Het Scheepvaartmuseum
Investigation results
None of the objects in this museum have problematic provenance.
Result of this investigation
The museum reports that some of its objects appeared to raise questions. Investigators checked annual reports, minute books, inventory books and correspondence. The museum acquired three items in the 1950s at auctions where SNK sold objects. BHG Provenance Investigation Bureau investigators found that the items in question had not been submitted by SNK. Ten books were bought at German auctions and antiquarian book stores in the 1930s. Their labels and ex libris marks were examined, but since these books have few individually identifiable characteristics, the museum was unable to investigate them further. The Museum Acquisitions project team attempted to investigate the history of the firms from which the museum had acquired the books. Investigators supplied the list of the museum’s purchases in the 1930s to Werner Schroeder, author of ‘Die Arisierung jüdischer Antiquariate zwischen 1933 und 1942’ (in: Aus dem Antiquariat. Zeitschrift für Antiquare und Büchersammler NF 7, 2009, pp. 295-320, 359-386). From his response it appears that some of the antiquarian book sellers in question had indeed been aryanised (compulsorily transferred to non-Jewish ownership) in the 1930s. Since none of the available auction catalogues contain additional notes, investigators were unable to use these to establish provenance.
Information from previous research (report Museum Acquisitions 1940-1948)
View reaction of Scheepvaartmuseum, het in the report Museale acquisitions 1940-1948 which was published in 1999 in response to the previous museum research.
About this museum and its collection
Amsterdam Maritime Museum boasts Holland’s largest collection of nautical objects and presents five centuries of sea-related history. Its diverse collection includes paintings, scale models, weapons, navigational instruments and global maps. The paintings portray Dutch naval officers such as Michiel de Ruyter and historical naval battles. The map collection includes atlases by Willem and Joan Blaeu. In addition to these highlights, the museum also has several ships, including a replica of a Dutch eastindiaman, the Amsterdam.