A Lowenbrau beer bottle recovered from the 1937 wreck of the Hindenburg zeppelin will be auctioned by Henry Aldridge and Son of London today.
From their auction catalog:
Lot 206. LZ129 Hindenburg memorabilia: An extremely rare bottle of Lowenbrau Beer recovered from the wreck site of the Z129 Hindenburg, May 6th 1937 when it crashed at Lakehurst Naval Air Station. It was recovered by local Fire Chief Leroy Smith of the Matawan Fire Department New Jersey, along with 5 others which he handed out to each of his colleagues. The whereabouts of all of these bottles with the exception of one is unknown. He presented one to the Lowenbrau brewery in 1977 where it remains to the present day. The example being offered for auction is sealed, with some of its original label and shows evidence of heat damage. This lot is sold with a provenance package which include correspondence from the Lowenbrau brewery regarding the bottle of beer donated to their Museum, press cuttings and signed copy of a letter of provenance and an account of how Fire Chief Smith came to acquire the bottle.
UPDATE – According to thisiswiltshire.co.uk, this lot sold for 10,810 including the 15% buyers premium. That is approximately $18,078 US.
ABC News, the New York Post (article) and the BBC are reporting that this bottle may bring $4-8,000
