Hitler items sold at county auction

A Hitler self-portrait and a signed edition of his autobiography have fetched £33,300 at a Shropshire auction.

The rare copy of Mein Kampf fetched £21,000 at auction during a Mullock’s sale at Ludlow Racecourse yesterday.

The volume one second edition portrait frontispiece given to a fellow inmate of Landsberg Prison, dated Munich 1925, is reputedly one of the rarest examples of a signed copy of Mein Kampf to appear on the market.

It was bought by a telephone bidder from Moscow.

A pencil drawing on a leaf of paper by Adolf Hitler was sold for £12,300.

The portrait, dated 1926, comes with a letter of provenance from Len Hutchinson of the Royal Artillery Regiment which reads: “The attached pencil drawing of Adolf Hitler is owned by myself. I obtained it from the house of a Nazi leader in Cologne in 1945.

“We went on our first ‘post war’ exploration in the exclusive residential area of the city largely on the look-out for any people still hunkering firearms.

“Late in the afternoon we forced our way into a large villa. The door had been reinforced and we had to machine gun it open. Inside the place was lavish and still largely untouched.

“In the study were many photographs of Adolf Hitler and his cohorts dedicated to the owner. Above the desk in a large gilt frame was this drawing – I removed the drawing put it under my tunic.

“Some years ago I took it to the Imperial War Museum who stated it was a self-portrait by Adolf Hitler done at the time when Mein Kampf had just been published in the autumn of 1925.”

Richard Westwood-Brookes for Mullock’s was delighted with the sale.

He said: “All in all there were some very good prices. I am really pleased at the continual international interest we get in Mullock’s sales.”

He added there were several surprise lots that achieved above and beyond the original estimated prices. Among them was an album of rare photographs charting the horror and destruction caused by the Nazis in Warsaw.

It sold for £3,000 to a telephone bidder in Florida – well over the £500 estimate.

Meanwhile, a handkerchief which was inscribed and signed by Michael Jackson with “I love England” was also auctioned and raised £400.

By Sophie Bignall