War Antiques

WAR ANTIQUES The obsession with the second world war continues whilst the last of the surviving combatants pass away. Pilots log book The shear enormity of the conflict combined with our parent’s and grandparent’s anecdotes fuel our fascination. Japanese...

Now Sold! an important Direct Family Provenanced Knights Cross Gallantry group just having been obtained directly from the family of Oberleutnant Artur Tiefensee,identified and verified on the Wehrmacht Awards Forum by a member who knew Tiefensee and his awards 7/ Grenadier Regiment 43, 1st Infantry Division. Awarded in August 1944 as a result of his actions in keeping a large number of Russians at bay, during which he sustained injuries resulting in the amputation of his right arm along with severe injuries to both legs, his Knights Cross forms the pinnacle of the group. Of significance is that the ribbon is fitted with a one piece elastic strap in contrast to the two piece strap with hook and ring. This made it possible for the one armed officer to dress himself with his decoration. Oberleutnant Tiefensee recovered from his injuries, later returning to the front and surviving the war. He died in April 2000 in Bremen. The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 is by Steinhauer & Luck, A-Type Micro 800, with magnetic core, frosted silver frame marked 800 on reverse top arm. Exhibiting the manufacturing characteristics and die flaws of a Steinhauer & Luck for the year of issue it is a textbook A-Type produced during Third Reich and known among collectors as “micro 800” version. Cross measures 48.22mm x 48.05mm, weight of approximately 34 grams, loop length of 19.88mm, wire diameter of 1.48mm and marked 800; with elasticated KK2? Ribbon, lightly worn, in good condition. Also included is his Deschler German Cross in Gold awarded in 1942. There is damage and loss to the enamel at the centre of the Swastika but it is very interesting to note that a dark mark between the top two legs is visible in the copy of the period photograph of him wearing it. His decorations also include his Iron Cross First Class, a button hole miniature Knights Cross and Ribbon, along with an Adolf Hitler visiting card, his Identity Disc showing his blood group and regiment and two lapel pins showing his membership of Ordensgemeinschaft der Ritterkreuztrager. On the occasion of his 70th Birthday he attended a venue hosted by members of the O.d.R where he was presented with a commemorative iron plate by Knights Cross winner Oberst Hans Michaelis, a photograph of whom is included, along with the iron plate. Also included is copy of the O.d.R magazine with an article on Tiefensee and the 1981 presentation, a photocopy of Ostpreussisches Tageblatt from September 1944 which gives full details on his Knights Cross Citation and copies of his birth and death certificate. Finally and most importantly, the grouping is accompanied by a signed and witnessed letter of authenticity by Klaus Tiefensee, Artur Tifensee’s son. PS a copy of the Knights cross association newsletter containing in German Language details of the citation and career are included

NOW SOLD!   below.http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=877491 Today, 07:48 PM   #17 Tom B Member Tom B is offline Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Kentucky Posts: 7,716 Beautiful grouping, and 100% belonged to said owner…..I knew him very well...

An Englishman owns the largest collection of Nazi artifacts As the crimes of the Nazi regime retreat further into the past, there seems to be an increasing desperation in the race to get hold of mementos of the darkest chapter of the 20th century. In the market for Nazi memorabilia, two out of the three principal ideologies of the era — fascism and capitalism — collide, with the mere financial value of these objects used to justify their acquisition, the spiralling prices trapping collectors in a frantic race for the rare and the covetable

An Englishman owns the largest collection of Third Reich Militaria  When he was 5 years old, He received an unusual birthday present from his parents: a bullet-Damaged Waffen  SS  helmet, A lightning bolt transfer on It’s side. It was a special request.  ...

Graf Spee, Nazi War trophies come in all shapes and sizes .Few could claim to be as impressive as the Giant bronze stern ornament recovered from the scuttled (December 1939) ” Graf Spee”. The “Pocket”battleship which had famously sunk numerous British merchant vessels before meeting it’s fate Weighing in at 33 kilos with a wings spanning of nearly 9 3 meters, the statue is perhaps a unique surviving example . A businessman Alfredo Etchegaray had the statue from the wreck of the Graf Spee recovered in shallow waters just off Uruguay’s capital of Montevideo in 2006. The eagle is a reminder of the region’s unwanted links with the Third Reich. Etechegaray has shelled out $5 million over three decades in retrieving parts of the Graf Spee, and now wants a return on that investment. Uruguay’ courts have ruled that the businessman ownes 50% of the statue, with the other half belonging to the government. He wants to sell his rights and have the statue, currently under wraps in a Uruguayan navy warehouse, put on display in a museum. But he claims Germany is pressuring the administration of President Jose Mujica to keep the controversial sculpture out of public sight. “If the government wants to bury this statue they have the right to do that, but we also have the right to get half the money for it,” Etchegaray said. “Why shouldn’t it be displayed publicly, in an appropriate way, of course, with historical explanation? That’s what happens with the Roman Colosseum, with artifacts from the Khmer Rouge, with torture instruments used by the Inquisition.” Acting on Etchegaray’s behalf, Montevideo art gallery Gomensoro is now receiving offers for the businessman’s 50 percent stake in the statue, which it values loosely at up to $15 million. The reserve price, gallery owner Jose Enrique Gomensoro claims, is between $3 million and $5 million. “It’s 100 percent certain it will sell,” Gomensoro adds. “But it’s very hard to say how much it will fetch. It could all depend on the whim of a single collector. How badly do they want it?” That the statue is unique is beyond dispute. The only similar one used by the “Kriegsmarine,” Hitler’s navy, was on the prow of the Bismarck, a much larger warship sunk in the North Atlantic in 1941. Classed as a “pocket battleship,” the Graf Spee was named after a German admiral and, for its era, used state-of-the-art technology. Just over 600 feet long, it had a top speed of 29 knots (about 33 miles per hour) and its main weapons were six 52-caliber guns mounted in two turrets, fore and aft. It sank nine Allied merchant ships in the South Atlantic, as they brought vital supplies of beef, wheat and wool, from South America to the United Kingdom, in the early days of World War II. But it was scuttled in December 1939 just off Montevideo after being damaged in the ferocious Battle of the River Plate and its captain, Hans Langsdorff, had been tricked by British intelligence into believing that it was about to be surrounded by the Royal Navy. Residents of Montevideo watched the ship burn for three days before eventually sinking in water just 30 feet deep. Langsdorff shot himself in a Buenos Aires hotel three days later. Uruguay eventually joined the conflict on the side of the Allies. Although after the war it also, unwittingly perhaps, provided refuge to a small number of war criminals, including one torturer known as Dr. Death. But Gomensoro’s valuation for the eagle-and-swastika statue was trashed by William Rey Ashfield, a former head of the National Heritage Commission, who described the multimillion-dollar price tag as “delirious.” “Really, the Uruguayan government should never have allowed any salvaging of the Graf Spee,” Rey Ashfield said. “But now that this statue is on dry land, I hope that an agreement can be worked out for it to be put on public display, but not in a triumphalist way, here in Uruguay. This is part of our history too.” He was also skeptical of Etchegaray’s claim that Germany was opposed to the statue being displayed publicly. “Germany is on the sidelines. If anything, the problem is that they don’t want to get involved, although they would definitely be concerned at the possibility of a private sale leading to the statue falling into the hands of neo-Nazis or being used to glorify the Third Reich.” “It could be a good attraction for a museum. But it is a controversial piece that many people will also reject. It is a hot potato.” Meanwhile, Etchegaray is waiting for the Uruguayan government to make up its mind about what it wants to do with its 50 percent stake in the statue. “I’m not waiting 20 years,” he said. “Deciding who owns it has already taken long enough.

  Nazi Statue   Nazi War trophies come in all shapes and sizes . Few could claim to be as impressive as the Giant bronze stern ornament recovered from the  scuttled (December 1939) ” Graf Spee”. The “Pocket”battleship which had famously sunk...

SELL MILITARIA DIRECTLY TO COLLECTORS ? WW2 Buyer .com and Germandaggerbuyers.com were among the original internet militaria buying websites. Recently it was bought to our attention from by an American WW2 Veteran,s family that they had approached a number of sites and were comforted to know that their family’s souvenirs been sold directly to a collector ,one who had no intention of selling them on? This puzzled me in view of the fact that from my own experience getting a highly ranked website costs considerable time and money. Further questioning of the Vets family was revealing they described a group of items and photographs obtained during their late fathers time in Europe .I inquired just how much cash they had received,their answer was sickening. They had been duped!. Mindful that I was potentially loosing customers I set about contacting those websites were the buyer claimed to be a collector. Predictably all those highly ranked buying sites turned out to be commercially driven . these collector buyers all were eager to tell me what they had purchased and what prices they were prepared to sell it to me for. I cannot say with any degree of certainty that some of these fellows? did not have a private collection back home. My point is this . If a dealer attempts to win the sympathy of a Veteran’s family with a lie he is engaging in criminal deception. Denying a veteran’s family or any other citizen the opportunity of getting a fare market value by such deception is wrong!. NEVER SELL TO A MILITARIA COLLECTOR ON LINE UNLESS HE OR SHE REALLY IS A MILITARIA COLLECTOR. ALWAYS GET A SECOND OPINION THEN ANOTHER FOR GOOD MEASURE .MILITARIA ROUTINELY SELLS FOR $000000′ DON’T LET YOURSELF OR YOUR FAMILY GET ANYTHING LESS THAN WHAT IS DESERVED!

   WW2 Buyer .com and Germandaggerbuyers.com were among the original internet militaria buying websites. Recently it was bought to our attention from by an American WW2 Veteran’s family that they had approached a number of sites and were comforted to know that...
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