AH flatware

[Br. James]

An excellent set of Formal (State Service) and Informal AH tableware, Mike...congrats! I do note some slight inaccuracies, to my understanding, with the original owner's statement of authentication, namely that none of these pieces was made of "sterling silver," as Mr. Brownlow states; all were made of .800 solid silver. And the locations where he found these pieces are also questionable: The Brown House in Munich was almost completely destroyed during bombing raids in 1944, and by the time the US military arrived to occupy that city in May of 1945, nothing would have been left in the rubble of that building. So too with the Berghof in the Obersalzberg -- Hitler's house and the surrounding area were heavily bombed in April of 1945 and the property was greatly damaged. Hitler sent his personal representative, SS-Obergruppenführer Julius Schaub, from Berlin to set fire to the remains of the Berghof and to obliterate whatever might have been left after the bombings. Schaub also visited Hitler's apartment in Munich, for the same purpose.

But this comments aside, the collection of Hitler's tableware is an excellent archive!

Br. James

[CPB]

Mike, awesome find—and I totally agree, direct veteran provenance like that adds so much.

Interesting to note how the veteran referred to the silverware as either the "informal" or "formal" pattern, as these are terms normally used by collectors. Maybe he was one.

Thanks for sharing.

[CPB]

An excellent set of Formal (State Service) and Informal AH tableware, Mike...congrats! I do note some slight inaccuracies, to my understanding, with the original owner's statement of authentication, namely that none of these pieces was made of "sterling silver," as Mr. Brownlow states; all were made of .800 solid silver. And the locations where he found these pieces are also questionable: The Brown House in Munich was almost completely destroyed during bombing raids in 1944, and by the time the US military arrived to occupy that city in May of 1945, nothing would have been left in the rubble of that building. So too with the Berghof in the Obersalzberg -- Hitler's house and the surrounding area were heavily bombed in April of 1945 and the property was greatly damaged. Hitler sent his personal representative, SS-Obergruppenführer Julius Schaub, from Berlin to set fire to the remains of the Berghof and to obliterate whatever might have been left after the bombings. Schaub also visited Hitler's apartment in Munich, for the same purpose.

But this comments aside, the collection of Hitler's tableware is an excellent archive!

Br. James

I think in both cases, silverware like this was looted from compounds or bunkers below the buildings. That is well documented.

[Berghof]

Thanks for the comments guys!

The way I look at it is...he was there, I wasn't. We can only speculate. I wish the guys that brought this stuff home were still alive. All of us would have so many questions to ask. I knew many WW2 veterans and for the life of me can't figure out why I didn't ask more questions. Maybe I was being sensitive...not wanting to force them to relive tough times.

[Phronsias]

Thanks for the comments guys!

The way I look at it is...he was there, I wasn't. We can only speculate. I wish the guys that brought this stuff home were still alive. All of us would have so many questions to ask. I knew many WW2 veterans and for the life of me can't figure out why I didn't ask more questions. Maybe I was being sensitive...not wanting to force them to relive tough times.

Hi
I read an account from a G.I. who was ordered to guard what remained of the Brown house, he spoke of the seller or bunker I cant remember which, he searched and found silverware and cans of food. I cant remember where I read this but it was only a few weeks ago.
Regards
Frank

[Br. James]

As I understand it, the Brown House was linked to the Temples of Honor, to the Führerbau and to the NSDAP Administration Building by a tunnel complex which was developed when the Temples and the other twin buildings were under construction in the mid-1930s. That being the case, it is known that much material from the Brown House -- including the banners from the Hall of Honor there, including the Blutfahne and the Munich SA Standards -- was stored there during the war. I have always wondered how any GI who saw the remains of the Brown House in mid-1945 would have known anything about the history of that building, let alone it's connection to the Königsplatz complex.

I do agree that, by the time Schaub arrived in the Obersalzberg Administration in late April of 1945, most of the contents of the Berghof had long since been moved into the tunnel complex below and behind that building for safe-keeping.

I also noticed that Mr. Brownlow used the terms "formal" and "informal" in his description of the silverware. To my understanding, these are current collector terms for describing AH tableware, so I agree with CPB that he must have been at least familiar with our hobby in modern times, or perhaps he consulted with one or more collectors at the time he wrote his statement.

Br. James

[Phronsias]

Hi
I found it........http://www.hitlersnest.co.uk/AH%20news.htm
HITLER SILVERWARE

On April 30, 1945 Troops of the 42nd "Rainbow" entered Munich. Lt. Zillmer, the Co. K, 232nd Regiment, Commander assigned several infantry squads specific targets, where it was thought there would be Nazi documents to seize and hold until further orders. My squad was assigned the "Brown Haus" named after the Brown shirts the Nazi Storm Troopers wore. I was given two jeeps and a map and my squad proceeded to the location of the building. When we arrived at the location we saw that the building was totally destroyed. We found a door leading to a cellar under the rubble and there we found the elaborate under-ground Nazi Head Quarters. We stayed in the cellar for a week awaiting further orders. During our wandering around the Nazi quarters we located a large cache of Hitler Silverware, urns, goblets, cream and sugar bowls and fine china. Not knowing that the war was going to end soon
and being used to not taking any souvenirs because we were almost always on foot. So we kept what we had to carry at a minimum, but realizing the importance of our find, I took only eight pieces of the silverware. Later after we were gone other troops came in and cleaned out the entire lot.

JAMES R. "PETE" PETTUS, 1ST SQUAD, SECOND PLATOON COMPANY K, 232ND REGIMENT, 42ND RAINBOW DIVISION

[Brent Smith]

Haus Elephant Flatware Find "One Of Hilters Favorite Hotels"

Haus Elephant Flatware Find "One Of Hilters Favorite Hotels" When Hitler was in Weimar he stayed in the Haus Elephant hotel on the Marktplatz. These pieces along with a few of Fritz Sauckle's pieces were purchased this week from the son of his fathers bring backs. Interesting stuff Has anyone come across some of this pattern ? See pictures attached

[Brent Smith]

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[Berghof]

Nice find Brent. I always loved the Sauckle flatware. Never came across the Haus Elephant flatware though.

Mike

[Br. James]

Great stuff, Brent! I assume that the Sauckel tableware is silver plate, though made by the Bruckmann firm. Sauckel's set of tableware is in the same pattern style as Hitler's Informal Pattern, though Hitler's was rendered in solid silver and with the AH raised monogram. An elegant use of the Gau Thüringen Silver Eagle design!

Br. James

[BrianK]

Now that the AH silverware has reached the $1400 - $1600 per piece level on websites, it doesn't seem to be selling as fast as it did a few years ago. Does anyone else think the prices have peaked out?

[Eric Von Rader]

Hard to say, Wittmann sold the asparagus server for 6k in 5 days....Stuff is still selling, but I agree its slower like everything else.

[BrianK]

Asparagus server is a rare piece. The knives, forks and spoons are slow like much of the market. You have to be a GI who found the stuff or one of the upper 1% of income earners to have a complete set of these pieces.

[Berghof]

I sold 22 pieces over the last 9 mos and 4 of those pieces were the rarer ones. I'm seeing a steady interest and a lot of folks are putting the higher priced items on layaway now. There is no question, it has become pricey, but so are all the other categories of collecting nowadays. Helmets, Specific Banners, Edged Weapons..and the majority of those items selling for around the same price don't have nowhere near the provenance the flatware has. As a silverware enthusiast, I think it's hard to beat dollar for dollar...just my biased opinion.

Everything costs a lot these days... As an example of men and their silly-expensive hobbies, I used to drag race cars and you couldn't believe the kind of cash people throw away. Average to below average Joe's spending 10k - 100k without batting an eyelash. You can easily dump 40k into just an engine. People taking 2nd mortgages on their homes for the sake of competition and bragging rights. Something they'll never see a dime back on. They would be lucky to see penny's on the dollar back if they liquidated the cars/parts. To this day, I'd swear some of those guys lived in their cars.

Anyway, if people are interested in it, they will always find the money to buy it. From a financial standpoint, I think WW2 memorabilia collecting is fairly benign compared to most hobbies out there. It's one of the few hobbies where there can be a positive return on investment if you hold on to it long enough. It's nowhere near a total loss like the drag racers...or country club members...you get the point.

Have a nice day Gentlemen!

-Mike