Postby Traintime » Wed Feb 12, 2020 7:57 am
With all that said, wherever this item has gone, it should be considered for it's historical importance. During World War II bombs rained down and destroyed the entire area around the Potsdamer Platz. The ruins of two buildings, including The Esplanade, were all that remained. It became a black market zone, and later a no-man's land locked behind a horrible wall. Save some of the structural remnants conserved from The Esplanade, nothing there survived to tell of a long gone era of opulence. If research should confidently reveal that this item may have passed through the retailer's shop in The Adlon and into the hands of a visiting American sometime in that era, then it could well deserve a spot in a museum that tells the story of Berlin before the shattering. The Potsdammer Platz itself has been completely rebuilt anew. But it sits on top of old stories of a time of kings of countries and commerce. [See Trev's historical entry on Wilhelm's work designing silver to be coupled to the pottery work of his K.P.M. Berlin porcelain manufactory. Probably should have avoided that whole war thing altogether.]