Adolf Hitler’s phone sells for €228,000 at US auction

Red phone has Nazi party symbol and Hitler’s name engraved on the back

Adolf Hitler’s personal travelling telephone is displayed at Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Maryland. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
Adolf Hitler’s personal travelling telephone is displayed at Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Maryland. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

A telephone used by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War has been sold at auction for $243,000 dollars (€228,820).

Andreas Kornfeld of Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Maryland, said it sold on Sunday afternoon to a person who bid by phone.

The auction house does not disclose the names of buyers.

Bidding for the phone started at $100,000 dollars.

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Occupying Russian officers gave the phone to a British officer, Brigadier Ralph Rayner, during a visit to Hitler's bunker in Berlin.

The officer’s son is now selling the red phone with a Nazi party symbol and Hitler’s name engraved on the back.

An engraving of a swastika and Adolf Hitler’s name are seen on the back of Hitler’s personal travelling telephone. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
An engraving of a swastika and Adolf Hitler’s name are seen on the back of Hitler’s personal travelling telephone. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

The phone was used in vehicles and trains as well as in Hitler’s field headquarters.

The handset of the phone must be rotated almost 60 degrees before it can be lifted out of its cradle.

This feature kept the handset from shaking loose while being transported.

Mr Kornfeld said a porcelain figure of an Alsatian dog, also owned by Hitler, was also sold on Sunday to a different bidder for $24,300 dollars.

AP