Bronze Art

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Bronze Art

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			Artist's signature
					Note fineness of marble base

Centaur & Eros

Centaur Chiron instructs young
Achilles - Ancient Roman fresco

Statue of Centaurs from Greek Mythology from the Hermann Goring Collection (Item BRONZE 1-1, GOR 11-2 & KSTATUE 5-10)

DESCRIPTION: This is a very rare and beautiful bronze statue by C.B. Albert a famed artist who was the creator of many fine statuary figures. The bronze depicts the famed Greek mythological figure Centaurs with a captured young virgin female. The bronze cast is of the finest quality imaginable in a metal sculpture.

The Legend: Centaurs was the Father of the race of mythological beasts known as the Centaurs of Ixionidae. The Centaurs are half man, half horse. They were said in Greek mythology to be wild, savage and lustrous. They were widely known for their extreme drunkenness as it is said that the Centaurs could not hold their liquor at all, and were drunk all the time. So you see an example of this drunken lust in the depiction we offer of Centaurs with the “damsel in distress”. So realistically portrayed that after viewing it for a time you will start to believe in mythological beasts. This is a big and very heavy bronze. It stands 21 inches high including its beautiful three piece marble base that is a work of art in itself. Absolutely stunning! The center portion of the statue is about 18 inches from the front hoof to the end of the tail. The statue actually was from Castle Veldenstein, Goring’s estate where he had moved his innumerable treasures near the end of the war. But, we do not add a nickel to the price because of this. The statue stands on its own merit as a meaningful masterpiece of the sculptor’s art. We have managed to procure many things from the Goring’s estate, Veldenstein, and we have elsewhere on the site explained how this came about but again this is in fact a Göring possession but not sold based upon this fact. You must appreciate this statue for what it is artistically, and although we know it would have been the art most enjoyed and collected by ‘Unser Hermann’ (Our Hermann as he was called by the German populace). It has no presentation plaque or any other proof of his ownership. It is exactly what his artistic preference would be in fact we also like it very much. We have been known to be the web site that has featured some of the best and most important examples of this ancient art form. You can read much more about Centaurs by putting the name into Google and the Wikipedia explanation will come up and it is quite informative on the subject. You can also see the painting from which this bronze was depicted.

PRICE: SOLD

Beautiful Highly Detailed Bronze Rendering of the Mortal Combat of Knights (Item BRONZE 1-2)

DESCRIPTION: Here is a small bronze depiction of the mortal combat engaged in by two knights at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 during the Hundred Years War between France and Britain 1337-1453. Although the English forces of Henry V were vastly outnumbered they prevailed due to what historians call the Victory of the English “Longbow” and the ferocity and tenacity of the British men at arms. The battle was the bloodiest that had ever been joined hence and that ever transpired again. Henry was merciless! The old murderer gave no quarter and at the end of the battle he gave the order for a certain knight to slay in cold blood all the prisoners with arrows and also by beheadings in the most gruesome way (inhumanly) cut to pieces other knights of nobility in history’s most gruesome bloodbath.

There were many hand to hand duel to the death individual combats during the battle and it is said that “bloody Henry” himself dispatched several French knights in singular combat. The bronze statue we offer may depict the “Devil” king fighting to the death with one of the knights of France. The action is incredible and the detail nothing short of “great”. It is such a ‘busy’ sculpture that we felt we had to bring you all of these various angles photographically. The difference in tone is due to indoor and also natural outdoor light shots. But the patina is wonderful and lies between the shades you see here. The bronze measures 6" x 6" from the bottom of the bronze plinth to the knight's helmet at its top, and from the horse’s tail to the front hooves. The sculpted marble base is 2” thick. Sometimes the smaller bronze sculptures are the most detailed and this could be the case here. Imagine this one on one of those museum style revolving base stands. Think of it slowly moving within a glass showcase so one could examine all the fine dramatic details. We believe this bronze probably was executed in the 1880’s-90’s and is probably either English or German. No signature of the artist is present.

PRICE: $2,500.00 worth much more. SPECIAL! The consigner has reduced this magnificent piece to $1,650.00

Bust with magazine

Magazine cover 1941

Note: Nikolaus Schmidt

Bronze Bust of Adolf Hitler by Nikolaus Schmidt (Item BRONZE 1-3 & AH 26-24)

DESCRIPTION: Here is a large life size bust of the Führer. We can’t at this time find any information about the artist but we are certain he was famous in his time and the obvious proof of that is the fact that his bust of Hitler was featured in the April 1941 edition of the magazine for the SA (Sturmabteilung) or Brown Shirts (see our picture gallery). It is very rarely that we ever find a bust of the German leader with its original marble base still attached and intact; of course this makes this sculpture very heavy. The sculpture itself is about 13 inches high while the base is 9 inches square and 4 ½ inches deep. The likeness is astounding! There are a couple of scratches at the left cheek but they hardly show when viewing the actual bust. Obviously the magazine being an April edition would have had an article about the Führers birthday (April 20th) and we would wager that Schmidt’s sculpture was the one chosen for the celebration in 1941. In other years some other artistic perceptions of the Führer were featured, such as the ones by Wolf, Liebermann, Ley, Flettner, etc. We think this one by Schmidt is one of the very best renderings of “The man of the century”!

PRICE: SOLD

Nazi Party

Albert Speer Trophy
Prof. Speer and Adolf Hitler planning the position of the giant eagle by Ehmens

Bronze Nuremberg Eagle by Kurt Schmid Ehmen (Item BRONZE 1-4; ART 9-1; PARTIE 2-10)

DESCRIPTION: Here is one of the greatest finds for Germania International, LLC for 2005. Our specialty has always been to have our pickers in Germany investigate various companies that produced objects such as jewelry, insignia, and art during the Third Reich era. As a result they have turned up some wonderful finds. In this case we located a company known as Preussische Bergwerks u. Hütten AG. It was located in the outskirts of Berlin in the community of Gleiwitz, a town known for iron and bronze art pieces through hundreds of years. Many fantastic pieces of iron and bronze objects dart were manufactured there between 1813 and 1815. For instance, more than eight thousand Iron Crosses for the heroes who fought against Napoleon were forged in the Gleiwitz foundries. The design was by Karl F. Schinkel. Adolf Hitler mentions the iron of Gleiwitzer in the table-talk book, page 656. The Kunstguss company that our German associates and researchers found for us and visited was falsely accused of using slave labor in 1945 at the STAR Chamber Proceedings in 1945. Many Third Reich items of art were produced by Kunstgiessereigleiwitz and especially by Hütten AG. One of the most often seen in fine collections and museums is the very famous Nuremberg Eagle as designed and sculpted by the famous Third Reich sculptor Kurt Schmid Ehmen, October 13, 1901-July 14, 1968.
He was a world-renowned artist in bronze and stone. The listing of his works in the Third Reich period are legion to include the famous eagle to commemorate the martyrs of the November 9th Putsch at the Feldherrenhalle in Munich, the national eagles on the Führerbau in the Königsplatz, and even the eagles in stone for the four corners of the congress building of the German museum in Munich (they can still be seen today). The wonderful eagle that was to be seen on Der Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich and the golden eagle that topped the German pavilion at the Paris Worlds Fair were executed by Ehmen. Today all that remains of his monumental work are the four eagles on the museum in Munich. Now we have unearthed what can be considered a tribute to this prolific and dedicated artist and this utterly fantastic discovery takes the form of several solid-bronze editions of the most famous of the Ehmen masterpieces, The Tribune Eagles from the Nuremberg Parteitag grounds. These wonderful sculptures are desk eagles that were bought at a fairly high price in their day to be given as gifts to the faithful to the N.S. ideals. The bronze editions cost much more than the more common examples in Weissmetal (white metal or zinc). These pieces were an expensive souvenir, but they were souvenirs not made for any official party function. The detail is great considering the casting process. Yes, they were made in Gleiwitz by the thousands, but today are extremely rare considering the de-Nazification process put in place by the winners and the leftist postwar government of Germany. The company officials who sold these pieces just couldnt bear to see these little gems of history destroyed and that without further adieu is the precise reason that you would have had the chance to acquire one of these Schmid Ehmen eagles to grace your collection. The span of the wings is 6 inches. The height of the sculpture is 7 inches with another 1 1/4 inches for the base. The bases are done with the utmost care and are exactly the same stock provided and used in the 1930s and 1940s. Some of the eagles had to have the patina refurbished to have once again the glorious finished patina. This Deutsch-Adler is without a doubt one of the most impressive art pieces in Third Reich sculpture. This more than any other artistic creation personified the Geist (spirit) of the National Socialist Bewegung (movement and ideals). In our supporting documentation we present for your historical information some images of previously unpublished photographs of the designing and construction of the original monumental Nuremberg Eagles and images of other Ehmen works. The pictures are from an original album having belonged to Herr Ehmen. In this album he showed photographs of various projects such as the planning and construction of the Mahnmal at the Feldherrenhalle, the magnificent eagles over the entrances of the Führerbau and Parteibau at the Königsplatz in Munich and there were many photos of his most grand project, the Tribune Eagles of the Luitpold Arena at the Nuremburg Party Rally grounds. Those eagles were destroyed in an act of cultural vandalism. Now, although smaller, the Ehmen eagles once more emerged not in the cheaper version in Weissmetal, but in glorious bronze just like the originals at the glorious Reichsparteitags der NSDAP. All the original eagles that we had were previously sold and now we were lucky enough as of May 2015, to have exact copies made to exact proportion and exact detail.

PRICE: Sold to Olivia.

Bronze Eagle

Back view

Helmet is for viewer
perspective only

Interesting combination presented
for artistic appreciation

Kurt Schmid Ehmens Bronze Sculpture of the Magnificent Eagle of the German Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris
(Item BRONZE 1-5; PARTEI 2-11 & ART 9-1A)

DESCRIPTION: Earlier on these pages, in the description of the Nuremberg Tribune Eagles by the artist Kurt Schmid Ehmen you will have read about our fortunate discovery and purchase of several of those wonderful eagle sculptures that were cast in the late 30’s and early 40’s at the Preussische Bergwerks u. Hutten A.G. in their Gleiwitz Foundries near Berlin. The artist, of course, of this eagle was none other than Herr Kurt Schmidt Ehmen (1901-1968). You can read about him and the Bergwerks foundry in the narrative at PARTEI 2-10 (above). Ehmen was the “Adlermeister” of the Third Reich and you can see mention of many of the most famous sites throughout the Reich where his sculpted masterpieces were displayed. We have cited several places that the National Socialists considered sacred or sacrosanct and the works of this artist were effectively employed, the list is most impressive. This Adlermeister or ‘Eagle Master’ was considered one of the finest bronze sculptors of Germany and right up there in the ranks of Arno Brecker and Josef Thorak.

After the Party Congress eagles were unveiled and presented to the German public there was a huge demand for artistic renditions of them. The Nuremberg eagles were produced in zinc castings, bronze sculpture, and even sometimes in wood by the Black Forest carvers in the Alps. They were sold as souvenirs throughout the Reich especially at the stores in Nuremberg and surrounding areas at the time of the rallies and the ones that were in bronze by the Bergwerk u. Hutten were considered the best! They were definitely high-end souvenirs and were not made for any particular Party group or function. They were really quite costly in their day. Compared however to the white metal figures made mostly in Bavaria, they cost much more but were really superior in design and general good looks. Very dramatic in design. There was one sculpture however by Schmidt Ehmen that artistically exceeded the Tribune Eagles and that was the lofty, resplendent eagle that was created to be on the top of the Great Exhibition Hall in the German pavilion of the 1937 Paris World’s Fair. This was the absolutely majestic edifice designed by Albert Speer, Hitler’s great ‘Architect Extraordinaire’ and it was Kurt Schmid Ehmen who Speer commissioned to design and build the giant eagle that was seen dominating the view over all of the exhibition grounds. The power and majesty of this tower and this eagle figure were extremely awesome. At one point in time we had in our possession a scrapbook that belonged to the family who were the owners and proprietors of the Prussian Bergwerk u. Hutten AG. The family had collected photographs of the construction of the famous Paris eagle and also some great ones of the artist himself and his crew at work. There was also a great photo of the German Führer Adolf Hitler as he views two Schmidt Ehmen eagles along with architect Speer, prior to the finished masterpieces being erected.

Now in a much more limited number thanks to our picker we received four of the Paris Exhibition bronze models that were produced at Gleiwitz at the same time as the Nuremberg eagles. The Paris eagle is much larger, bolder and a bit more detailed and although at first glance it looks very similar it is decidedly different and of course mounted much differently. With the gorgeous three tier marble base, the sculpture measures almost 20 inches high. The bronze eagle by itself is 10 inches high and 10 inches across the wing span. The base is in three separate marble tiers, The largest standing vertically that directly supports the eagle stands at 6"x 5" and 2 inches thick. The next horizontal piece of marble that the above marble piece is standing on is 9 x 3 inches and the bottom plinth is 11 inches long and 1 inch thick. The piece weighs a “heavy” 33 pounds. It is our opinion that this eagle has to just about be one of the finest and greatest relics of the Third Reich. There are items that are even rarer and certainly more expensive but when I think of the typical aesthetic style of the Thousand Year Reich, the first things that come to mind that reflect all the glory and power present at that time, would be the 1936 officers dagger with chain hanger and the Kurt Schmid Ehmen eagle. Nothing to me is in the end, more purely National Socialist.

The Bergwerks foundry did not produce marble. That material had to be obtained back then at a nearby quarry firm near Gleiwitz. So everything was as it should have been and as it was in the Third Reich. The color, the size, the construction of the base is done to perfection and the marble or granite is in fine jet-black perfect stone. So in essence, the entire first sculptures were 100% original. The eagles are unsigned. The only one that we encountered signed was the pilot piece, and we think it was the single exception.

We want to make it clear that no company still in existence today officially sold us these first eagles...they were bought from the relative of a onetime company official who was able to preserve them in secrecy all these years and now thought they should be out there in the collector and museum world. This eagle would make the ultimate center piece of any fine collection. Here is a noble bird that commands respect and dignity and could be the most overpowering item in your house other than possibly “the little lady”! The originals were all sold, however, but the good news is that we were able as of May 2015 to have 100-percent perfect re-creations made that are absolutely perfect in every detail: Patina, mounting, finishing, etc.

PRICE: For the re-creations: $3,800.00 An amazingly reasonable price for such an outstanding art treasure that summons up all the mystique and historical retrospect of that time of high adventure and manifested earth-shaking destiny! Germania now proudly presents the finest of the Kurt Schmid Ehmen sculptures in Bronze ”The Paris Pavilion Eagle.”

Bronze Eagle

Back of plinth

Helmet placed for perspective

Deutschland Eagle (Item BRONZE 1-5a; PARTEI 2-12)

DESCRIPTION: Here is the ultimate Schmid Ehmen eagle in bronze. Here was the greatest eagle sculpted by this man referred to as the Adlermeister. If you read the information proffered in the two articles above: Item Bronze 1-4 and Bronze 1-5 you will see how we managed to come by this one and the others from the group discovered in Germany in the year 2005. The items like the others were cast in the 30s at the Prussian Bergwerks U. Hutten AG. This foundry was located in the outskirts of Berlin in the community of Glewitz. Its main sales office was in Berlin. This company was responsible for the production of many beautiful bronze sculptures by many famous artists sculpting in the era of the Third Reich, but none so prolific as Kurt Schmid Ehemen, who rated up there with Arno Brecker and Josef Thorak. It was this artist who produced the Tribune Eagles in giant proportion seen on the ramparts of the Nuremberg Stadium. Those eagles were similar to the one we present at Bronze 1-4 on this page. Every eagle had a similarity, but each had its own distinctive features as well. The Paris Eagle at Bronze 1-5 that topped the tower at the 1937 Worlds Fair was a bit different than the Nuremberg eagle and different again from this Deutschland eagle. Also, the marble base is much more elaborate and we feel that this one undoubtedly cost far more in its day than the others and may have actually been a state award for a party official or important personage who might have given funds for the promotion or needed support for the Nuremberg Party Rally of 1938. This rally was named the Reichsparteitag Großdeutschland (Rally of Greater Germany). This was the last Parteitag at Nuremberg. The rally of 1939 that was to be the Parteitag of Peace had to be called off because of the machinations of France and England and the sudden murders of many of the German minority in Poland. Germany was forced into war and the Rally of Peace never materialized. We feel strongly that the word Deutschland on the plinth of this sculpture was definitely connected to the 1938 rally and was ultimately more important than a souvenir piece like the small Kurt Ehemen eagle as seen in Bronze 1-4. However, that eagle, although smaller, is also an important art piece. This eagle, with its marble plinth, measures 18 inches high and the eagle by itself is 2 inches larger than the Paris eagle. The wingspan is 11 inches and is also larger than the Paris eagle. The swastika in the wreath gripped by the eagles talons is cut out in such way as to be able to view the eagles tail feathers, also unlike the swastikas on the other pieces seen above. The swastika is mobile rather than squared off. The marble or granite plinth is very unusual and is trophy oriented in its presentation. That more than anything else tells us that it is not a mere purchased souvenir, but rather a coveted prize or possibly a state trophy? All in all, with its grandiose look and meaningful emblazoned word it is probably the finest N.S. patriotic piece we could ever imagine as the personification of that glorious era of German history. We recently sold some of the original ones that were found, but they were so popular and in such great demand that luckily we were able to have some re-created at great expense. We cant say how fortunate we feel to have procured these relics of the Reich--original or even the re-created ones--and be able to pass them along to you, the serious collector.

PRICE: SOLD

Bronze Statue

Walkürie Statue in Bronze (Item BRONZE 1-6; ART 17-11, I-FAS 2-8, FRAN 2-3, BRONZEMET 1-3)

DESCRIPTION: Here is a really fine depiction in genuine bronze art-deco sculpture of a Walkürie or, as some would call her, an Amazon. In any case, she fits either description. At the same time such art was employed in Germany, it stood out in Mussolinis Fascist Italy, as well. The theme of the warrior woman of legend is replete in the sagas of three culture groups: German, Italian, and French. The sculpture is signed Pierre le Faguays. This artist, Le Faguays, was a prolific and versatile avant-garde French sculptor whose works greatly influenced the styles of the 1920s and early 1930s. The piece measures about 20 inches high from the bottom of the base to the top of the head. The distance from the tip of the shield to the point of the sword is also 20 inches. The base is 3 inches high at its tallest point. We lean toward Walkürie rather than Amazon because of the structure of the sword. It is definitely Teutonic. The patina is wonderful and the action of the bronze is both dramatic and anatomically correct. This is one great sculpture that would certainly grace a collection that is inclusive of cultural items. We don't know the age of this bronze, but it certainly has the feel of the mythos of the "heroic age" (Enormenzeif), a time when heroism ruled and there was no time for Belanglosen: Inconsequentials.

PRICE: SOLD

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