Featured Neuengamme WWII concentraction camp tobacco tray/box/ashtray.

What an amazing thread this is.

And what a great gesture @JUSTIN JAMES to reach out to the museum. I'm waiting to hear what they say.

 

I am very curious what they will say as well. Will update when I hear back.

 

So I heard back this morning from an archivist at the Neuengamme Memorial. They were very interested in the cigarette tray. Like several suggested here, they think it was mostly likely made post war (1945 to 1948), when the British used the camp to hold detained German soldiers. I felt a bit of relief knowing this, and that the maker may not have died in that camp. It made the piece a little less haunting for me.

They did notice but could not make out the initial marks from the original set of pics (far better eyes than mine) so I sent them close-up pics with my reply as well.

The actually offered to buy the cigarette tray. I told them I was open to whatever they thought was fair and that I really just wanted to confirm if it was an artifact and find a proper home for it to be preserved and displayed. I suspect I will be packaging and mailing it off later this week.

I really want to thank all who chimed in on this, as well as the other items I have posted here in the past. I am not a frequent visitor to this forum but I have always found it and its members very informative and positive. I am still fairly new to treasure hunting and do not have the experience or expertise of many of you have accrued. Thank you all for sharing.

 

A nice outcome !!!
Well done Mr. James ..

Don't be a stranger........ & help save your resident killer whales !!!!

 

Great story-- thanks for the update.

 

That is a nice outcome. Thank you for sharing it.

 

So interesting. And that would explain why it ended up in the UK.

Debora

 

I found it on the west coast of Canada. The SOS thrift store in Parksville. British Columbia to be exact.

 

Ah, that's interesting. So far from... well, "home" isn't exactly the right word. But given Canada was part of the Commonwealth...

Debora

 

For sure and a lot of Germans immigrated here as well.

 

@Boland

Here are few pictures of the tobacco box that I mentioned, made by a Russian POW in a German POW camp here in Norway.

The box is some 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" X 1" (9 cm x 6.5 cm X 2.5 cm). It is inscribed on the back Christmas 1944, and has the recipienets name engraved too.
The box is beautifully made, and the lid is so tight it would be almost airtight. Making this today in my workshop, in silver, brass copper etc, would present me no problems, but making it in aluminium.... I cannot begin to think of how he did this given his limited tools. The hinge is beautifully made. It is a shame he didn't write his name on it somewhere. It is a quite remarkable piece of workmanship.
Similar items from other camps do surface from time to time here. Items like this were made and swapped or sold to get extra provisions from the locals when the POW's were out working in the fields or doing outside building work etc.


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Absolutely beautiful hinge.....

Back, engraved with the owners name and date Christmas 1944.

 

It is a shame he didn't write his name on it

I would think pow's would not be allowed to give out their names....on items made in captivity..

 

No, possibly not Komo. That said even a mark or initial of some sort, as he would have been justifiably proud of this piece. I wonder how much it cost?

 

good works...by craftsmen...artists....or even my daughter.......that go unsigned.....I just don't get that.......

but....
I read once of an interview where the artist was asked..

" your work is so wonderful, & beautiful...how can you sell it ?

Reply.... I can always make another !!

Some works he signed, some he did not.........

 

Speaking as a craftsman, albeit an incapable one, the next piece can, and will always be better, at least that is my goal, and for that reason, if I am making a few of something, I always make one, then another, then another etc. That keeps it interesting and thus the quality, and I find it is actually quicker than making say five of the same bit, then five of the next bit and so on, that gets boring and thus takes longer, at least for me anyway.....

 

Native artists I've encountered and some I've watched always seem to have several different items on the go at any one time.
I was told that this keeps their ideas, designs, and drive fresh and moving forward.
It also helps to be switching tools, to keep the repetition of movement at a minimum.
So there...

 

yep, not just native craftsmen either. Myself and most of my friends have workshops full of half finished projects! I hate to think of how many thousand hours of work are laying about in the workshop just waiting......... Sometimes for years! The problem with that, is that when one resumes working on a project, it doesn't seem good enough later on, so one begins to re-make odd bits, and then more bits...... It is for that reason that I never have any of my work when it is finished, I'll always be altering this bit or that bit, and it'll never be finished.

 

Then someone else comes along, finds the bits, and "why didn't he finish this???"

I'm wondering if the soldier didn't find the box already made and add do the decoration. That would be more in keeping with Camp tools.

 

Quote from a famous NWC artist..

" when I finish a work....I put it down...and then pick it up a couple of days later. There are always parts I could rework or do better "

 

Very nice and beautifully made. Many thanks for showing us.