After the canton of Basel was divided into two halfcantons, the treasury was shared out between themin proportion to their respective populations. Financial need forced Canton Basel-Landschaft, which had been awarded two thirds of the total collection, to sell its share at an auction in Liestal in 1836. This auction was one of the last major sales of a complete collection of medieval ecclesiastical treasures in Europe.

Copies, replicas and drawings are all that remains to remind us of the works that were lost and the part of the treasury that was dispersed.

Since the auction, twelve works are considered lost, eleven were bought back by the Historical Museum Basel and the remainder is scattered among museums in Europe and the USA.