Objekte aus königlichem & kaiserlichem Besitz

| 75 removed from the fleet list and scrapped. The figurehead of the SMS Kaiser Friedrich III is housed today in the Militärhistorische Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden. Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1862 - 1929), younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II, joined the navy at the age of fifteen in 1877, visited Japan during his two-year world voyage 1878-80 while completing his of- ficer’s training, was granted an audience by the Tenno, assumed his first commands in 1887, among them over the 1st Torpedo Boat Division, over the imperial yacht “Hohenzollern” in 1888, the protected cruiser “Irene” in 1889/90, the coastal defense ship “Beowulf” in 1892, the ironclads “Sachsen” and “Wörth” in 1894/95, respectively, and from 1897 on over the II division of the cruiser squadron which was sent to reinforce German troops in East Asia after the occupation of Qingdao. He was the first European prince of a reigning house to be invited to the Chinese imperial court during his stay in China until 1900. After his return he commanded the I Squadron 1900-03, became the commander of the Baltic Sea Naval Station and commander of the deep-sea fleet from 1906 - 09. With his appointment to Grand Admiral he became Inspector General of the Navy in 1909. At the onset of the First World War Prince Heinrich became the supreme commander of the armed forces of the Baltic Sea and was able to keep the more modern and ad- vanced Russian Baltic Sea Fleet in check until 1917 and away from the German coast. After the war Prince Heinrich left the navy, escaped dur- ing the November Revolution 1918 from Kiel Castle to an estate near Eckernförde and dedicated himself to sailing and motor sports. Like his father Kaiser Friedrich III, he died of larynx cancer in 1929. Beautiful commemorative present of exceptionally fine jeweller’s quality. P rovenance : Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1896 - 1978), son of Prince Heinrich, inherits the family’s country estate Gut Hemmelmark in Schleswig-Holstein after his father’s death. He dissolves the estate’s household in 1922 and moves to Guatemala, later to Costa Rica, to make money as a coffee plantation owner or honey producer. The Great Depression and the Second World War force him to give up Gut Hem- melmark and sell several family treasures such as the present silver ship in a Northern German auction in the 1950s. 250476 I - € 200.000 1523