Five watercolours said to have been painted by Adolf Hitler have failed to sell at auction.

The paintings, from the Nazi dictator's early days trying to establish himself as an artist, failed to sell in the German city of Nuremberg, possibly over fears they could be fake.

No bids were received on the paintings, which had starting prices of between €19,000 (£16,600) and €45,000 (£39,300), according to The Nuremberger Nachrichten newspaper.

Image: The auction was held in Nuremburg

The auction has been marred by accusations that the paintings are fakes.

Confidence in the auction was knocked when three days before Saturday's sale, prosecutors seized 63 other paintings attributed to Hitler from the auction house to investigate allegations they were fakes.


Last month prosecutors in Berlin seized three other Hitler watercolours.

The raid followed a complaint questioning their authenticity.

Image: A wicker armchair bearing a swastika believed to have been owned by Hitler

Nuremberg-Fuerth prosecutor's office said it had opened an investigation against persons unknown "on suspicion of falsifying documents and attempted fraud".

Chief prosecutor Antje Gabriels-Gorsolke told the AFP news agency: "If they turn out to be fakes, we will then try to determine who knew what in the chain of ownership."

Auction house Weidler said withdrawing the paintings from sale did not mean they were fakes.

Hitler is thought to have painted some 2,000 pictures when he was a young man as he struggled to become an artist in Vienna before World War One.