Chiemsee Cauldron

The Chiemsee Cauldron is a gold cauldron found at the bottom of Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria in 2001. It was recovered by an amateur diver who found it about 200 m from the shore near Arlaching, Chieming municipality.

The cauldron is ornamented with figures reminiscent of the style of the Gundestrup cauldron. It has a diameter of 50 cm and a height of 30 cm, and is made from 10.5 kg of 18 carat gold.

Ludwig Wamser of the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection analysed the find, and based on the soldering technique used identified it as a 20th-century forgery, possibly made during the Nazi era. This seemed to be confirmed by a witness; the senior director of the Munich jeweler's company Theodor Heiden stated that the company's goldsmith, Alfred Notz, before his death in the 1960s had told him about a "golden cauldron weighing more than 10 kilograms, with a figurative ornament and manufactured by means of the paddle and anvil technique" which had been manufactured in Theodor Heiden's workshop between 1925 and 1939, commissioned by Albert Pietzsch, director of Elektrochemische Werke München. Pietzsch had been in personal contact with Hitler from 1920, and was known to have provided him with generous donations. He became a member of the Nazi party in 1927 and rose to the position of Military Economy Leader (Wehrwirtschaftsführer) and president of the Reich Chamber of Commerce (Reichswirtschaftskammer). He survived the war and died in 1957. Because of its association with the Nazi elite, the cauldron was dubbed "Hitler's bedpan" (Hitlers Nachttopf) by the media.

The Bavarian state and the finder agreed to sell the find on the open market and share the proceedings. The cauldron was bought by an investor for EUR 300,000, at the time about twice the market value of the gold.

The buyer, a Swiss entrepreneur, tried to attract investors by claiming that the market value of the cauldron may be above a quarter billion Euros. Investors from Kazakhstan filed suit against the Swiss businessman in 2006. The cauldron was confiscated by the Zürich authorities in 2007. The fraud trial opened on 27 October 2010. The defendant claims to have found a new buyer for the cauldron who is prepared to pay CHF 7 million, which would allow him to satisfy all claims against his firm.

References

• http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,478958,00.html
• http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/zuerich/region/Wegen-Hitlers-Nachttopf-vor-Gericht/story/21604252

Coordinates: 47°55′21″N 12°29′32″E / 47.9225°N 12.49222°E / 47.9225; 12.49222