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1936 Olympic Bell
I was offered a copy of the 1936 Olympic bell. Apparently the person's father received it in a trade at the end of the war. The story is that 16 copies were made in bronze, about 20cm tall, and given to important people.
I can not find anything telling me that those copies were ever produced.
The bell looks good, like a copy of the original, just smaller of course, with the swastikas filed out (which would make sense in a way, since it was kept in Germany).
I have the seen images of the porcelain bells, btw. Which were probably sold as souvenirs back then.
Since the Bochumer foundry has been bought up by Krupp a long time ago, all the documents are in their archives, but can't be accessed.
Curious if anyone knows anything about this.
-Andre
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01-13-2012 04:52 PM
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Re: 1936 Olympic Bell
Andrek,
Not sure about the story but I have also seen 10cm Olimpic bells in bronze on a marble base that were sold as souveneirs too, so it could be that this is just a larger version?
I think that these souveneirs were probably made to suit a lot of different pockets at the time but I hope that your story is correct.
Apologies if this reply does not exactly give you the information that you require and I hope that others will contribute.
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Re: 1936 Olympic Bell
Hello Bochmann, thank you, the joy of collecting - and trying to solve the mystery of a piece's place in history. An old message on a german forum mentions three bells, one apparently in a museum in Berlin (still need to follow up on that), one in northern Germany and a missing one. Is this the one, I might never know.
Best, Andre from the snowy east....
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Re: 1936 Olympic Bell
Hello Andre, I too, have seen bronze Olympic bells that were sold as souvenirs. Unfortunately, I don't recall their exact sizes, but one was fairly significant in height, I remember. It's not good, however, that the one you've been offered has been "De-Nazified" by filing off the offending swastikas, as this Very significantly reduces the value and the collectability of the piece in question. In my opinion, it's, at best, a mutilated curiosity and I would seriously recommend passing on it.
William
"Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it."
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