Adolf Hitler’s desk and chair sold for $29,000 at Milestone Auctions over the weekend, some way below the $100,000-1m estimate.
So what went wrong?
The key issue will have been the desk’s history.
This desk stood in Hitler's Munich apartment from 1929 until 1945
This was not a piece of furniture that stood in Hitler’s Reich chancellery in Berlin, or even in the bunker where he lived out the last few days of his life.
Instead it was a gift from an early supporter; Princess Cantacuzene of Romania (aka Elsa Bruckmann) and her husband, Hugo Bruckmann.
Hitler received it in 1929, when he was still resident in Munich – the stronghold of the Nazi party during its formative years.
It remained in his apartment in the city until it was taken by the Americans in 1945.
While it does have an intimate connection to Hitler’s meteoric rise, it doesn’t have a specific connection to any of the major events in his life or to his time as leader of Germany.
Specifics are hugely important in the world of memorabilia and the price paid seems appropriate as a result.
By contrast, the desk Hitler used to sign the 1938 Munich Treaty with Britain sold for $423,000 in 2011.
We have a signature from one of Nazi Germany’s most fearsome opponents for sale, click here to find out more.
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