Hitler's painting of black cat to be auctioned

The piece depicts a black cat sitting up on its haunches, looking upwards, and bears the fascist leader's initial's – A.H.

It is one of an array of 13 watercolours which were recently found, forgotten in a collector's garage.

They are early examples of Hitler's work and were painted during his twenties, when he was a struggling artist.

The pieces are expected to attract great interest and could fetch thousands of pounds at auction on April 23.

Among them is a self-portrait by the infamous German leader. Also signed with the initials A.H., the picture of a man sitting on a stone bridge appears to depict the Austrian-born politician's trademark side parting.

The works were liberated in 1945 by a soldier from the Royal Manchester Regiment, which was stationed in Essen, Germany, at the time.

They were then sold to a collector, who put them in his garage and forgot about them until now.

The collection will form part of an Historical Documents, Autographs & Ephemera sale by specialist auctioneers Mullock's at Ludlow Racecourse, Shropshire.

The auction house's historical documents expert, Richard Westwood-Brookes, said: "My vendor, who is a big collector of Second World War memorabilia, bought them from the guy who liberated them in 1945.

"He sold some of them years ago and at that time he had them valued by an expert.

"Believe it or not, he left the rest of them in his garage. He forgot about them and found them in his garage."

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