A PIECE of Hitler’s desk is going under the hammer in Colchester.
Auction house Reeman Dansie, in Colchester, is selling the 7cm piece of marble for military charity the League of Remembrance, which has had the piece languishing in a drawer for 58 years.
It was taken by Lord Balfour from the Nazi leader’s office in Berlin after he committed suicide and the end of the Second World War.
Lewis Rabatt, auctioneer at Reeman Dansie, said it was one of the most unusual items he had come across.
He said: “We do see oddities.
“But what makes this different is the provenance of it.
“It is exactly what it purports to be.â€
The piece of desk was discovered by Lord Balfour in November 1945 when he was visiting the Chancellery, Hitler’s office.
Russian soldiers, who were in charge of the area, showed him Hitler’s office and the desk, which had been reduced to rubble.
Lord Balfour’s companion on the trip, Sir Sholto Douglas, Marshal of the British Air Force, distracted the soldiers while Lord Balfour took a piece.
He smuggled it out in his coat before breaking it up into three pieces to make paperweights.
One was given to Sir Winston Churchill, while the other two pieces went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London.
What happened to the second piece has been lost, but the third was snapped up by actor Ronald Squire, who gave it to military charity the League of Remembrance.
It was unearthed after the charity discovered it while moving offices in London.
Mr Rabatt said: “Being sneaked out of the Chancellery building right under the noses of Russian soldiers and whisked back to Britain, is straight out of the pages of a Cold War spy novel.
“It’s right up there as one of the more quirky things we have got to see doing this job.â€
The first time the marble pieces were up for auction, they raised money for the RAF.
This time, it will benefit war veterans again.
Reeman Dansie has valued the piece at a couple of hundred pounds.
But Mr Rabatt said he was unsure how much it would make.
He said: “It’s difficult to say really.
“Hitler is quite rightly a controversial and hated figure. But like many of these items which come up, it links us back to a time or moment in history.
“It will appeal to people who collect militaria obviously and have an interest in the Second World War.
“It will certainly make a couple of hundred pounds but it’s a collective piece so it could be something someone feels they have to have and the bids run on.
“We have already had a couple of people ring us about it and there is interest here and in the United States. It will certainly be interesting.â€
It is thought to be the only piece of the desk put up for sale since the end of the Second World War, although the three pieces are not the only in existance.
Pensioner Joy Hunter, who worked with the Government during the war, also sneaked pieces out when she visited the office while working at the Potsdam conference in Berlin after the end of the war.
Other items given by the League of Remembrance to be sold include a map signed by Winston Churchill.
The items will be auctioned off on August 25.
Auction house Reeman Dansie, in Colchester, is selling the 7cm piece of marble for military charity the League of Remembrance, which has had the piece languishing in a drawer for 58 years.
It was taken by Lord Balfour from the Nazi leader’s office in Berlin after he committed suicide and the end of the Second World War.
Lewis Rabatt, auctioneer at Reeman Dansie, said it was one of the most unusual items he had come across.
He said: “We do see oddities.
“But what makes this different is the provenance of it.
“It is exactly what it purports to be.â€
The piece of desk was discovered by Lord Balfour in November 1945 when he was visiting the Chancellery, Hitler’s office.
Russian soldiers, who were in charge of the area, showed him Hitler’s office and the desk, which had been reduced to rubble.
Lord Balfour’s companion on the trip, Sir Sholto Douglas, Marshal of the British Air Force, distracted the soldiers while Lord Balfour took a piece.
He smuggled it out in his coat before breaking it up into three pieces to make paperweights.
One was given to Sir Winston Churchill, while the other two pieces went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London.
What happened to the second piece has been lost, but the third was snapped up by actor Ronald Squire, who gave it to military charity the League of Remembrance.
It was unearthed after the charity discovered it while moving offices in London.
Mr Rabatt said: “Being sneaked out of the Chancellery building right under the noses of Russian soldiers and whisked back to Britain, is straight out of the pages of a Cold War spy novel.
“It’s right up there as one of the more quirky things we have got to see doing this job.â€
The first time the marble pieces were up for auction, they raised money for the RAF.
This time, it will benefit war veterans again.
Reeman Dansie has valued the piece at a couple of hundred pounds.
But Mr Rabatt said he was unsure how much it would make.
He said: “It’s difficult to say really.
“Hitler is quite rightly a controversial and hated figure. But like many of these items which come up, it links us back to a time or moment in history.
“It will appeal to people who collect militaria obviously and have an interest in the Second World War.
“It will certainly make a couple of hundred pounds but it’s a collective piece so it could be something someone feels they have to have and the bids run on.
“We have already had a couple of people ring us about it and there is interest here and in the United States. It will certainly be interesting.â€
It is thought to be the only piece of the desk put up for sale since the end of the Second World War, although the three pieces are not the only in existance.
Pensioner Joy Hunter, who worked with the Government during the war, also sneaked pieces out when she visited the office while working at the Potsdam conference in Berlin after the end of the war.
Other items given by the League of Remembrance to be sold include a map signed by Winston Churchill.
The items will be auctioned off on August 25.