In this article, I focus on the Protoype of the House Order of Carinhall. In 1938 Hermann Goring wanted a special order which he could present to highly esteemed visitors to his Carinhall residence. He contacted Herbert Zeitler who was Goring’s preferred jeweler and gave him several sketches and commissioned him with the production of 6 prototypes, 4 of them with a black and 2 with a white buffalo horn as the center on which the symbol of the German hunting association was then placed and framed with a silver border and an oak leaf as a ring rose. Zeitner made these prototypes for Goring and then presented them to him for inspection. However, Goring rejected them and had a final model made in solid gold with diamonds. The 6 prototypes then remained with Herbert Zeitner until the end of the war, when his workshop was destroyed and plundered by bombing raids and the turmoil of war and several objects, including the 6 prototypes, disappeared. It was not until the mid-70s that 3 pieces appeared in 2 different auctions.

One of the buyers at the time contacted Zeitner personally and had the above story confirmed in writing. In the course of the years, some quite well made copies have appeared, which are relatively easy to recognize if you have an original. Here, for the first time, an authenticated original is presented together with the letters of the time. It is the version with the white buffalo horn. The oak leaf has the well-known Zeitner marking in the shape of a Z and an 800 stamp for the silver content. All originals are identically marked, all pieces that are not so marked are copies.

This Protoype is certainly one of the rarest pieces that exist today from the time of the Third Reich.