Before Adolf Hitler took power, he was a struggling artist and, while his work isn’t that great, his pieces still draw attention at auctions. Over the weekend, one watercolor by the late Nazi dictator sold for $161,000.
The piece shows Munich’s old city hall and was painted in 1914. Two elderly sisters put it up for sale and said that their grandfather bought the 11-by-8.5-inch piece in 1916, reports the Associated Press. They put the piece up for sale at the Weider auction house in Nuremberg.
Kathrin Weidler, the director of the auction house, told the AP that a buyer from the Middle East won. She declined to give further details.
Sky News reports that the sisters are donating 10 percent of the proceeds to a children’s charity.
Paintings by Hitler aren’t that rare, but the sisters had also provided a bill of sale, which was signed by Hitler. That alone might have driven up the price.
Other paintings by Hitler have gone for much less recently. Sky News notes that other paintings have gone for 80,000 euros ($99,300) and 5,000 euros ($6,200).