Special Collections

Sold between 10 November & 8 May 2019

2 parts

.

The Colonel Farnes Collection

Colonel Keith Farnes

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Lot

№ 630

.

10 November 2021

Hammer Price:
£360

A German Second World War Afrika Korps Grouping to Unteroffizier M. Spinnenbirn.

A superb grouping of a German Afrika Korps soldier, comprising:
* Soldbuch missing front cover and photograph, missing pages 5 and 6, missing pages 23 to 25 finance records, missing page 26 on awards and accommodations, the missing pages the result of standard Wehrmacht security instructions to remove and destroy certain pages from the Soldbuch prior to the likelihood of capture
* Photograph of Spinnenbirn as a prisoner of war, face on side view wearing his Afrika Korps tunic heavily bleached with breast eagle, his Panzer collars on each collar, shoulder boards and collar patches. One can assume that Spinnerbirn at least had the Iron Cross Second Class and the silver Tank Battle Badge from the French campaign with the 10th Panzer Division, or in the early battles in North Africa
* A letter from his Commanding Officer to his father enclosing the Italian German medal without ribbon so his son will have it when he returned from the prisoner of war camp
* A letter from his Commanding Officer to his family saying how he was captured
* An Army letter saying he is confirmed as being a prisoner of war at a British camp in Cairo
* A prisoner of war political classification sheet
* His prisoner of war post-War French identity card
* A very nice prisoner of war card showing Spinnerbirn and his colleagues in a group photograph from Canada to his mother in Germany
* A selection of many beautifully handmade birthday and Christmas cards from his fellow prisoners to him, the artwork is in typical German high quality fashion, many of the cards are pen signed by many of his compatriots, indicating that the recipient must have been a popular Unteroffizier
* Various other related wartime documents; together with many pre published photographs added as historical research. A fantastic grouping,
good condition (lot) £180-£220

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Colonel Farnes Collection.

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