Engraving plates of the Chalcographic society

Residence Palace Dessau. After 1918, the art collections of the Dukes of Anhalt were distributed among the palaces remaining in the ownership of the ducal family. After 1926, they were concentrated in the residential palace in Dessau and the palace in Ballenstedt. Art and cultural assets were also loaned to public institutions, such as the Anhaltische Galerie and the Anhaltische Landesbibliothek, both in Dessau. During the war, art and cultural artefacts were removed or stored, including paintings in the Zeitz House and the castle vault, and the Dessau silver treasure in bank vaults in Ballenstedt. The copper engraving plates from the plaster chamber in Dessau Palace were stored in the vault of the Ascherslebener Bank in Ballenstedt. The vaults were inspected by the Soviet occupying forces in 1945. Parts of the discs were last seen in Ballenstedt and are now said to be in a German museum. It is currently not known whether American occupying forces have previously viewed or taken the safes or their contents.