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RIDING CROP OF PRINCE AUGUST WILHELM

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Militaria Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 500.00 USD
RIDING CROP OF PRINCE AUGUST WILHELM
AUGUST WILHELM (1887 - 1949) "Auwi", fourth son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, he joined the nationalist veteran's group "Stahlhelm". In the following years he had increasing contact with Hitler and the National Socialists. He was made an Obergruppenführer, the second highest rank in the SA, but after making derogatory remarks about Joseph Goebbels in private, he was denounced in 1942. Tried and convicted of Nazi sympathies at war's end. Riding crop once owned and used by August Wilhelm, 27 1/2" overall, hallmarked sterling silver top bears his facsimile signature and title: "Prinz von Preussen 1928", the shaft apparently birch in a darker shellac finish. The "business end" of the crop bears a looped piece of sturdy leather (broken at one end), attached to the shaft with waxed thread. The top end of the crop has been slightly crushed - perhaps the prince smashed it upon the ground in anger? Finish is overall quite good, twine is loosening, and a museum number has been painted on the silver but could be easily removed.