German aristocrat Agostino von Hassell loses $30,000 desk on which Hitler’s assassination was plotted after forgetting to pay storage bill
- Heirlooms dating back centuries were kept for $335 a month at Extra Space Storage in Queens, New York City
- But they were auctioned off without his knowledge when illness prevented him paying the bill
- Have YOU seen the treasure? Email [email protected]
A scion of one of Germany’s most illustrious dynasties has lost centuries of family heirlooms after he forgot to pay the bill on a cheap New York lock-up.
Christian Agostino von Hassell, 70, had hoped to pass them to his daughter but has been reduced to scouring online auction sites for the lost treasure which includes an 18th century writing desk on which his grandfather plotted the assassination of Adolf Hitler, according to The New York Times.
The desk, suits of armor, and oil paintings of his ancestors were among hundreds of priceless items he had stored for $355 per year at the Extra Space Storage facility on Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens.
The troves of priceless artefacts were moved into storage after he decided they were too many for his studio apartment on Sutton Place in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Von Hassell thought they were safe until the company quietly auctioned them off for a fraction of their true value to one lucky bidder when illness interfered with his affairs and prevented him paying the bill.
The missing desk is pictured by the window in the apartment of Christian Agostino von Hassell’s parents. He moved it into the Extra Space Storage facility on Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens
Christian Agostino von Hassell (pictured) had hoped to pass them to his daughter but has been reduced to scouring online auction sites for the lost treasure which includes an 18th century writing desk on which his grandfather plotted the assassination of Adolf Hitler
Von Hassell’s grandfather Ulrich von Hassell sitting at his desk in 1937
‘Just sending you a quick note to confirm that you have successfully moved out of your unit at our Ridgewood store,’ the firm informed him in a cheery note.
‘We can’t wait for you to pursue your next big adventure.
‘Have a wonderful rest of your day!’
Hassell was born in Bonn but moved to the US in 1971 as a teenager with his sister and his parents Wolf and Christa in 1971.
He joined the US marines three years later and had an illustrious career as a war correspondent and later an intelligence officer, travelling to dozens of international hotspots on American service.
He saw the aftermath of the 1983 terror attack in Beirut when 214 US service personnel were killed by terrorists driving two trucks loaded with TNT into the Marine barracks.
Returning to the US he studied European history and won a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University before lecturing on counterterrorism at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
The author of 17 books mainly on military history he also runs a consultancy firm dealing with international security issues.
The French writing desk had been handed down the family for five generations and had graced the study of his great-grandfather Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who led the German Navy in the First World War.
Tirpitz, who served under the last Kaiser Wilhelm II built his naval fleet into a power rivalling only Great Britain’s in an arms race that threatened to win the war for Germany.
After his death in 1930 it was bequeathed to Christian’s grandfather the diplomat Ulrich von Hassell who served as Germany’s last ambassador to Italy before the Nazis took power.
Von Hassell and his aristocratic coterie watched with unease and then horror as Hitler tightened his grip on Germany and thrust it into a disastrous war.
The desk, suits of armor, and oil paintings of his ancestors were among hundreds of priceless items he had stored for years in the Extra Space Storage facility on Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens
The French writing desk had been handed down the family for five generations and had graced the study of his great-grandfather Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who led the German Navy in the First World War
Ulrich von Hassell is pictured with the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937
The desk had belonged to Christian’s grandfather the diplomat Ulrich von Hassell who served as Germany’s last ambassador to Italy before the Nazis took power. He plotted Hitler’s downfall at the desk before being arrested and executed in the aftermath of the 1944 attempt on the Fuehrer’s life
He plotted Hitler’s downfall at the desk and wrote a secret memoir for posterity that he concealed in tea tins and buried on his estate before being arrested and executed in the aftermath of the 1944 attempt on the Fuehrer’s life.
He told the New York Times that the desk was shipped to Manhattan when Ulrich’s widow dies in 1982 and took pride of place at the family’s Southampton home von Hassell’s mother died in 2009.
Two years later it was with Extra Space in Queens, stored alongside the rest of the family treasures for $335 a month.
The company insists it repeatedly tried to contact von Hassell when they payments stopped but received no response.
Under New York law storage companies are entitled to auction off the contents of units if payment is more than a month late and von Hassell’s went under the hammer on March 23.
The desk alone was valued at $39,000 but his lawyer discovered that a man named Boleslaw Karvay, of Long Island, had bought the entire collection for $2,850, the Times reported.
Von Hassell managed to reach Karvay by phone on April 19 but he claims the new owner hung up on him.
But he did receive a reply from Sedgwick Claims Management Services, an insurance adjuster for Extra Space Storage.
‘We find no fault on the part of Extra Space Storage Inc. for the loss received,’ they wrote.
‘Therefore, Extra Space Storage Inc. will not be able to assist with any settlements of the claim.
‘The reason for the claim denial is that your client was properly notified about the foreclosure, and was called with no contact back.’
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