Item Description
Original Item: Only one set available. Have you ever heard of Oberstarbeitsführer Albrecht Alexmann? No? Well, neither have we but he certainly was somebody because we have his very upmarket monogrammed (A.A.) top-grain leather suitcase. Again, not just any suitcase, but the old world figured and grained leather type of suitcase used by all the important people before WW2. The case is marked Moritz Madler, Leipzig, the most prestigious suitcase maker in Germany at the time.
Born in Würzburg Albrecht Alexmann was a German officer in the R.A.D. and this guy, most probably a "ladies man", knew how to live!
This suitcase is substantial, no slipping this through as a "carry on". It measures 29" x 15" x10 with two large locks (no key) and the interior is fully detailed for a true gentleman of the age.
There is a leather tray with various compartments each labeled in gold letters:
Taschentücher (handkerchiefs)
Strümpfe (socks)
Hemden (shirts)
Cigarren (cigars)
Diverse (miscellaneous)
Also a lined board labeled:
Kragen (collars)
Manschetten (cuffs)
Additionally, there is a removable leather toiletry grooming set with everything in its own special compartment; hairbrush, clothes brush, cut glass container for tooth brushes, five other silver topped cut glass containers for various lotions and potions as well as a matching wallet with ivory handled instruments including tweezers, hooks, awls, tongue depressed and even a straight blade shaving razor with the maker's name JOHANN KEIL HOF on the blade. Also included are matching containers for a shaving brush that is present and another for soap, which is empty, these two containers contained in a small matching silver tray. The toiletries board housing all these items is custom compartments is hinged with a carry handle so can stand on its own independently right next to the bathroom sink.
There is a compartment inside the lid of the suitcase to accommodate a leather folder/file which clearly was for correspondence and still has sheets of old blotting paper inside. One the folder's exterior is a large sewn on badge displaying an eagle amid a circular laurel wreath with a large Swas in the center over a date of 1944. Clearly at some time one of the lotion bottles leaked and soaked into part of the folder and then dried leaving a portion somewhat shrunk and disfigured. There is also a compartment to hold a comb (absent) together with what can best be described as a silver cake cutter (present), perhaps he loved his patisserie?
At the bottom of that compartment we found a large cloth badge of a shield bearing a swas and the Roman Numeral XXVIII on an olive background apparently an RAD denomination. Lastly there we found a luggage label stating in the most beautiful script:
An Officer in the R.A.D. and with a suitcase like this as late as 1944, I'm sure he was something special however quick online research has yielded no easy results.
Finally, we include the suitcase's outer canvas and leather cover that was used by a U.S. Officer to ship the item home to the United States at the end of WWII. This outer bag was found inside the suitcase in the bottom compartment. It still bears the remains of the army paperwork from when it was shipped back from Germany. It tells us that this was "liberated" by a COLONEL HARRY HEATCH and that he paid the princely sum of $3.74, to mail this back by "Parcel Post". Of course, we do not know what contents Colonel Heatch was shipping home, Hermann Goering's Silver maybe? Unfortunately, 70 years later we'll just never know. Right out of the attic, what stories these items could tell!
- This product is available for international shipping. Shipping not available to: Australia, France, or Germany
- Not eligible for payment with Paypal or Amazon
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