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April 6, 2021,
updated 08-09-2022  The strange business of selling fakes, forgeries and other concoctions attributed to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and other Nazi criminals. Introduction (global anual turnover)
"Naturally, exact figures are hard to come by, but the market’s annual global turnover is estimated to be in excess of £30m." [= €35 /$39 million] - Guardian, June 24, 2015. "Despite the trade of Nazi antiquities being banned or strictly regulated in many countries, the market’s annual global turnover is expected to be in excess of $47 million." [= €42 / £36 million] - New York Post, June 27, 2015.
Alex
Preston. The man who sleeps in Hitler's
bed. [Article on Kevin Wheatcroft ]. The
Guardian, London, June 24, 2015.
Copy of this article, with higher
estimation of the turnover: The estimation originates via The
Hitler Virus, a book from the American
journalist Peter Wyden (1923-1998) from Stern
Magazine, October, 1984. Wyden: "The Stern
writers participated in one of the many auctions of
"militaria" that have kept galleries flush with a
business said to be grossing $40 million a year."
Peter
Wyden.
The Hitler Virus. The insidious legacy of Adolf
Hitler. Arcade Publishing, New York, 1998.
Reprint 2011. 'Hitlers' at auctions, dealers and musea, 2017 Upheaval in the US because of a 'Hitler' Hitler's alleged telephone sold for $243,000 Ten alleged Hitlers at three British auctions Fake Hitler in Italian museum Alleged Hitler poem and drawings in Ohio Hitler's alleged underpants Three 'Hitlers' in Munich, sold for € 55,400 Another fake Hitler in Italy A 'Hitler' in the Netherlands A (fake) Nazi hoard in Argentina
Eddie Floyd, heart surgeon, former chairman of the board of the University of South Carolina and well known fundraiser of the Republican party, donated an 'authentic Hitler' watercolor to the Florence County Museum in South Carolina.
 There was much upheaval about of this donation - but no one realized that the work was a fake, and that the upheaval about exhibiting a work made by one of the most evil man ever, was therefore misplaced. There was no upheaval about the fact that an influential man had been so stupid to buy this piece of junk. MSM Picks Up Adolf Hitler Painting Controversy. Fitsnews, 08-02-2017. https://www.fitsnews.com/2017/02/08/msm-picks-up-adolf-hitler-painting-controversy/ To top of page. Hitler's alleged telephone sold for $243,000 A red telephone that was allegedly found in Hitler's Berlin bunker in 1945 was auctioned by Alexander Historical auctions in Chesapeake, Maryland, USA, for $ 234,000 (£195,744).  Soon after the sale
it was debunked by telephone specialists from
several countries. Among them Frank Gnegel,
chief collection of the Musueum of
Communications (Museum für Kommunikation)
in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the Telephone Museum in
Lincoln, Massachusetts.
They
noticed that the speaker and microphone part
originated from England, and the phone itself
was a German product.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39024237 Sebastian Eder. Fachmann ist sicher. "Das Hitler-Telefon ist ganz eindeutig eine Fälschung." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt, 24-02-2017. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/fachmann-sicher-das-hitler-telefon-ist-ganz-eindeutig-eine-faelschung-14893607.html AW/TJ. Hitler phone a fake: German phone expert. DW, Bonn, 25-02-2017. https://www.dw.com/en/hitler-phone-a-fake-german-phone-expert/a-37713206 Allan Hall / Sian Boyle. It should stay in the UK! Son's anger after their father sells Hitler's phone for £195,0000 as doubts are raised over its authenticity. Daily Mail, London, 27-02-2017. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4260928/Hitler-s-wartime-telephone-FAKE.html How Hitler's phone has caused an international bust-up 72 years after his death. BBC News, London, 27-02-2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39105852 To top of page. Ten alleged Hitlers at three British auctions Mullocks, an auction house with a long history of launching fake Hitlers, auctions in 2017 another ten of them. The New York Post reports about one of these auction, without mentioning that the works and the information given by the auctioneer originates from the Hitler forgery industry. See: 'Hitler' Auctioneers - United Kongdom. Mullock's Specialist Auctioneers & Valuers. Survey 2009-2019. Droog Magazine, 2019. Rebecca Wilkin. Hitler’s paintings to be sold at auction next week. New York Post, 30-06-2017. https://nypost.com/2017/06/30/hitlers-paintings-to-be-sold-at-auction-next-week/ To top of page.   'Museo Di Sàlo' in Brescia, Italy, exhibits an oil painting, "made by Hitler". It's an obvious fake, as Hitler never made any oil painting at all. The work was chosen by Vittorio Sgarbi, an Italian art critic. Gavin Haines. 'Piece of s***' painting by Adolf Hitler features in new art exhibition. The Telegraph, 13-03-2017. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/italy/articles/painting-by-adolf-hitler-features-in-new-art-exhibition/ Salò, tenta di squarciare il quadro di Hitler esposto al Museo della Follia. Il Giorno, 04-10-2017. http://www.ilgiorno.it/brescia/cronaca/salo-quadro-hitler-1.3443170 MuSa, folle con cacciavite tenta di sfregiare il quadro di Hitler. Garda Post, 04-10-2017. http://www.gardapost.it/2017/10/04/musa-folle-cacciavite-tenta-sfregiate-quadro-hitler/ Man stabs 'crap' Hitler painting with screwdriver at Museo Di Salo in Italy. DW, 05-10-2017. http://www.dw.com/en/man-stabs-crap-hitler-painting-with-screwdriver-at-museo-di-salo-in-italy/a-40810959 To top of page. Alleged Hitler poem and drawings in Ohio  Milestone Auctions in Willoughby, Ohio (UA) sells a great number of 'authentic' Hitler documents, includings drawings and a poem. This material originates in all likelyhood from Hitler forger Konrad Kujau, who laiunched this material in the 1970's and early 1980's via his American agent, Wolfgang Schulze von Mertschinsky, in the United States.
Lot 65F: Adolf Hitler signed poem. Estimate $ 1000- $ 1500. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/adolf-hitler-signed-poem-65f-c-50c485e99f Lot 65H: Adolf Hitler pencil sketch of soldier. Estimate $ 2000- $ 4000. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/adolf-hitler-pencil-sketch-of-soldier-65h-c-4f54651a61 Lot 65I: Adolf Hitler pencil sketch of Aryan man. Estimate $ 2000-$ 4000. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/adolf-hitler-pencil-sketch-of-aryan-man-65i-c-e124b28895 Lot 65J: Adolf Hitler sketch of Hessian soldier. Estimate $ 2000-$ 4000. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/adolf-hitler-pencil-sketch-of-hessian-soldier-65j-c-31e450aab7 To top of page.
https://www.stern.de/panorama/weltgeschehen/us-auktionshaus-versteigert-adolf-hitlers--ueberraschend-grosse--unterhose-7634958.html Lot 718. Adolf Hitler's linen monogram under shorts. Alexander Historical Auctions, 2017. To top of page. Three 'Hitlers' in Munich, sold for € 55,400 The Munich, Germany based Auction house Hermann Historica auctioned on November 16 and 17 among many Nazi related objects three alleged Hitler works, two drawings and a watercolor. Two of them were accompanied by Certificates of Authenticity. All three of them were obvious fakes.  The drawing on the left, "architectural drawing of the Feldherrnhalle Munich 1919", with CoA's from August Priesack, was sold for € 3400; the watercolor (center), "Karlskirche, Vienna, ca. 1910-1912" for € 50,000; the pencil drawing on the right, with CoA from Anni Winter, would originate from the 1920's and was sold for € 2,000. August Priesack and Anni Winter are known CoA's swindlers. Sources Jaap van den Born & Bart FM Droog. 2017 - Drie Hitlers geveild in München. Droog Magazine, Eenrum, 2018. https://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/niod/vervalsers.html#2017hhnov3ermann Historica. Catalogus Auktion 75. 16.-17. November 2017. Hermann Historica. Ergebnisbericht 75. Auktion. 16.-17. November 2017. To top of page. Another fake Hitler in Italy A
watercolor titled "Wien Stephansdom" (Stephen's
Church, Vienna) allegedly painted by Adolf
Hitler in 1910-1912, is offered on the site of
Militaria Tedesca, run by the Italian Militaria
dealer Antonia Scapini. According to Mr. Scapini "it belonged [in 2017] to an Italian collector who lives out of Italy. He got it from the USA in 2012." The work was sold in 2018 for an unknown amount to an Italian collector.   It's a clear fake however: the figures on
it are too well painted to be made by Hitler and the
Hitler signature on it is an obvious (and very bad)
forgery. Works attributed to Hitler, almost all
fakes just like this one, flood the market since the
early 1970s. Most of them are offered for relative
little money. Peter Jahn (not Jhan), a.k.a. Franz Jahn
was a notorious swindler with a long criminal
record. He was in 1938 shortly employed by the NSDAP
Hauptarchiv in the search for 'Hitlers'.
Within a few months however he was fired because of
utter unreliability. It is the other way around. Whoever bought this junk wasted his money.
Militaria Tedesca, in the Terms & Conditions: “All goods (unless described otherwise) will be sold with a lifelong guarantee on authenticity. With this we mean that the particular item sold was made in the timeframe we present. This will in 99% of the cases be pre '45. The very few items in the dubious zone (souvenir badges from by example S&L) will not be sold with this guarantee, this will then also be stated in the description of that particular item. We also offer you the option to return your item if you are not satisfied with it. This is two weeks after the package was delivered, please respect this termin. This guarantee will only be given on items which are send with registrated or courier mail, as we can check the delivery date. All items are being sold only (and only) as historical important antique objects.”
Does this mean that this lifelong guarantee lasts only two weeks?
Antonio Scapini. Militaria Tedesca, Verona (Italy), 20-12-2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201220121828/http: //www.militariatedesca.it/en/miscellanea/1258-adolf-hitler-watercolor-painting-acquerello-adolf-hitler-sold.html Militaria Tedesca, Verona, [seen 20-12-2020]. http://www.militariatedesca.it/ Antonio Scapini, Verona, [seen 20-12-2020] http://www.antonioscapini.it/ Antonio Scapini, e-mail to Bart FM Droog, 21-12-2020. To top of page.
“Last spring a
visitor brought something completely
different: a dark brown wooden frame with a
watercolor signed A. Hitler. After months of
authentication research, the preliminary
conclusion is: an original painting by Adolf
Hitler. Many forgeries of Hitler's paintings exist. That's why NIOD employee Gertjan Dikken undertook a systematic investigation of the watercolor.” News media all over the world reported about this astonishing discovery. Yet almost nobody asked if NIOD's claims were justified.
Jaap van den Born & Bart FM Droog.
The NIOD statements. Conclusion.
Droog Magazine, Eenrum, December 2017. Dating
watercolours. Pigment research. Dr. Luc Megens en Liza
Lesie. Interview by Jaap van den Born & Bart
FM Droog. Droog Magazine, Eenrum, 16-12-2017. Bart FM Droog (compilation). The world
press after the publication of the doubts on the
NIOD-claim. Droog Magazine, Eenrum, 2017-2018. Sven Felix Kellerhoff. Der nächtste falsche
"Hitler" ist entlarvt. Welt, Berlin,
06-02-2019.
© Compilation Bart FM Droog, 2020. To top of page. |
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