The auction of three alleged watercolours by Adolf Hitler was stopped in Berlin when police seized the paintings shortly before they were due to go under the hammer on Thursday.

The police action had nothing to do with the longstanding controversy over the trade in artworks by Hitler. Instead the paintings were seized as suspected forgeries.

“We received an online tip-off that the paintings are fakes,” Patricia Bremer, a police spokeswoman, told journalists.

The watercolours had a reserve price of €4,000 (£3,450) each, and the Kloss auction house said interest was expected from collectors in the UK.

The paintings depict two Alpine scenes, one with a distant figure beneath a tree, and a view of the Rhine river.