Vereinigte Zünder- u. Kabelwerke
AG
(United Fuse and Cable Works, Inc.)
WWII 1941 Third Reich Finance
What
You See Is What You Get
Lot G07757:
- (1x) 100 ℛℳ stock certificate, issued
Meißen 1 December 1941
Prime contractor of target ammunition to the
Wehrmacht in World War II. The certificate is in VF+
circulated condition. Lithograph by R. Oldenbourg of Munich
and Berlin; watermarks present. Standard European A4 size
paper. Punch cancel. Clean, sharp and bright.
Authentic historical artifacts documenting
turbulent times. This piece originated in the legendary "Reichsbankschatz" a
hoard of WWII era stocks and bonds discovered in the vaults of
the former Reichsbank in Berlin, shortly after German
reunification in 1991. After claims were settled the obsolete
certificates were released onto the collectors' market by the
German Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved
Property Issues (Bundesamt für zentrale Dienste und offene
Vermögensfragen) through a series of auctions beginning
in 2003. Proceeds have gone to Holocaust survivors and victims
of GDR repression.
Appealing to scripophily collectors,
historians, and educators alike, it would be an interesting
addition to any Second World War
or finance collection. Makes a nice gift for the Old Cold
Warrior, student, educator, or history buff in your life!
Shipped FLAT via
USPS Ground Advantage, with tracking. YES! Will
combine shipping - First lot ships at standard rate,
all other lots in same order ship free (except where noted).
Thanks
for looking!
Please see my other
items for more Third Reich, Soviet and other
historical curios.
Q: What am I
buying, and why would I want it?
A: Vereinigte
Zünder- u. Kabelwerke AG (United Fuse and Cable Works, Inc.)
was a prime contractor to the National Socialist
dictatorship for 22LR (5.6mm) rimfire cartridges used in
target practice by both the military and party paramilitary
organizations. It also produced cable, wire, detonators and
fuses before and during the war.
Founded in 1864 the
company was sold to the Englishman William Henry Eales in
1866. In 1896 it was renamed the United Factories of English
Safety Fuses, Wire and Cable Works, AG Meißen. Following the
outbreak of World War I, in 1915 it was renamed the United
Fuse and Cable Works AG, Meissen. It operated a plant in Lage
(Lippe), near Hamburg in western Germany, and two plants near
Dresden in Saxony in the east, in Meissen and Siebenlehn.
In the 1930s the
company diversified into the manufacture of 22LR ammunition
for the civilian market. Launching a line of target ammo at
the start of the Third Reich’s march towards war proved to be
propitious. The firm was soon flush with contracts from the
Army and the Party, and would continue production in largely
unscathed Meissen until 1944. Its cartridges bore a ‘VZ’
headstamp, and its Wehrmacht ordinance codes were 'bxm' and
'vzg'.
Captured by Soviet
troops on May 7, 1945, its Saxony factories were duly
expropriated. Much of the industrial plant was dismantled and
removed to the USSR. Management fled to Hamburg where the firm
continued until 1982. In 1948 the company’s leftover fixtures
and fittings in Saxony were amalgamated by the new communist
East German government into the state owned VEB Kabelwerk
Meißen combine. Rebuilt over succeeding years, the business
was acquired by the Siemens corporation in 1990. In 1995 it
was spun off to become Kabelwerk Meissen Wilhelm Balzer GmbH.
A mid-sized specialist in cable manufacture, the company today
(2023) operates two production lines and can run a thousand
tons of stranded conductor wire per month.
You will hold
history in your hands.
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