Alexander Autographs is an auctioneer of historic militaria, autographs, manuscripts, relics, and other collectibles. Based in

Chesapeake City, Maryland Chesapeake City is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 736 at the 2020 census. The town was originally named by Bohemian colonist Augustine Herman the Village of Bohemia — or Bohemia Manor — but the name was ...

, the auction house first opened to bidders in 1993 and has since garnered controversy for the sale of items like

Nazi memorabilia Nazi memorabilia or Third Reich collectibles are items produced during the height of Nazism in Germany, particularly the years between 1933 and 1945. Nazi memorabilia includes a variety of objects from the material culture of Nazi Germany, espec ...

Overview

Alexander's typically holds three to four auctions per year, and concentrates on the following categories: Militaria of all types, Colonial and Revolutionary War; the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

; Americana; Presidents and Vice Presidents; Supreme Court, Cabinet Members & Politicians; Royalty and Heads of State; Military Leaders; Scientists and Inventors; Aviators, Explorers, Astronauts; Business Leaders; Authors and Writers; Artists, Illustrators and Animation Art; Composers and Musicians; Entertainers; Rock and Roll; Notables and the Notorious; and Sports.

Notable and controversial sales

October 2005

Alexander Autographs auctioned off a gold Rolex wristwatch inscribed with a message from

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

to President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. The message reads: JACK, With love as always, from MARILYN May 29, 1962, only ten days after her famous "Happy Birthday" performance at Madison Square Garden. Included in the watch case is a poem from Monroe to Kennedy ending with a passionate plea: "Let me love or let me die!" The watch and accompanying items sold for $120,000 to an anonymous East Coast collector.

February 2006

Alexander Autographs was forced to withdraw a letter it was auctioning, purporting to be from Ronald Reagan and written during the President's later years while he suffered with Alzheimer's. The letter's content—hand-written annotations and references to the disease, was reported upon by CBS News, U.S. News & World Report, and other media. Bill Panagopulos, company president, withdrew the item when it was discovered to have been forged and advised the press that he had been "duped" by a forger.

August 2008

Alexander Autographs found itself embroiled in a row with

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

, the online auction house, when eBay refused to run Alexander's

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

and other German World War II items on its website. Alexander's complied, but issued a statement on its own website adding that, "Though these items are indeed controversial, we maintain that they are of vital historic importance and cannot and must not be ignored."

November 2008

Alexander Autographs received news coverage when the company announced plans to auction two particular items in the November 6–7 auction: the flight suit of

Paul Tibbets Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the ''Enola Gay'' (named after his moth ...

and secret audio tapes from Jack Ruby's legal defense team. Tibbets, a colonel during World War II, flew the Hiroshima bombing mission—the auction house offered the very suit he wore on that mission and the Distinguished Service Cross Tibbets earned for his actions. Additionally, Alexander's uncovered taped conversations between Ruby's defense team, including attorney Melvin Belli, that called into question Ruby's contention that Oswald's murder was an unintentional act.

February 2010

Alexander Autographs sold a 180-page volume of notorious

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Nazi doctor

Josef Mengele , allegiance = , branch = Schutzstaffel , serviceyears = 1938–1945 , rank = '' SS''-'' Hauptsturmführer'' (Captain) , servicenumber = , battles = , unit = , awards = , commands = , ...

's diary at auction for an undisclosed sum to the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. The unidentified previous owner, who acquired the journals in Brazil, was reported to be close to the Mengele family. A

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivors' organization described the sale as "a cynical act of exploitation aimed at profiting from the writings of one of the most heinous Nazi criminals."

July 2011

A further 31 volumes of Josef Mengele's diaries were sold—again amidst protests—by Alexander Autographs to an undisclosed collector of World War II memorabilia, described as an

ultra-orthodox Jew Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

, for $245,000. The journals cover a period from 1960 to 1975 when Mengele was living in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

July 2022

In 2022, Alexander Historical Auctions, a company headed by the same president as Alexander Autographs, auctioned off Nazi memorabilia including a gold watch presented to Hitler valued at $2 million. A number of prominent Jewish leaders across Europe signed a letter urging the company to cancel the auction.

References

External links

* {{Official, http://www.alexautographs.com 1993 establishments in Maryland American auction houses Chesapeake City, Maryland American companies established in 1993 Memorabilia Militaria