Ratisbon’s 44th Contemporary Auction

Bidding has ended on Ratisbon’s latest auction which featured plenty of uniforms, medals, daggers and assorted militaria from the

Third Reich. Let’s start with a dress tunic from an Oberleutnant in the Luftwaffe, serving with Regiment General Göring or any other later Hermann Göring unit. A fine and elegant quality privately purchased tunic with insignia, period time attached. Featuring all the right buttons; an excellent quality officer's breast eagle; period time, attached by hand shoulder boards in white with rank of Oberleutnant. The lot included the matching vest. It sold for £1,230 (includes Buyer’s Premium of 22.5%).

A really interesting item next, a jumping smock that belonged to a Fallschirmjäger who fought on Crete. This item, and a few others in the auction, came directly from the veteran and had never been on the market before. This was a so-called Knochensack. This example came with a tan and water camo pattern printed to the cloth. It was a late war issued example, so wasn’t the one worn over Crete itself. It sold for £7,371,57.

Still with the Luftwaffe and a little more affordable, it’s a Wehrmacht officer's leather coat issued to a Luftwaffe officer, an Oberleutnant in this case. This example is the correct type of leather coat which was issued by the Wehrmacht and not a privately purchased period time leather coat often offered as a military example. Made from soft leather with all buttons complete and attached with the original rings. Yellow colored Oberleutnant shoulder boards. It sold for £565.84.

Let’s look at a couple of lids now. Firstly, a Heer M40 single decal helmet. Original factory paint with about 80% of left, signs of wear and age and the eagle decal pretty worn with about 40% left. Partially dry leather lining, original to shell, missing cord and chinstrap. Sold for £301.09. Compare that a Heer M35 double decal helmet with about 95% original paint and the decals at about 85% and 95%. Flexible, original leather lining, still soft, with original cord.

This was the earliest type of helmet issued and sold for a steep £2,720.21.

A nice grouping of items next, to Obermaat Glässner, serving with Kampfflottille 612 in Italy. The grouping hasn’t been available on the market before. Glässner died on 25 August 1946 in a British PoW camp. Part of the grouping is a large size photograph of his grave. It comes with a dark blue sailor's cap with ‘KRIEGSMARINE’ machinewoven cap tally with a cloth ‘F. Glässner’ name tag attached to the black cotton lining. Complete with its metal cap eagle. Also comes with dark blue sailor's shirt with period time attached breast eagle by machine; a period time U-Boat propaganda magazine Front unter Wasser, dating back to 1942; a small photo album with roughly 52 period time photos inside and where Glässner is shown several times. Several period time fieldpost letters and documents allowing plenty of room for additional research. Sold for £846.17.

There were a number of photographic lots, but here’s an interesting one that didn’t sell, which meant it was still available for sale without Buyer’s Commission, for £84.76. It’s a collection of 13 rolls of period time negatives. The pictures show the service of the RAD Abteilung 314 in southern Russia as well as the RAD hospital in Lille (France) in 1944. There’s a few that look over exposed or faded but a lot of the others could be very interesting to make prints of.

There were all kinds of bits of equipment on offer as well.

How about a Wehrmacht 1m rangefinder with housing in field grey, side leather pads and forehead protection intact. Signage and all operating elements are available. It sold for £596.99.

Or, a case, but not just any case, this one most probably for the legendary Enigma machine. Made from wood with a metal frame (iron). The original handle to the top in place. It comes also with the original blue-grey paint. Some parts were removed you can see the holes. Black lettering ‘Chi. Masch. A07552’ on the side. That sold for £290.70.

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