WWII Stein

[Trentaholic]

Hello,

I'm not sure what forum, thread, or even where I should exactly post something like this, but I thought maybe someone here may be able to help me.

I have acquired a few WWII items over the years from relatives and distant relation, including a stein that, "supposedly" used to belong to Rudolph Hess himself. His name is inscribed onto the item along with other German phrases or quotations. I have searched the internet as to find some kind of information on it; whether it would be how much it may be worth, if there are collectors for this type of thing, or even if it is truly authentic.

If anyone has any information on such an item, or perhaps where I may locate someone with knowledge on WWII memorabilia...it would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Thunder]

Hello,

I'm not sure what forum, thread, or even where I should exactly post something like this, but I thought maybe someone here may be able to help me.

I have acquired a few WWII items over the years from relatives and distant relation, including a stein that, "supposedly" used to belong to Rudolph Hess himself. His name is inscribed onto the item along with other German phrases or quotations. I have searched the internet as to find some kind of information on it; whether it would be how much it may be worth, if there are collectors for this type of thing, or even if it is truly authentic.

If anyone has any information on such an item, or perhaps where I may locate someone with knowledge on WWII memorabilia...it would be appreciated.

Thank you.

take it to the Antique Roadshow.

[bpesta22]

rr auctions sells war stuff on commission. You might be able to describe / photograph it in an email and they might tell you if it's valuable.


www.rrauction.com/


Post a pic of it here-- curious!

[Trentaholic]

Thank you both. I will definitely try to get a picture of it soon.

:)

[wexer9]

Thank you both. I will definitely try to get a picture of it soon.

:)
Sounds interesting, I'd like to see it.

[Foolmewunz]

One give-away that it's not so lucrative a field as you might think is the number of seller versus buyers that you can find.

WWII-collectibles.com offers a free preliminary appraisal, which sounds kind of fair. You send them good pics, they'll tell you if it really merits a professional appraisal.

http://www.wwii-collectibles.com/toppage/abs-page.html

While it could just be a hook to get you into buying a full appraisal, it's a sensible approach in dealing with any collectible.

If you have no pedigree, be careful. There's a big market for nazi beer steins, all made after the war. If it's ceramic and has lots of art work, it's likely one of those. You can get them for 50 to 150 bucks.

Here's an actual commemorative from the Nazi era, apparently with a pedigree and being offered for about $350.

http://www.usmbooks.com/nazi_beer_stein.html

If yours actually is like this and says, "To our loving Rudolf Hess", it could be worth considerably more, as the above is just a neutral commemorative.

[Big Les]

I don't know much about this kind of item, but as FMW suggests, a Hess-related inscription most likely marks it as a commemorative, rather than personally-owned (by Hess) object.

You wouldn't expect a mug with "Lady Di, Queen of Hearts" to have belonged to her. Whereas a monographed piece of silver just might have (though clearly anyone can put initials on an object). Any object with a claimed personal connection will need a rock-solid provenance backed up with paperwork - or it's of value pretty much only to the current owner.

I once had an enquiry about "Adolf Hitler's hood ornament" that turned out to be a cast iron Nazi eagle - not the sort of thing you'd find on a Merc staff car.

PS "Trent"aholic as in NIN?

[Trentaholic]

Yes, Big Les. "Trent"aholic as in NIN. :)

I'm almost positive the stein is not a fake. It belonged to my Grandmother who was in Europe at the time of WWII, and she is the one who told me it used to belong to Hess himself. I always loved the stein because of how close it was to some real part of history- so I can't say I'm really looking to sell it. But I wouldn't mind knowing more about it.

Like I said, I'll try and get some pictures. And thank you to those who replied, I will try and contact all of the people you suggested once I have the pictures taken.

[RobRoy]

I'm almost positive the stein is not a fake. It belonged to my Grandmother who was in Europe at the time of WWII, and she is the one who told me it used to belong to Hess himself. I always loved the stein because of how close it was to some real part of history- so I can't say I'm really looking to sell it. But I wouldn't mind knowing more about it.

I always love little slices of history. I'm a sucker for pocket watches. The older the better, of course, not necessarily because of their worth. I just love that they have been so many places, used for mundane and important events. Amazing.

I'm curious though, how did your grandmother acquire the peice? How does she know it was owned by "Hess himself"? Is there some documentation that you can include which would reduce the skepticism about the peice and its origin? A peice like this would be interesting, since Hess spent the majority of the war imprisoned in Abergavenny, Wales. I'm uncertain how Nazi Germany reacted in regards to Hess' personal property and affects left behind, but I would think they were likely seized.

Like I said, I'll try and get some pictures. And thank you to those who replied, I will try and contact all of the people you suggested once I have the pictures taken.

I'd love to see the peice as well. Very curious as to what Rudolph Hess might have drunk from. :D

[Big Les]

Oh, I'm not suggesting it's a fake - just that it's more likely to be *about* Hess than *of* him, if you see what I mean. Doesn't make it uninteresting or somehow not historical. Quite the opposite. In fact it (and the others no doubt so marked) say more about Nazi Germany than Hess' own stein might!

It would be worth getting it properly appraised - a museum can't advise on value, but ought to be able to tell you its significance - a dealer will give you both, but will charge you for the privilege. But failing that I'm sure the chaps here can shed more light if you can post some pics.

[Trentaholic]

Yes, sorry for the delay. I have pictures up on photobucket, but I can't post the links without having at least 15 posts on these forums.

As far as the stein is concerned, I haven't gotten an appraisal yet. I have no documentation proving the stein is authentic- so no one (so far) can tell me much about it.
I am still looking.

But I am very grateful that everyone here is so interested in seeing the stein! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who thinks it's a pretty neat piece of history!

Once I get up to fifteen posts then I will post the links to the photos.

Or you can e-mail me at MsSelfDestruct1@Yahoo.com, and I will be more than happy to send you pictures.

[Big Les]

Done!

[LibraryLady]

Take your close up pictures, especially of the marks, and go to the largest library in your area. I answered questions like this all the time when I was in the Fine Arts department, where the collectibles are.

[Big Les]

Here we go;

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2492.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2490.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2489.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2483.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2480.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2479.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2478.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2477.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/Trentaholic/IMG_2476.jpg

Fire these links off to some museums and libraries and see what you get. You'll want to address the queries to the keeper or curator of Decorative Art in the case of museums, and I guess as LibraryLady says, to the Fine Art section for the libraries.

German museum types in my experience are very helpful and also fluent in English - maybe these guys;

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1472901/Museum-of-Decorative-Arts

I can't really help myself, sorry.

[Trentaholic]

Thank you for posting the pictures, since I don't think I will ever reach 15 posts myself.
I have spoken and sent the pictures to some WWII collectors and they say it looks authentic, but they really can't give me much information without any proof of authenticity. :(

Oh well...I'll find something eventually.