Bidders Rush on German Tanks from the WWII
Updated on: 21.03.2008, 17:43
Published on: 19.03.2008, 16:10
At first sight nothing so interesting. But this military equipment dating from the World War II attracted an exceptional interest from collectors all around the globe.
The reason of the huge interest: the German tanks are "Maybach T 4" - something like the "luxury class" in the military machines. Produced before the Second World War, they were subjected to destruction in the process of modernization of the military equipment by actually all of the national armies.
But in the 1950ies because of the severe economic difficulties in Bulgaria there have been reasonable arguments not to tolerate the high destruction costs. The tanks have been buried in the ground along the Bulgarian southern border line with Turkey and turned in firing points - happily not used.
Now, more than 40 years after their retirement, the tanks are strongly demanded. The collectors from USA, UK, Russia, Jordania, and Estonia confirmed their interest.
The remains now offered are attractive because they could complement machines already possessed by collectors. More than this, the prices are acceptable even if they could jump threefold during the bidding.
The unsold amount of tanks will be returned to the Military Museum. 69 more tanks will be drawn back from the auction with a special instruction by the Defence Ministry.
The returns from the auction will be announced on Monday.
Maybach's are light tanks weighting about 14 tons armored with 76 - mm gun. They have been situated at the south border between 1955 and 1957, specialists explain.
More interesting will be another auction to be carried out in May. Then 41 unique Maybach tanks will be brought under the hammer. 24 of them are in excellent condition. There are just several museums in the world which dispose of that sort of preserved tanks.
The most compelling offer comes from America. A group of USA collectors considered to offer as much as it will be demanded - just to have this unique and rare machine.
Prior to their restoration the tanks cost at least ˆ250,000, but after their overhaul they could rich up to ˆ500,000.
The military authorities will spend maybe almost ˆ300,000 in transportation of the old German tanks, still the price of the less preserved wouldn't fall under ˆ50,000. The Bulgarian government will earn millions.
The transportation to depots of that useless but valuable machinery began in February. There is official information of just one tank stolen and sold abroad, reports the Defence Ministry. It is supposed that it's the unique machine given as a present by Adolph Hitler to the Bulgarian Mother Queen.
But a journalist form the newspaper "Standart" found out that Bulgarian authorities had buried in the trenches on the southern border 79 German tanks. Yet just 55 were unearthed since. It is mystery whether they remained undiscovered or something else had happened.
