Hitler's Phone for sale

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

ROOM #6 (briefing room)

Another (damaged ?) black telephone.

See You

Vince

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

ROOM #8 (Eva Braun's bedroom)

Another black telephone.

See You

Vince

[eldenwaff]

Never knew Churchill visited the Bunker.

Wonder what was the fate of the couch ? Would be surprised if the Soviets did not cart it away.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

yes Jeff, Kempka made a mistake that was spread for a long time in the past decades.

About the red telephone, a possible explaination is that brigadier Rayner got the partly damaged telephone of Hitler (so i suppose that the Soviet soldiers told him which room was Hitler's bedroom - Soviet forces took POW many of the VIPs of the Führerbunker after the fall of Berlin but did they already knew everything about the Führerbunker on May 5, 1945 ?), which was (maybe ?) missing the handset and was red or black (as all the other telephones pictured in the Führerbunker).
Then back in the UK the phone was "completed" with a British handset, and modified it so it can be used for real (i don't know if it was technically possible in the years after the war).
The telephone was then a) painted in red OR b) repainted in red (can we find trace of the original red paint) at least before the Spiegel March 1963 article (so i'm sure we can get pictures from at least 1963 or maybe earlier).
But what is puzzling is that a few months later (in fall 1963), the "red hotline" between the USA and the USSR will be popularized (it never existed as a red telephone). In that case the red color choosen to paint the telephone was an incredible coincidence (if the phone was not originally red).

Now the problem is that the telephone is fully red painted... Or the telephone was never red (and was painted after the telephone was altered), or if it was red... and there is something wrong as the handset is the same color than the rest of the telephone (so the whole set was repainted in red - again).

So we have :
1) incomplete/complete telephone taken by brigadier Rayner in 1945, was red/not red originally (for an unknown reason was completed with UK parts + repainted red) -> AA red telephone is partly original
2) original (red or black) disappeared after April 30, 1945 -> AA red telephone (coming from brigadier Rayner) is bogus
3) taken by brigadier Rayner in 1945, but "disappeared" between 1945 and 1977 (sold ?) -> AA red telephone is bogus

Is there any logical way to explain a British handset on the telephone ?

See You

Vince

[David Fettes]

I dont believe the handset is British at all.

As for the "broken hexagonal bakelite moulding" mentioned in the experts webpage, you can clearly see that the molding has not broken at all. it was never there to start with. It is a replaced red bakelite dial.

Also is is amost impossible to state what colour an item is from a black and white photo, you just have to have look at Luftwaffe collar tabs to see that.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

all the handsets of W28-48 are different of the red telephone on Google image.

Of course it doesn't prove anything, but all the GPO 232/332 have the same handset as the red telephone.

http://www.britishtelephones.com/t162.htm

http://www.britishtelephones.com/t232.htm

http://www.britishtelephones.com/t332.htm

It could be interesting to identify this piece in the phone (see below).
From which model is it taken ?

See You

Vince

[squidney86]

To me, it looks to have been manufactured black and then painted red. I do not see any spots in the chipped and worn paint to indicate different layers of red. With that being said, I dont think there is a way to know when it was painted.

Sydney

[Tony T-S]

If it was good enough for Batman.....

[Tom B]

Provenance ?????

[der-hase-fee]

Also is is almost impossible to state what color an item is from a black and white photo, you just have to have look at Luftwaffe collar tabs to see that.

When you read the text below the picture, you'll find the color of the phone being described as "blood red".

[Pierre]

The red color gives a nice Austin Powers touch.

Pierre

[David Fettes]

When you read the text below the picture, you'll find the color of the phone being described as "blood red".

I meant the original bunker photos.

[australia]

The auction description is some of the most bs I have ever seen written. It would make Gottlieb blush. I can't say for sure the phone is a fake but I would surely need a lot more provenance than that weak effort. The close up pic of the eagle and adolph engraving looks like sandpaper scratches. Gold paint in the engraving then painted red? The whole story about the vet being offered Eva Braun's phone by the russians I find absurd. How did they know that, did she have a matching engraved one? Was it painted pink? When will it come to market? Good luck with your bids gentlemen!

Well said ,

I seen how the person selling this item conducted himself recently on a FB group , absolutely disgusting ...

( excuse the language )

[jacquesf]

I like the use if the uv candles in post 30 to look for blood. Also the red phone was Hitlers direct link to Stalin, similar to the one American president have to the Russian Premier. J

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

i would love to see Soviet pictures taken from the Führerbunker in early May, and post-war pictures (1945 to 1977) pictures of the telephone of brigadier Rayner.
i hope some of those will surface.
At least in the very bad 1963 picture the handset looks the same as on the AA 66 telephone (with the strange add on on the mic side).

See You

Vince