April 2012 Sale

Well, I haven't received everything yet, but since there's so much, I'm going to make this sale a 2-parter, with the remainder going off in June, assuming everything arrives. Included in the sale are V1 propaganda leaflets, both those actually flown on the the V1 (extremely rare as most were destroyed an impact, and the majority of the rest were gathered by the British authorities and destroyed) as well as leaflets touting the V1's destuction and dropped on Allied forces to worry them about what was happening at home.

For a decade I've been accumulating Freikorps Real Photo postcards, as I'm very interested in this period of German history; I started in 2001 by buying one old gentleman's lifetime collection, as he was selling out to give the money to his children. So don't let the number of duplicates fool you, because I've been hovering up all these I can find in Germany like I said, for the last ten years -- while the destroyed building scenes are fairly common, those with Freikorps soldiers are scarce and usually only found one or two at a time, here and there. For example are two from the Strassenkampf in Berlin showing an early tank in battle on the Berlin streets -- a rare image, not often encountered.

In the last week I've put up some rare and disturbing concentration camp material, from Gestapo files to letters committing prisoners (a juvenile, a 'pervert', a suspected Communist, etc) to Berlin-area camps (KL Sachsenhausen and KL Lichtenburg). Also, since the last sale I've added a number of better Zeppelins, some German Colonies, some postwar German local rarities, etc. -- all in all, about 450 almost all better items!

Click here or on the image to view the sale.

October Sale

I wasn't planning another sale until January, but I'm heading to Europe next month on another buying spree (yay!), and I've accumulated a lot of better items since the spring sale, so...

The neatest item is probably a signed letter (ALS) from John Jay, president of the Continental Congress and first Supreme Court Chief Justice; sent to John Adams, the second president of the US (before he was president). Its companion piece is a letter from James McHenry, Secretary of War, from the same estate. There are also some better Italian stamps (particularly Tuscany), some diverse Germany material including a group of private, original photos of the SMS Deutschland after its bombing at Ibiza during the Spanish Civil War. I've included some 17th century French maps and views, and a good selection of Austria, from classic stamps to many WWI Naval documents. Not at all related, I also have the better postwar BRD and West Berlin sets and singles. Click here or on the image to view the sale.

March Sale

This sale is well represented with pre-1945 Austria and Germany including German Offices (Turkey/Morocco/China), an MSP from the SMS Kaiserin Augusta stationed off of the Philippines during the Manila Blockade; WWII feldpost including a unique SS Norway Totenkopf privately printed Christmas card -- on the verso of a Churchill "Wert kein Pfennig!" propaganda card. The Austria contains many Empire-period stamps, a Boxer Rebellion Schiffspost, etc. Also antique maps and books from the area as well. Click here or on the image to view the sale.

Rheinfels Castle Sankt Goar

I've added a photo tour of the Sankt Goar area on the Rhine river. There are about 40 castles within an hour of the town. The largest ruin, that of Schloss Rheinfels, sits above the town itself, and just around the bend is the Lorelei rock, famous for it's siren that drove sailors mad and had them crash their ships against the rocks. Click here or on the image to go to history-of-germany.com to view the tour.

Speyer Cathedral and Technical Museum

A photo tour of two impressive sites in Speyer, Germany: the Imperial Cathedral including the crypt of three Holy Roman Emperors and the founder of the Imperial House of Habsburg, Koenig Rudolf; and the Speyer Technical Museum, sister organization to the fantastic Sinsheim Technik Museum. Of the many highlights at the Speyer technical museum are an original German submarine to walk around in (the U9), and rare copies of the one and two man (Biber) late-WWII subs as well (these can't be walked around in, for obvious reasons). There are a few pieces of other assorted WWII-era machinery, a large number of airplanes and trains, and the complete Soviet Space Shuttle, which was a functional, working copy of the US Space Shuttle that was abruptly discontinued when the USSR fell. Click here or on the image to go to history-of-germany.com to view the tour.

Christmas in January Sale

Germany and Austria Postal History and Stamps: Flown Zeppelins, Germany WWII Volunteer Feldpost, German SW Africa Weather Station reports from small towns, Austria classic stamps, 15-16th century European cartography, and miscellenaous better German postal history. Click here or on the image to view the sale.