101st Auction
2019/11/16
Lot 157
A. Lange & Söhne Glashütte B/Dresden, Movement No. 29248, Case No. 29248, 51 mm, 106 g, circa 1890
A gold Glashuette pocket watch, from the property of the German general Werner von Blomberg, sold on 1890/08/31 to Dürrstein & Co in Dresden for 253 Marks - with Lange extract from the archives
Case: 18k rose gold. Dial: enamel. Movm.: 3/4 plate movement, screw compensation balance.
The back of the watch is decorated with the elaborately detailed order Pour le Mérite and the inscription "In Treue fest, 3. Juni 1918" (forever loyal, June 3, 1918). Only one man received the order on that particular day near the end of World War I – the German officer Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg.
Werner von Blomberg was born in 1878 in Stargard in Pommerania. After his training at the Prussian military academy in Gross-Lichterfelde, he started his military career in 1897 and was made a captain in 1911. During the First World War he was deeply involved in planning and operations of the battle of Verdun.
Von Blomberg continued his career under the National Socialists and was made a field marshal in 1936. However, in the wake of a fallout with leadership after a dispute over his second marriage – which was witnessed by Hitler and Göring – Blomberg left his position in 1938. As a consequence he was not involved in military operations of World War II but was nevertheless arrested after the war and questioned as a witness during the Nuremberg trials. Blomberg died from cancer in March 1946.
The order Pour le Mérite was established in 1810 by Prussian King Frederick II; it was the highest order conferred for military services and only awarded to officers. After the revolution in 1918/1919 and the end of the Prussian monarchy, the military class of the Pour le Mérite became extinct. A separate class of the order, the Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts introduced on the advice of Alexander von Humboldt, however, still exists.
A gold Glashuette pocket watch, from the property of the German general Werner von Blomberg, sold on 1890/08/31 to Dürrstein & Co in Dresden for 253 Marks - with Lange extract from the archives
Case: 18k rose gold. Dial: enamel. Movm.: 3/4 plate movement, screw compensation balance.
The back of the watch is decorated with the elaborately detailed order Pour le Mérite and the inscription "In Treue fest, 3. Juni 1918" (forever loyal, June 3, 1918). Only one man received the order on that particular day near the end of World War I – the German officer Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg.
Werner von Blomberg was born in 1878 in Stargard in Pommerania. After his training at the Prussian military academy in Gross-Lichterfelde, he started his military career in 1897 and was made a captain in 1911. During the First World War he was deeply involved in planning and operations of the battle of Verdun.
Von Blomberg continued his career under the National Socialists and was made a field marshal in 1936. However, in the wake of a fallout with leadership after a dispute over his second marriage – which was witnessed by Hitler and Göring – Blomberg left his position in 1938. As a consequence he was not involved in military operations of World War II but was nevertheless arrested after the war and questioned as a witness during the Nuremberg trials. Blomberg died from cancer in March 1946.
The order Pour le Mérite was established in 1810 by Prussian King Frederick II; it was the highest order conferred for military services and only awarded to officers. After the revolution in 1918/1919 and the end of the Prussian monarchy, the military class of the Pour le Mérite became extinct. A separate class of the order, the Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts introduced on the advice of Alexander von Humboldt, however, still exists.
Sold
estimated
4.000—8.000 €
Price realized
4.400 €