(Sry for my english)
Did you own the chest?
That means, was it a chest inside one of your houses?
Which platform are you? On PC, there should be a console-command to remove the stolen-flag or the test of the merchant if the item is stolen at all.
Like (untested) 'player.modav BypassVendorStolenCheck 1'
P. S. Do you speak German?
If the items are stolen you cant sell them to normal vendors. You need to goto a Fence to sell them.
One way of selling them is to join the thieves guild in Riften after u do a few quest for the guild you will be able to sell the stolen item to some members of the guild.
Rember if the text on crates, boxes and so on are red it means you are stealing and u will not be able to sell any of those items to a normal vendors.
There is a barrel inside Dragonsreach that, if you put stuff marked 'Stolen' inside it and order a follower to take it out, it removes the 'Stolen' tag. Head into the kitchen, down the stairs, look left. It's the one tucked in the corner.