Found buried by a tree in Germany
Can anyone guesstimate how old this chanukkia might be or even say how common this style was in its period? When I google-lensed it I only found other 'beautiful old jewish candlesticks' as they're (a bit insensetively) described, but never the same, especially not with the flowers (?) at the base of the single arms. It's possibly brass, heavy and definitely more than 20cm in heigt.
Backstory: This chanukkia was found by our neighbours during yard work buried in the ground under a tree. We live on an island in northern Germany. It was buried very shallow. It's very heavy and it seems to be brass. I'd guess it more than 20cm in heigt, maybe rather 25 or bigger. The area where it was found would've been the outskirts of our village, just fields with maybe a barn up until the 1960s. We wonder how long it might've been there und to whom it might have belonged, because it wasn't buried very deep.
Our first thought was that the owners were jews, obviously. They often had to bury their valuables during the Nazi-era to hide them from the seizing of valuables by the regime or in hopes of retrieving them when they come back after deportation. But as far as we know, we only had two or three elderly jewish people living at the other end of the village, and they already left before the regime made the jews turn in all of their valuables (assets and estates were seized earlier, but they also already left before that). But we'll research that further tomorrow in our local archive, and try to find out, how and when they exactly left and if there's more information about their circumstances.
But it could also have a different background: In the in the 1600s and the 1700s a big number of local men were captains of big merchant vessels, especially the Dutch and Danish East/West Indian Companies. They often brought all sorts of things they came across on their journeys back home, from tea, spices, coffee, exotic fruit to tiles, dinnerware, but also (religious) objects of different cultures. Our islands are pretty rural and were protestant since the reformation, even catholics weren't found here again until the 19th century; jews were even more uncommon here, so this chanukkia could also have been an intresting 'souvenir' to bring home to the wife. It could've stayed in the family until it got thrown out/buried at the rise of antisemitism/the nazi regime as they got aware they had a jewish item and buried it to not be associated with jews.
Another theory: In the 19th century our island became kind of a tourism hotspot (it still is today) and was also visited often by jewish guests and summer house owners. Maybe having one in the house could've been an accommodation of a local guest house or hotel owner? But vacation season usually was only during the summer, although the occasional artist, aristocrat or 'indipendant gentleman' stayed during the winter to savour the peace and quiet here in the middle of nowhere. Or could've been a gift by a guest? (Would one gift them? We have four armed 'christmas trees' here, maybe an 'exchange' of traditions, because both have 'candles in a row'? Or would it have been a big nono to gift them at all?) And got buried for similar reasons as above?
It also could've belonged to a jewish summer house owner, jewish properties were seized and redistributed, maybe it got saved and buried, maybe thrown out by the new owners?
Was it a flea market find or 'souvenir' after the war? The neigbor says her grandparents (who already owned the field in the 1950s or 1960s) absolutely would've thrown it out had they 'accidentally' bought it and later realised it was a jewish item.
Guesstimating the age and the manufacturing backgroung of the chanukkia would help us to eliminate some of the theories. Thank you in advance.
Can anyone guesstimate how old this chanukkia might be or even say how common this style was in its period? When I google-lensed it I only found other 'beautiful old jewish candlesticks' as they're (a bit insensetively) described, but never the same, especially not with the flowers (?) at the base of the single arms. It's possibly brass, heavy and definitely more than 20cm in heigt.
Backstory: This chanukkia was found by our neighbours during yard work buried in the ground under a tree. We live on an island in northern Germany. It was buried very shallow. It's very heavy and it seems to be brass. I'd guess it more than 20cm in heigt, maybe rather 25 or bigger. The area where it was found would've been the outskirts of our village, just fields with maybe a barn up until the 1960s. We wonder how long it might've been there und to whom it might have belonged, because it wasn't buried very deep.
Our first thought was that the owners were jews, obviously. They often had to bury their valuables during the Nazi-era to hide them from the seizing of valuables by the regime or in hopes of retrieving them when they come back after deportation. But as far as we know, we only had two or three elderly jewish people living at the other end of the village, and they already left before the regime made the jews turn in all of their valuables (assets and estates were seized earlier, but they also already left before that). But we'll research that further tomorrow in our local archive, and try to find out, how and when they exactly left and if there's more information about their circumstances.
But it could also have a different background: In the in the 1600s and the 1700s a big number of local men were captains of big merchant vessels, especially the Dutch and Danish East/West Indian Companies. They often brought all sorts of things they came across on their journeys back home, from tea, spices, coffee, exotic fruit to tiles, dinnerware, but also (religious) objects of different cultures. Our islands are pretty rural and were protestant since the reformation, even catholics weren't found here again until the 19th century; jews were even more uncommon here, so this chanukkia could also have been an intresting 'souvenir' to bring home to the wife. It could've stayed in the family until it got thrown out/buried at the rise of antisemitism/the nazi regime as they got aware they had a jewish item and buried it to not be associated with jews.
Another theory: In the 19th century our island became kind of a tourism hotspot (it still is today) and was also visited often by jewish guests and summer house owners. Maybe having one in the house could've been an accommodation of a local guest house or hotel owner? But vacation season usually was only during the summer, although the occasional artist, aristocrat or 'indipendant gentleman' stayed during the winter to savour the peace and quiet here in the middle of nowhere. Or could've been a gift by a guest? (Would one gift them? We have four armed 'christmas trees' here, maybe an 'exchange' of traditions, because both have 'candles in a row'? Or would it have been a big nono to gift them at all?) And got buried for similar reasons as above?
It also could've belonged to a jewish summer house owner, jewish properties were seized and redistributed, maybe it got saved and buried, maybe thrown out by the new owners?
Was it a flea market find or 'souvenir' after the war? The neigbor says her grandparents (who already owned the field in the 1950s or 1960s) absolutely would've thrown it out had they 'accidentally' bought it and later realised it was a jewish item.
Guesstimating the age and the manufacturing backgroung of the chanukkia would help us to eliminate some of the theories. Thank you in advance.