Can anyone help - i have in my family the original bell from the destroyer, Graf Spee. If i wanted to sell to a collector how would be best to do this and how much do you think id be looking at for a perfect specimen? Any advice would be great. Spence
I have never heard of any destroyer named "Graf Spee" in any navy. There was an armored ship (sometimes also called a large cruiser or "pocket battleship") in the German Navy called the Graf Spee. It was trapped by the Royal Navy and scuttled in the River Plate in 1939. This is the only warship, of which I am aware, that carried that name. As for selling it, you could contact a military memorabilia collector for suggestions. Many of them advertise in military history magazines. Or you might try eBay. Given the item involved I would certainly expect to be required to establish the authenticity of the bell.
I replied in your other post,but here is just another exmple of the graf spee bell saga... Graf Spee Bell in Lago MerÃ*n Beach Town Church? on Uruguay Daily News
Not a destroyer, but wasn't there supposed to be a battlecruiser with that name. She was never completed and broken up in the 20's.
Hi Spence I'm just wondering, how do you know it's original? Was it seen by an expert? Before you make any decison on selling it, i like to mention that there have been replica's of the ship's bell made. Appearently a bunch of Cast Iron bells were reproduced with the inscription "Graf Spee 1939". Very little is known about where the original Graf Spee bell currently is. From what i know about the bell is that it was removed by it's crew along with other symbolic items like the ship's photo just before it was set ablaze. It was recoverd in the hopes that it would be sent back to Germany. Wheather it made it back home I'm not sure. But Wouldn't it be interesting if you owned it. It would be great if you can show us a picture of your bell. But again I would like to point that there were replica's made and they are even available for auction on the internet. I saw one on Ebay for 20 british pounds. So get it checked out.. note, if it says 1939 inscripted on it.. the odds are that it's possibly a replica because the ship was commisioned in 1936. 1939 was when the ship was scuttled. Anyway keep us posted on it.. I imagine it would be worth alot if it's the original bell from the graf spee. But if I had the original bell I wouldn't want to sell it.. that's an amazing piece of history. Suzie
Here is an example of a replica that I mentioned above.. it's currently in auction "A commemorative production bell marked with the name of the famous German battleship Graf Spee" Commemorative Bell Graf Spee suzie
Increasing ammounts of counterfit WWII items in circulation. Seventeen or eighteen years ago my aunts husband was very interested in a battered old nazi ceramonial dagger my father had. His hobby was knife making and he wanted make reproductions of the nazi dagger. I've also been shown nazi dinner plates and coffe cups that were claimed as banquet ware from the dinning rooms of important nazis. The stuff was obviously made in one of the many dinner ware or ceramics factories in Ohio. Folks have tried to push old beat up K98, Mosin-Nagants, and Italian Baretta-Gardone rifles as "SS sniper rifles" on my friends. I suspect the many skinheads and Aryan nations wannabes that appeared in the last two decades are feeding this counterfit or fraud market.
I agree that there seems to be an increase in the Nazi memorabilia on the market. I have seen dozens of fake "SS sniper rifles" many of them fitted with scopes manufactured post war, and "SS Officer's pistols" clearly marked with post war police symbols. At One gun show I attended, there was a booth prominently hung with "Nazi" swastika flags and thronged with what were obviously young neo-nazis. The guy in the booth was earnestly assuring the crowd that the Nazi daggers he was selling were authentic. Upon examining one, I noticed a tiny inscription almost buried under the ornate hilt; it read "Made in Japan"! I think the flow of these items is from opportunistic minor capitalists desiring to make a few bucks off the terminally gullible, to young Nazi admirers. No serious collector would buy such junk and the only other obvious market would be wannabe Nazis. Another factor would be that fewer and fewer authentic German items are on the market and those that are usually fetch exorbitant prices, so it's getting very profitable to produce fakes to sell to people who can't tell the difference.