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Tag: auction house

  • Holocaust artefacts sent to Auschwitz archives after auction backlash

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    Hundreds of Holocaust-related documents whose planned auction in Germany sparked international outrage have been handed over to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

    According to a statement issued by the foundation on Friday, 433 historical documents were formally transferred during a ceremony at the state parliament of Germany’s western North Rhine-Westphalia region.

    The collection includes camp postcards, letters written by perpetrators and camp-issued currency, the regional government said in a press release.

    “I am grateful that we have found a way to hand over the documents to the archives of the memorial sites concerned. Remembrance in archives and museums preserves the dignity of the victims and serves further research and education about the inhuman National Socialist persecution and extermination processes,” said State Parliament President André Kuper.

    An auction house in Neuss, near Dusseldorf, had previously scheduled a sale of the items for November 2025, but cancelled it after international protests.

    According to the International Auschwitz Committee (IAC), letters from concentration camps, Gestapo index cards and other perpetrator documents were to be auctioned.

    Many items contained personal information and names of those affected.

    The online online catalogue also listed an anti-Jewish propaganda poster and a Jewish star from the Buchenwald concentration camp with “signs of use.”

    Some of the artefacts have since been taken over by a foundation that runs a Holocaust museum in the Israeli port city of Haifa.

    The Central Council of Jews in Germany has welcomed the handover.

    Vice President Abraham Lehrer said it was vital for survivors and for the memory of those murdered during the Holocaust that the documents end up in the right places and hands, where they can be protected and preserved for future generations.

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  • Barn Stored Lotus Esprit Turbo Seen After 30 Years

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    A 1982 Lotus Esprit Turbo that has spent three decades sitting untouched in a barn is set to cross the auction block in the United Kingdom, offering collectors a rare look at long-term automotive neglect wrapped in iconic sports car design.

    The car, now coated in moss and other organic growth, has been entered into a classic and vintage vehicle auction held at the Haynes Motor Museum. The sale is being organized by Charterhouse, a Dorset-based auction house known for handling estate and specialty collections.

    Despite its unusual appearance, the Esprit has been given a pre-sale valuation of £10,000. The car remains visually identifiable beneath the buildup, finished originally in red with a magnolia leather interior. Over time, however, the exterior has shifted dramatically in color as nature reclaimed the stationary vehicle.

    The Lotus was built at the company’s factory in Hethel, Norfolk. It was purchased in 1990 with the intention of being restored, and work was carried out over the following years. By the mid-1990s, the car was moved into a Dutch barn, an open-sided agricultural structure, following a change in the owner’s personal interests away from driving and toward dog training.

    From that point forward, the Esprit remained stationary. Charterhouse said the car spent the next 30 years in storage, gradually deteriorating as exposure and time took their toll. The decision to sell was tied to the owner’s advancing age, bringing the long-dormant vehicle back into public view for the first time in decades.

    The Lotus Esprit holds a firm place in popular culture, having appeared as James Bond’s vehicle in the Roger Moore-era films The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only. That association has helped cement the model’s reputation as one of the most recognizable British sports cars of its era.

    Market comparisons highlight the gap between this example and fully usable cars. Well-maintained, drivable 1982 Esprit Turbo models have sold for more than £30,000, underscoring both the restoration potential and the challenges facing the next owner.

    When the barn-stored Esprit rolls into the Haynes Motor Museum auction, it will do so not as a showpiece, but as a time capsule shaped by decades of stillness, waiting for its next chapter to begin.

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