“Bares for Rares”
Merchant outbids himself for Masonic breastplate
The breastplate with the all-seeing eye dates from the 1920s and belonged to a Freemason.
© ZDF
A bundle of objects belonging to the Freemasons not only arouses the interest of Horst Lichter. A dealer even outbid himself at “Bares for Rares”.
Horst Lichter immediately knows what’s on his table in the “Bares for Rares” expert room: “You don’t have to guess, it’s all from the Freemasons,” the moderator notes. Annelie Pollmann brought the bundle to the junk show, which includes, among other things, a breastplate with the all-seeing eye. The 65-year-old architect from Homburg has been involved with Freemasonry for a while and has collected the various objects over time.
Detlev Kümmel explains the history of the secret society. According to the expert, the first Grand Lodge was established in England on June 24, 1717. This was the beginning of modern Freemasonry, which is still celebrated today. Kümmel dates the box and breastplate to the 1920s.
“Bares for Rares”: Wolfgang Pauritsch speaks of a collector’s item
The seller puts her desired price at 400 euros – about half of what she spent in DM at the time. That should be possible: Kümmel rates the bundle at 500 to 700 euros.
In the dealer’s room, Wolfgang Pauritsch takes a close look at the Masonic objects: “Perhaps it belonged to a master from the chair,” speculates the Austrian and finds: “It’s something for a collector.”
Julian Schmitz-Avila does the “Waldi” and starts with 80 euros. But the commandments don’t really want to get going. And so Annelie Pollmann brings the expertise into play, but notes that she is satisfied with half of it. Friedrich Häusser then increases his bid from 150 to 250 euros – the two agree on this amount.
ZDF junk show
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Afterwards, the saleswoman praises Häusser for his “appreciative” behavior and for having improved his own bid by 100 euros.
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