Anger as Nazi SS dagger and Death’s Head ring go under hammer

An SS Dagger and Death’s Head ring are among a number of Nazi lots being sold by a Buckinghamshire auction house today despite Jewish communal organisations, alerted by Jewish News, describing the proceedings as “sinister” and “deeply concerning”. 

On Thursday 3 September, Amersham Auction House, which apologised in 2019 after a similar sale on the anniversary of D-Day, auctioned a series of lots including weapons, badges and armbands emblazoned with SS and Nazi insignia.

Among the 319 items listed under “19th & 20th Century Collectable Items, Silver, Jewellery and Works of Art & Furnishings”, which started at 10:30 on Thursday morning, were: Lot 222, an inscribed German Nazi student dagger; Lot 226, an inscribed German SS dagger, both items with an estimated selling price of between £200 and £300 and Lot 252, a German white metal SS Death Head ring, valued between £100 and £150.

Other items for sale included Lot 254, a collection, including some copies, of German military badges including the notorious swastika symbol of the Nazi party, which had an estimated top bid of £100; Lot 260, a collection of Nazi and SS armbands, with estimated top price of £80, and Lot 267, which included enamelled SS and swastika badges and was valued at £100.

The SS, short for Schutzstaffel, meaning “Protection Squadron”, was created by Adolf Hitler as his personal and elite bodyguard. Fanatically loyal to the Fuhrer and the Third Reich, they were the main architects of the mass murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.

The Nuremberg Trials declared the SS a criminal organisation due to its extensive war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A Board of Deputies spokesperson told Jewish News: “There is no good reason people should be bidding on Nazi memorabilia. The buying and selling of these items has no place in our society and, in the context of rising far-right antisemitism, is sinister and deeply concerning. They belong only inside the walls of a museum or other institution where they can be used to teach about the results of antisemitism. We would expect Amersham Auction Rooms to remove the items from sale.”

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said the organisation “has long been clear that it is not appropriate for Nazi memorabilia and symbols associated with a regime responsible for the murder of six million Jewish men, women and children to be traded for personal profit or private collecting.

“Items of this nature belong in archives, museums or other educational settings where they can help people understand the history and consequences of Nazi persecution. While the sale of such material remains legal in the UK, it is concerning to see these items continuing to appear at auction.”

A JLC spokesperson said “It is deeply concerning to see Nazi memorabilia sold at auction as collectible items. Such objects should be used to teach about the deadly consequences of Nazi ideology, not part of a private collection. Although this is not illegal, it remains troubling that there is a market for these items.”

In 2019, the auction house told the Bucks Free Press it was “sincerely sorry” for the “unfortunate” timing of another sale of Nazi relics on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

At the time, Simon Knowles, who remains listed as a director at the company, told the newspaper: “That’s just not who we are – we do a lot for the community, the last thing we would want to do is cause offence.”

Amersham Auction Rooms subsequently held Nazi memorabilia sales in 2022, with items including a World War II German Luftwaffe officers cap with the Nazi symbol, and a German Hitler Youth knife, and in April and June of 2026.

The company did not respond to Jewish News requests for comment.

Whilst Germany and Austria heavily restrict or ban the sale and public display of Third Reich symbols, the UK has no specific laws preventing auctioneers or individuals from doing so.