Adolf Hitler's Gold Presentation Watch to be Sold at Auction

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Jul 12, 2022, 08:32 ET

CHESAPEAKE CITY, Md., July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 28-29, 2022 Maryland auctioneers Alexander Historical Auctions, known internationally for their sale of historical military objects, will be offering an ornately-engraved gold watch presented to Adolf Hitler in 1933 by grateful Nazi Party members. The watch is estimated to bring over $2,000,000.

The bronze desk set and blotter used by Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, and the other signatories to the Munich Pact in 1938 when a portion of Czechoslovakia was ceded to Germany. Chamberlain believed he had obtained "peace in our time." Instead, the agreement only emboldened Hitler, and he invaded Poland a year later, starting World War II. To be offered at auction August 29, 2022 by Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland.

Adolf Hitler's gold Huber reversible wristwatch, presented to him by the Nazi Party in 1933. The watch was discovered by a French soldier in the ruins of Hitler's vacation retreat at Berchtesgaden and has remained in his family ever since. The other side of the case, which can be rotated, displays the time. To be offered at auction by Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland, U.S.A. August 28, 2022.

The reversible watch is deeply engraved with a 1933 Nazi eagle and swastika, along with the dates of Hitler's birth, his appointment as Chancellor, and the date of elections in Germany which gave Hitler complete control of the country. No other watch owned by Hitler has ever come to market. The Huber watch with LeCoultre movement was discovered by a French soldier who was among the first to reach the dictator's vacation retreat in Berchtesgaden, Germany, on May 4, 1945 – four days after Hitler killed himself in his Berlin bunker. The soldier stumbled on this relic as he and his comrades plundered the underground passages beneath Hitler's bombed-out home. The watch remained in the soldier's family for decades until it was sold to another family member in the 1980s.

The auction will also offer a second military watch of great notoriety. On September 12, 1943 German commandos led by Major Otto Skorzeny freed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from imprisonment on an Italian mountaintop. Mussolini thanked the commandos with gifts of engraved gold Swiss watches. At war's end, while under Allied arrest, Skorzeny was convinced by American secret agents that he could trade his watch for a route to freedom – information desired by the agents. In the end, Skorzeny escaped, and an agent kept his Mussolini watch. It is being offered with an estimate of $15,000.

Of special importance is the bronze desk set and blotter used by Adolf Hitler during the signing of the Munich Pact on September 30, 1938. The agreement, signed by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy, ceded part of Czechoslovakia to Germany for what British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain promised would be "peace in our time." Hitler was instead emboldened, and a year later he would invade Poland – and bring on World War II. It would also lead to Chamberlain's ousting and the installation of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister.

Other important lots in the 1,600 lot sale include Hitler's signed declaration that he would remain in Berlin until the end; an original script from Orson Welles' famous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast that terrified the East Coast; Alfred Hitchcock's signed copy of his script for "Strangers On a Train"; an excessively rare letter and envelope signed by Mao Zedong; and historic groupings of maps and documents from the files of the captain of HMS AJAX, describing the battle leading to the sinking of the German battleship GRAF SPEE in December, 1939.

Bidding will be available live, by telephone, and at the auctioneer's web site.

Bidding is also available at websites invaluable.com and liveauctioneers.com. Alexander Historical Auctions may be reached at 203-276-1570, email: [email protected], website: historyauctioneer.com.

SOURCE Alexander Historical Auctions LLC