53rd Hermann Historica Auction Draws Many High Final Bids

Munich, Germany

:The 53rd Hermann Historica auction on October 15–18 was a complete success, according to the auction house, with extremely high final bids obtained in every category offered.

Only 50 of the helmets of the Mexican palace guard under the regency of the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I (1864–1867) were ever made, and the starting price of $30,000 had already indicated that this helmet would fetch a good price. Then on the day of the auction, a bidders' duel took place in the auction hall, over the telephone and — for the first time — live on the Internet, to be settled in favor of an online bidder from Mexico for $89,420.

There was also a remarkable battle for possession of the winner's loving cup for the XV German Marksman Championship in Munich in 1906, donated by the local Josef Sedlmayr zum Franziskanerkeller Brewery. The gilded silver goblet, bearing a silver view of the city of Munich mounted on a lapis lazuli ball on its lid, went from a starting price of $6,500 to the trade for a final bid of $71,580.

Russian bidders reached the exceptional price of $44,280 for a Russian dagger (kinjal) manufactured at Zlatoust around 1900, several times its valuation. A French saber for officers of the mounted chasseurs of Napoleon's Young Guard (1812–1815) offered at $17,400 went for a suspected record price of $36,900.

Ernst-Ludwig Wagner, co-proprietor of Hermann Historica, summed up the recent fall auction, saying, "Once again, we had a very good auction with excellent results and high bids in every category of collectible pieces offered."

Antique and historical weapons have been a house specialty since the early days of Hermann Historica, and the 53rd auction gave further proof of their flair for this field. From the Guttmann collection, a sensational early Bronze Age horde discovery in southeast Europe from the third century BC, four ceremonial silver axes, virtually unique for this period, 23 copper hatchets and a heavy copper axe, were sold at $68,000. From the same collection as the axes and hatchets, a Corinthian bronze helmet from the late Seventh Century started at $33,500 and found a new owner at $61,500.

There was the same level of interest shown for a rare Illyrian bronze helmet from southeast Europe in the Fifth Century BC that was sold for $37,500. A Chinese bronze sword with a gold-inlaid grip went for the same final price.

A rare black-white three-quarter suit of armor from Nurnberg around 1540–50 of high-quality craftsmanship and in very beautiful condition went to a private collector for $57,200. Only a very few wooden shields have survived the centuries, and so they are correspondingly desirable museum pieces and rarely offered for sale. One of these rare shields was offered, and bids for this crossbowman's pavise from the Swiss Winterthur reached a final price of $39,360.

Among other items, remarkable final bids were obtained for a Swedish field gun barrel from 1630, $27,675; a southern German wheel-lock Stutzen (short rifle) from 1650, $41,200; and a 1900 Luger pistol from the Kingdom of Serbia, $31,980.

All prices have been converted from euros to US dollars and include the 23 percent buyer's premium.

For information, www.hermann-historica.com or 89-547 26 49 9.