I was fortunate to be approached by the estate of the individual who had purchased the flatware directly from the veteran, Donald Grey Brownlow. The set arrived with the original signed and sealed letter of provenance from Brownlow, which details that the three informal pieces were sourced from the Brown House, the national headquarters of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, while the eight formal pieces were acquired from Hitler’s residence in Obersalzberg in May of 1945.
Brownlow landed on Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion and later partook in the Battle of the Bulge. During the battle in the Ardennes, he and two other members of his unit were captured by SS troops, but the men were fortunate to escape two days later. Mr. Brownlow earned a Purple Heart after shrapnel from a German tank shell wounded him. He also earned a Bronze Star for finding and deactivating a minefield. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre from the French government.
When he came back to the US, he became a history teacher at a Pennsylvania University and also authored several books about WW2. Three of his signed books, “Panzer Baron”, “Hell was my home” and “The Accused” came with this lot of flatware. This is a wonderful find and I’m thrilled to have received these historical pieces. You can find various pieces of AH silverware/flatware out there, but very few with this kind of provenance.
