Purported Adolf Hitler watercolor painting to be sold at auction

A watercolor painting attributed to Adolf Hitler will be offered at auction Thursday at Nate D. Sanders in Los Angeles.

The work, which is believed to have been created in 1912, is a still life of flowers that the future Nazi leader would have made while he was a struggling young artist in Vienna.

The auction house said that bidding on the painting will start at $30,000 and that the work is in “near fine condition.” The auction, which will be held online, is one of three Hitler-related items being sold by the L.A. auction house -- the other two are a two-volume copy of “Mein Kampf,” each signed by Hitler, and a change-of-address document from 1909 that was signed by Hitler.

The painting is signed “A. Hitler” at the bottom right, according to Nate D. Sanders. It also features the stamp of Samuel Morgenstern on the back. Morgenstern was a Jewish dealer in Vienna who bought and sold a number of the young Hitler’s artwork. He is believed to have died in 1943 in a Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland.

Nate D. Sanders has not revealed the identity of the seller of the painting, how it came into possession of the piece or anything about its provenance. A spokesman for the company said only that the work is being consigned by a private collector.

In November, another watercolor attributed to Hitler sold at a German auction for $161,000. The painting, which depicts a street scene in Munich, was reportedly purchased by a private buyer from the Middle East.

As a young man, Hitler aspired to become an artist but was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He is believed to have lived as a struggling artist in Vienna from 1908 to 1913.

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT