Adolf Hitler’s watch sells for more than $1M at Maryland auction house

A wristwatch said to have belonged to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler sold for $1.1 million, according to the Maryland auction house that oversaw the sale.

Alexander Historical Auctions states on its website that the Lot 9 time piece had an estimated value of $2 million to $4 million. It’s unclear who purchased the gold Andreas Huber reversible wristwatch. That company said the watch was “most likely” given to the German dictator on his 44th birthday in 1933.

It’s unclear who purchased the gold Andreas Huber reversible wristwatch but the company said the watch was “most likely” given to the right-wing nationalist on his 44th birthday in 1933.

The “spoils of war” artifact reportedly came into the possession of a French soldier who claimed it on May 4, 1945, when Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest retreat in the mountains of Bavaria was taken by allied forces. The watch was one of several items linked to the Nazi leader that was sold by the Chesapeake City auction house despite objections by at least one prominent Jewish group.

“Whilst it is obvious that the lessons of history need to be learned — and legitimate Nazi artifacts do belong in museums or places of higher learning — the items that you are selling clearly do not,” says an open letter from the European Jewish Association. “That they are sold to the highest bidder, on the open market is an indictment to our society, one in which the memory, suffering and pain of others is overridden for financial gain.”

Alexander Historical Auctions states on its website that a watch owned by Adolf Hitler has sold.

Other items advertised on Alexander Historical Auctions’ website included a dress belonging to Hitler’s lover Eva Braun, an “A.H.” monogrammed linen and a golden eagle, which hung in Hitler’s bedroom in Berlin. The auction house said that item sold for $200,000, which is 10 times the amount it was expected to fetch.

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Auction house president Andrew Jeong told the Washington Post the watch’s anonymous seller is a European Jew and that “it is not our decision” if a seller wants to part with a historical artifact. Some people simply “need the money,” he offered. Jeong claims he and his family have received death threats over the auction.