Porcelain seized by Nazis goes up for auction in New York

Prized collection smuggled across Europe by Jewish owners in 1930s expected to fetch more than $2m

A collection of prized Meissen porcelain smuggled across Europe after its Jewish owners were forced to flee the Nazis and later procured for Hitler before being uncovered in a salt mine by the Monuments Men", is to be auctioned in New York next month.

The extraordinary journey that the 18th-century artworks have undergone, reflecting the turmoil of the second world war years, has been reconstructed by art historians and restitution lawyers before their sale by Sotheby's, the international auction house.