Hello all,
I have recently bought a photographic portfolio which was sold to me as being the property of General Admiral Rolf Carls. It's a lovely item consisting 21 photos (18 of these mounted) measuring 178mm x 130mm (approx). Attached to the front (the front of the album being pierced by the backing pin) is a minesweeper award.
The attribution comes in the form of a typed and signed letter. The letter was written by the daughter (wife of the vendor) of a Captain Bernard William Perry (doesn't state whether army of navy but I'm guessing army) and it says the album was taken (along with other items) from the estate of Carls in late 1945. She goes on to state she remembers the portfolio being shown to people in the early 1950s. It also goes on to state the the front cover features the "cap badge" of Carls and that it can be seen in one of the photos. I appreciate it is not a cap badge and that the man who is pictured is not Carls, but both would be easy assumptions to make by someone without even the most fundamanental knowledge of such things or consider using Google to confirm the Vice Admiral pictured is not (and cannot be, given the presence of the minesweeper badge in the picture (considering the inception date of the award) and the pictured man's rank making it (surely) not possible to be Carls, let alone his appearance!)
I bought it with the intention of identifying the vessels in some of the photos and so attributing the portfolio to Carls with a greater degree of certainty. I thought that the "razzle dazzle" camoflague would most likely be unique and documented and so making it a relatively straighforward task. However, I seem to have got nowhere fast! Are there any Germany Navy experts on the forum who could commment on the photos or provide pointers as to how best to attribute this portfolio to Carls? How about the Vice Admiral pictured; does anyone know him? Given the ice in many of the pictures and the Scandinavian looking costal shots, I'm quite certain this are attributable to the North Sea and so adding something to the fact this could be Carls' album and also his minesweeper award, but would love to be able to show it more conclusively.
Any help would be appreciated. I am looking to move this on as my personal circumstances have changed but a certain auction site doesn't like me listing it and have already removed it once (I thought my granddad fought against such tyranny!) so any suggestion of an appropriate channel or auction house would also be appreciated.
I'll now attempt to add some of the images. It may take me a few attempts....
Many thanks
Simon
I have recently bought a photographic portfolio which was sold to me as being the property of General Admiral Rolf Carls. It's a lovely item consisting 21 photos (18 of these mounted) measuring 178mm x 130mm (approx). Attached to the front (the front of the album being pierced by the backing pin) is a minesweeper award.
The attribution comes in the form of a typed and signed letter. The letter was written by the daughter (wife of the vendor) of a Captain Bernard William Perry (doesn't state whether army of navy but I'm guessing army) and it says the album was taken (along with other items) from the estate of Carls in late 1945. She goes on to state she remembers the portfolio being shown to people in the early 1950s. It also goes on to state the the front cover features the "cap badge" of Carls and that it can be seen in one of the photos. I appreciate it is not a cap badge and that the man who is pictured is not Carls, but both would be easy assumptions to make by someone without even the most fundamanental knowledge of such things or consider using Google to confirm the Vice Admiral pictured is not (and cannot be, given the presence of the minesweeper badge in the picture (considering the inception date of the award) and the pictured man's rank making it (surely) not possible to be Carls, let alone his appearance!)
I bought it with the intention of identifying the vessels in some of the photos and so attributing the portfolio to Carls with a greater degree of certainty. I thought that the "razzle dazzle" camoflague would most likely be unique and documented and so making it a relatively straighforward task. However, I seem to have got nowhere fast! Are there any Germany Navy experts on the forum who could commment on the photos or provide pointers as to how best to attribute this portfolio to Carls? How about the Vice Admiral pictured; does anyone know him? Given the ice in many of the pictures and the Scandinavian looking costal shots, I'm quite certain this are attributable to the North Sea and so adding something to the fact this could be Carls' album and also his minesweeper award, but would love to be able to show it more conclusively.
Any help would be appreciated. I am looking to move this on as my personal circumstances have changed but a certain auction site doesn't like me listing it and have already removed it once (I thought my granddad fought against such tyranny!) so any suggestion of an appropriate channel or auction house would also be appreciated.
I'll now attempt to add some of the images. It may take me a few attempts....
Many thanks
Simon
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