A collection of sixteen watercolors by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler sold for $164,800 to buyers from Russia, China and India at an auction in London on Thursday.
Richard Westwood-Brookes from Mullock's Auctioneers told the German news agency DPA that it was not surprising that the buyers had come from emerging economies.
"There is a great interest in World War II in these countries and a lot of people with a lot of money to invest," he said. "They look at these items as an investment."
"This shows that it has nothing to do with an obsession with the Nazis, or neo-Nazis buying it," he added.
A watercolor of a hillside scene, 'Ortschaft am Main' (German for Village on the Main), fetched the highest price, selling for $15,800.
Hitler painted the watercolors in 1908, when he was trying to forge a career as an artist. He was rejected twice by the Vienna Arts Academy.
"He was a second-rate painter," Westwood-Brookes said. "He simply wasn't good enough... particularly when drawing people, the perspective was all wrong."
The collection was uncovered in northern Austria earlier this year.
LONDON, October 1 (RIA Novosti)
