Leipzig Mayor's Chain Discovered

[Craig Gottlieb]

After knowing about this chain for over a year, I'm happy to be able to share the first-ever photos of this chain, and provide a little bit of information about it's whereabouts since 1945.

[Craig Gottlieb]

Below is a photo of the veteran who brought it back in 1945, and second is a photo of a newspaper article featuring him, and the actual chain.

[Craig Gottlieb]

After lengthy negotiations, the chain has been consigned to me along with a considerable volume of documentation, and a few other Nazi artifacts, to include the SS armband of the Leipzig mayer (who was an SS General as well). I'll post more information on it as I have time.

A question for the group: can anybody find a photo of this chain in wear? I'm sure a visit to the Leipzig archive can probably produce information and/or photos about the chain. Anybody live in Leipzig?

[Craig Gottlieb]

Something funny ... for some reason, I didn't notice the swastika until now!

[Craig Gottlieb]

More pictures. This is over 1.5 pounds of silver.

[Craig Gottlieb]

Back is silver hallmarked.

[Arran]

What a gorgeous, massively constructed piece!

[dave peifer]

the swas is the first thing i noticed..........dave

[Craig Gottlieb]

I was so impressed by the massive and quality construction of this piece, I didn't even see it behind the Leipzig Wappen.

[dave peifer]

very nice

[JAYP]

Craig,My friend purchased a Burgermeister chain from Leipzig years ago.The son and daughter of the vet sold it to him along with a pile of other items.The overall construction is the same but the chain has symbols for various trades on the links.The children stated it was removed from the mayor who was hung by locals.the chain now resides in the WW2 museum in Needham Mass.Jay Parisi

[der-hase-fee]

Leipzig had three Nazi Bürgermeisters:

Rudolf Haake 1. April 1937–11. October 1937 and 11. October 1938–20. August 1939

Walter Dönicke 12. Oktober 1937–11. Oktober 1938

Alfred Freyberg 21. August 1939–18. April 1945

They all died in April 1945.

[ivbaust]

Here's a link to the website of the Museum for City History of Leipzig. It shows a sketch of a mayor's chain from 1935, which looks very similar to the one shown here in this thread.

http://museum.zib.de/sgml_internet/s...fld_0=GR016002

[Erich B.]

Fantastic piece--the craftsmanship is outstanding!
Is this going to be in your current auction? I didn't see it posted in the new listings..
The Leipzig museum has additional sketches by the same artist for various levels/years designs. The Senior City Councillor also has a similar city Wappen device.
I would guess the 1937 chain was also designed by Alfred Schäfter.

http://museum.zib.de/sgml_internet/s...&suchen=Suchen

Does anyone know how often new chains were created? I assume they didn't make a new one each year.

Erich

[Craig Gottlieb]

That's interesting. I wonder if that was a preliminary design. The one I have has some striking similarities, and some noted differences. The family is sending along the letters, photos, newspaper clippings, and other documents, next week. They tell me one letter goes into detail about exactly how and where he obtained the chain.