A silver pencil believed to have belonged to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has sold at auction in Belfast, UK, for £5,400 ($6,700). How informed Sky News channel, this is only a small part of the amount the auction organizers expected to receive.
According to the chain, the lot was expected to go under the hammer at Bloomfield Auctions for 50-80,000 pounds.
The pencil has Hitler’s initials – AH (Adolf Hitler), as well as the name “Eva” written in German.
According to Sky News, it is believed that Hitler’s partner, Eva Braun, gave him this pencil on his birthday, April 20, 1941.
In 2002 the pencil was purchased by a certain collector (his name is undisclosed – as is the name of the new owner).
The auction took place on Tuesday, June 6. There were buyers for other items related to Nazi Germany.
In particular, for 6.2 thousand pounds (7.7 thousand dollars) an original photograph of Hitler with a signature was sold – it was expected that this lot would be sold for 10-15 thousand pounds.
Hitler-related items have already been auctioned in different countries more than once. Last year, at an auction in the United States, sold Hitler’s gold watch, whose new owner paid over $1.1 million.
In 2019 it became known that at an auction in Bavaria in Nuremberg exposed For sale are five paintings believed to be of Hitler. Then there were no buyers for them.
The Moral Side of the Question
Such auctions often provoke outrage and criticism – especially from Jewish organizations.
How transmitted The BBC Broadcasting Corporation, the European Jewish Association, last week urged Bloomfield Auctions to stop selling lots related to Nazi themes.
The association’s president, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, warned that the buying and selling of such items is “dangerous on many fronts”. According to him, we are talking about “a terrible trade in objects belonging to mass murderers”.
Carl Bennett, managing director of auction house Bloomfield, defended the sale of such lots.
According to Bennett, these objects “retain a part of our past and should be treated as historic objects” – even if the period of history with which they are associated is one of the darkest.
“I understand why it can be difficult for some people to understand why these items are being sold and collected,” Bennet admitted.
Bill Panagopoulos, owner of Alexander Historical Auctions, said earlier that he had received death threats in connection with the sale of Hitler’s watches.
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