Jelle Taeke de Boer - Swiss Confiscation

Swiss Confiscation

In July 1967, Jelle de Boer showed 200 of his best works in the Hofgalerie in Lucerne, Switzerland. The Swiss art establishment filed a complaint on suspicion of fraud. After several weeks of headlines and television reports, the police decided to confiscate the entire collection. Hofgalerie's owner Anton Achermann was arrested and put in jail – in solitary confinement. All works were removed in order to be destroyed as fakes. Jelle de Boer was never allowed to see his collection again and he died of a heart attack in 1970, 62 years of age. Anton Achermann’s business and his name had been ruined by his confinement, and he decided to spend the rest of his life fighting against injustice. Achermann succeeded in releasing approximately 180 works. 21 works were to remain in the Palace of Justice till June 2002.

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