WWII Silver Horde! WOW

[EKman]

Guys, I had one of those encounters today that my day as a collector.

In addition to my work with the Air Force, I'm the head chaplain at a local retirement home and so I take time on my days off from my regular job on the base to go around and visit the folks at the home. Well, last week, I went by to visit a new resident. He is in his early 90's and is a retired Army 0-6 (bird colonel). He retired in 1969 and had served in the artillery since his enlistment as a Pvt. in 1941. Last week, he was telling me about some of his experiences during WWII and I found out that he was an Artillery Battery Commander (Captain) and was attached to the British and participated in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp--we spent alot of time talking about that.

Well, today I went out to the retirement home afte I got off work and stopped by his room to say hi and we got to talking. I mentioned that I am a collector and asked if he had brought back any souvenirs of his time in Europe. I expected him to say no, but he got up and said he would be right back. When he came back, he was carrying a large rubbermaid tub that was full of silverware! Here is a picture of the tub.

[EKman]

I asked him where he had gotten all of this stuff, and he said that the larger pieces he had picked up from various hotels and bombed out houses once his unit entered Germany. He was clear that he didn't "liberate" any household goods while in France or Belgium, but that everthing in Germany was fair game.

He said that all of the sterling flatware came from a Wehrmacht mess hall. He couldn't remember where, but said that his unit occupied what he called a German Army Base and it was clear that the previous inhabitants had quickly left the area. He and some other officer's found large stores of silverware in what must have been the Officer's Club on the base. I also asked why he seemed to have picked up all knives, and he said that the flatware was stored in large wooden boxes not by sets but by type--all the spoons together, knives together, forks together, and so on. He just happened to get hold of the knife box. Anyway, all of this was shipped home by him in small lots to his wife.

[EKman]

Here are some closer pictures.

[EKman]

Cream and Sugar pieces, missing the rest of the tea set though. I asked, and was hoping, but none of these items has any connection to the Bergen-Belsen KZ.

[EKman]

Here are the markings on the handles of all of the knives.

[EKman]

And the fish knives. This mark is for a Swedish silver company I think.

[EKman]

Here are two of the different sizes of knives for comparison. In this group, there are 8 fish knives, 1 fork, 29 large knives, and 33 smaller knives.

After we looked through the grouping and talked some more, he asked me if I wanted this lot of items. He said he had no use for them, none of his children wanted them. Sadly, he tried to give his uniform and photographs to his children some years back, but they didn't want them so he threw that stuff our he said He kept the silverware though because he thought they might want that, but they didn't.

So, this grouping is now in my collection and even though it is not directly Third Reich, I still think it is pretty interesting and wanted to share it with you all.

[Craigob]

it may not be directly Third Reich, but it has Third Reich history and you now have the providence to back that up!.. would be nice to get a unifom pic of the gentleman to go with this lot as well as a written and signed letter

[Jørgen E]

Interesting story and nice items! Thanks for sharing!

[Biro]

...would be nice to get a unifom pic of the gentleman to go with this lot as well as a written and signed letter

.... and maybe a few more forks!

Nice stuff.

M

[Thomas Durante]

Very cool Chris .

Tom D.

[Mickesouth]

And the fish knives. This mark is for a Swedish silver company I think.

The Swedish army uses Three Crowns as symbol,most equipment and stuff is marked with the crowns.
I dont say it is Swe army but just a tought.