Hitler’s personal telephone sells for $243K at auction

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

8 years ago

The handset of Adolf Hitler’s personal traveling telephone is displayed at Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Md., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Adolf Hitler’s personal traveling telephone is displayed at Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Md., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Auction house president Bill Panagopulos says Russian officers gave the phone to Brig. Sir Ralph Rayner during a visit to Hitler’s Berlin bunker in 1945. Rayner’s son is now selling it. Panagopulos says bidding will start at $100,000 this weekend. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

An engraving of a swastika and Adolf Hitler’s name are seen on the back of Hitler’s personal traveling telephone at Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Md., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Auction house president Bill Panagopulos says Russian officers gave the phone to Brig. Sir Ralph Rayner during a visit to Hitler’s Berlin bunker in 1945. Rayner’s son is now selling it. Panagopulos says bidding will start at $100,000 this weekend. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Adolf Hitler’s personal traveling telephone is displayed at Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Md., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

CHESAPEAKE CITY, Md. — A telephone owned by Adolf Hitler has sold at auction for $243,000.

Andreas Kornfeld of Alexander Historical Auctions says the phone sold 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.

The red telephone includes a Nazi party symbol and Hitler’s name engraved on the back. Occupying Russian officers gave the phone to a British officer, Sir Ralph Rayner, during a visit to Hitler’s bunker in Berlin. The phone was used in vehicles and trains as well as Hitler’s field headquarters.

Kornfeld says a porcelain figure of an Alsatian dog, also owned by Hitler, also sold Sunday to a different bidder for $24,300.