Hitler's Gun? up for auction...

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jefnvk

Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
4,940
Location
Metro Detroit, Michigan
Hitler's (potentially) drilling rifle to be auctioned on GunBroker

EDIT: Just realized the link doesn't work. Here is one that does: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/23/hitler.gun.ap/index.html

A gun believed to be Hitlers, a 12ga/8mm drilling rifle, is going to be auctioned on GunBroker. Should be interesting to see how this goes. Money goes to the Anti-Defamation League.

Story says the gun should go for $7K without the whole potentially being Hitler's story with it.
 
Last edited:
Wouldn't you think that a gun that belonged to Hitler might be sold somewhere other than GunBroker??!? I'd think that one of the big auction houses would be the right venue for such a thing, if the sellers were looking to maximize the dollars.

--Shannon
 
A local paper reports the gun as being made by Kreigoff and in 16 guage/8mm, probably 8X57JR.
The gun is being sold through a Pawn Shop!? in Bloomington Illinois and has the initals A.H. engraved.
It was brought back by a USGI who recovered the gun drom a secluded mountain nideout supposedly used by Hitler and located in the Bavarian mountains near the Eagles Nest location.
The soldier ended up settling in central Illinois and has had the gun under a bed for most of the last 60 years, taking it out for occasional hunting trips.

He passed away last year and the family wants nothing to do with guns.
Big suprise in Illinois right?

Anyway, I personally don't doubt the validity of the aquisition, I have grave doubts as to the provenance of the original owner.

The current owners should well have considered a professional appraisal or at the very least submitting the gun to the PBS show 'History Detectives' prior to this sale.
 
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...330CE327E041EEF4862570E100157E22?OpenDocument
German gun that may have been Hitler's is up for auction
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
12/24/2005

BLOOMINGTON, ILL.

A rare German gun that may have belonged to Adolf Hitler - allegedly taken as a souvenir 60 years ago when U.S. forces captured one of his secret hideaways - could fetch thousands of dollars in an online auction next month, organizers said.

No one knows for sure whether the infamous Nazi dictator owned the Krieghoff Drilling shotgun/rifle engraved with the initials "A.H.," which will be sold at www.gunbroker.com in an auction hosted by Midwest Exchange, a Bloomington pawn shop.

Randall Gibson, author of "The Krieghoff Parabellum," a reference book on the gun maker, said the gun probably is authentic. The company gave engraved guns to Hitler and other high-ranking German officials as it sought military contracts before World War II.

The gun's owners, who live in central Illinois but have not been identified, will donate net proceeds of the auction to the Anti-Defamation League, a national group that combats anti-Semitism and bigotry, said Midwest Exchange owner Wes Lane.

A league official said Friday that the organization welcomes donations but would rather the owners donate the gun to a museum where it could be preserved and safeguarded.

"When you auction it off you never know who might buy it. ... We prefer it not fall into the hands of people who praise or laud Hitler because there certainly are still people out there who do that," said Adam Schupack, associate director of the league's Chicago office.

The gun would likely sell for at least $7,000 without a connection to Hitler, Lane said.
Click to expand...
 
Gee, I hope it doesn't lower MY 3 Hitler guns.:) Seriously, if the paper trail wasn't damn near perfect, I wouldn't touch it. Assuming I had the dollars to be a player.
 
I thought the gun belonged to Augustus Heideger! Or was it Arnold Heimberger? Anyway, I've got a Head tennis racket with the initials AH that definitely belonged to Adolph Hitler that I will be selling here. I also have a cross-bow with the initials GK that belonged to Ghengis Khan (apologies to John Kerry) that I'm thinking of letting go as well. I'm going to hang on to my "C" Charlemaigne wine goblet that my grandfather picked up while on the continent during the great war (World War I). I just couldn't let that piece go.
 
Black Majik said:
Even though I'd never buy a gun owned by A. Hitler, I definitely wouldn't bid on one that may have been his.
Click to expand...

AGREE
But if it was given to me , I would take it
 
Randall Gibson,author of the book, "The Kreighoff Parabellum" said the gun probably is authentic,(not in quotes as written in the paper).
Translation,
Mr. Gibson states the gun is probably an authentic Kreighoff drilling and Kreighoff did give guns to high ranking officials of the Reich.
As to an Adolph connection,,,,,
Please note, as far as I know, he made no attempt to buy the gun outright.
Again, call out the History Detectives on this one!
Caveat Emptor!
 
Whats up with all the Hitler stuff that may belong to him , Who in America would buy one of these things. Well Im sure there is somebody but sounds crazy to me.
 
f4t9r said:
Whats up with all the Hitler stuff that may belong to him , Who in America would buy one of these things. Well Im sure there is somebody but sounds crazy to me.
Click to expand...

For stuff that did belong to Hitler, it's a piece of history. Even if that history is one of ultimate evil.

As to this object, which may have belong to Hitler... Well, my 1930's pocket watch may have belong to Hitler... but it didn't. Anyone who pays a premium for this gun because of who may have owned it, but may have not, deserves what they get. A 1930s German drilling is a valuable gun in and of itself. Claiming unlikely histories that can't be proven is silly. Paying more for them is even sillier.

--Shannon
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top