Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Third Reich bronze bust of Adolf Hitler by Helene von Beckerath.
One of only three examples cast in 1936, one each for the Armoured Cavalry barracks at Krefield, Leipzig and Frankfurt, height 33cm, circumference of head 79cm, signed by the artist; this example was liberated from the ruins of the barracks at Krefield by a British soldier at the end of the war and taken home, see related typed provenance and photographs, some damage to point of nose and chin caused by fall when demolished, otherwise in good condition with nice patina £4,000-£5,000

Helene von Beckerath was born in Krefield on 19 February 1872, daughter of the silk goods manufacturer Eduard von Beckerath, and related to the painters Moritz and Willy von Beckerath. After studying painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Theodor Rocholl, she went to Paris to study sculpture under Jean-Antoine Injalbert and worked for him on three colossal figures for the Paris World Exhibition in 1900. She exhibited in Düsseldorf and in Paris, and in 1912 received a gold medal at an exhibition in Amsterdam. After several stays in Russia between 1911 and 1913, she had to give up her place of residence in Paris at the beginning of the First World War and returned to Krefeld, where she mainly worked as a sculptor. In 1921 Helene von Beckerath moved to Frankfurt am Main, where she lived and worked until her death there on 19 January 1946. The Städel Museum in Frankfurt owns some of her work.