret and other posters from all over Europe, said Arlan Ettinger, the president of Guernsey's auction house, which is handling the sale.

Mr. Sachs would like to see the collection stay together, Mr. Ettinger said, but failing that, the posters will be sold in three separate auctions with the first scheduled to take place on January 18, 2013.

Another 800 or so posters will be donated to museums, Mr. Ettinger said. The posters that have been returned to Mr. Sachs represent less than half of the 12,500 piece collection taken by the Nazis. The rest of have not been recovered.