The Fabulous Rings Presented to Professor Paul Ludwig Troost
and His Wife, Gerdy Troost (Item PERS 4-7 & ART 15-9)

DESCRIPTION: This is an incredible offering that we are very proud to bring to you; the beautiful personal finger rings having belonged to the famed Professor Paul Ludwig Troost and Frau Gerdy Troost, his wife. Professor Troost  was the Third Reich’s Master Architect who was a personal friend to Adolf Hitler and his chief architect before Albert Speer. He was the designer of much of the grand buildings of the N.S Reich. He was born on August 17 1878 in Elberfeld, Westfalia. Troost belonged to a school of architects, who even before 1914, reacted sharply against the highly ornamental Jugendstil and advocated a restrained lean architectural approach almost devoid of ornamentation. Troost graduated from designing steamship décor before WW I and the fittings for elegant transatlantic liners like the Europa to a style that combined Spartan Traditionalism with elements of modernity. Before 1933 he did not belong to the leading group of German architects. He became Hitler’s foremost architect whose Neo-Classical style became for a time the official architecture of the Third Reich. His work filled Hitler with enthusiasm as the Professor planned and built state and municipal offices throughout Germany. In the autumn of 1933 he was commissioned to rebuild and refurnish the Chancellery residence in Berlin. Along with other architects, Troost built many of the typical N.S. buildings that still miraculously survive today. We say miraculous because the “Bundes government liberals” who strive for “political correctness” (Marxism) and are doing their level best to destroy and remove every inch of any edifice that the Führer might have walked into or out of. His works in this period include new administrative offices, social buildings for workers and bridges across the main highways. One of the many structures he planned before his death was “Der Haus der Deutschen Kunst” (The House of German Art). It was intended to be a great temple for the true, eternal art of the German people. It was a good example of the imitation of the classical forms that prevailed in monumental public buildings during the Third Reich. Hitler’s relationship to Troost was that of a pupil to an admired teacher according to Albert Speer who later became Hitler’s favorite architect. The Führer would impatiently greet Troost with the words; “I can't wait, Herr Professor, is there anything new? Let’s see it!” Troost would then lay out his latest plans and sketches. Hitler frequently would declare according to Speer that he "first learned what architecture was from Troost." The architect's death  on March 21, 1934 after a severe illness was to Hitler a painful  blow, but Hitler remained close to his widow, Frau Gerdy Troost, whose architectural taste frequently coincided with his own, which made her (in Speer's words) a kind of arbiter of art in Munich. Troost was buried in the Nordfriedhof Cemetery in Munich. Hitler posthumously awarded Troost the German National Prize for the Arts and Sciences in 1936.

Speer - - “What Dietrich Eckart was to the Führer for the exchange of ideas of world politics, Professor Troost was for wonderful architecture." The Führer during his great speech at the cultural meeting at the Reichparteitag of 1935 delivered a memorial to professor Troost which could not have been a more beautiful tribute to a great architect of our times. Hitler said, "We should be filled with happy pride that through a strange fate Germany possessed the greatest architect since Schinkel, for the New Reich and for the movement, he erected  his first and unfortunately his only tremendous works in stone as monuments of true Germanic and Teutonic purity!” After Professor Troost's premature death, his wife, Gerdy Troost, quite ably took up his work. She had finished school in 1920 when she met Dr. Professor Troost. She moved to Munich with him in 1924 and they married one year later. In 1930, she met Adolf Hitler for the first time through her husband's work. Herr Troost planned numerous constructions for the remaking of Munich, “the capital of the movement,” and  in 1934, together with Professor Lenord Gall, she oversaw the continuing construction of the “Haus Der Deutschen Kunst” (The House of German Art) and the renovation of the Konigsplatz. The Führerbau, The Parteibau and the Temples of the Fallen -- all of these were designed by her late husband, Paul Ludwig Troost, and she resolved to bring them to conclusion for the glory of the German Reich but also as a lasting memorial to the work of her beloved husband. In 1935 she was named a member of the “Haus Der Deutschen Kunst” and in 1939 of the advisory council of Bavaria Film Inc. In 1937, she had been nominated as a professor by the Chancellor of the German Reich, Adolf Hitler. Until the end of the war, she belonged to Hitler’s closest circle of friends, as had been her late husband.

Both the Professor and his beloved wife were adored always by the people of Munich and highly appreciated by the Mayor and the city council for their artistic betterment of the “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” (Head City of the Movement). Thus each of them at different times were honored with the official bestowal of various official gifts but none of these were as important or as appreciated as the Honor Rings (Ehrenringe) of the city of Munich.  This is a very rarely  presented ring. The city of Munich elders would be petitioned to give its approval before the Lord Mayor (Oberburgermeister) was permitted to award this sign of honor. Therefore, not many of these rings were ever in circulation. The ring has the depiction of the Reichsadler (eagle) that hovers over the “Munchner Kindle” or Munich child. The child is traditional and dates back to 1239 or so. The child is always depicted as a monk with open hood.  Early impressions always show the little monk with outstretched fingers on one hand and a book in the other. The kindle stands before the city gate section known as the Karlstor. The ring presented to Professor Troost is a much larger version than the one given to Frau Troost and is of a somewhat different construction. The silver mark is clearly marked inside the shank. The setting is extremely classic with the Munich symbol raised on a platform with beautiful pierced supports seen to be open at its ends. Quite a heavy piece of jewelry and absolutely gorgeous.

No. 1 Professor Troost's GOLDEN HONORARY RING OF THE CITY OF MUNICH. These rings are gold plated silver with 835 Hallmark. They are quite heavy. Professor Troost's ring, for example, weighs 20g.

No. 2 Frau Troost's GOLDEN HONORARY RING OF THE CITY OF MUNICH. This Honor ring is quite a bit smaller and does not have the pierced supports that are open at the ends but like her husband's ring, it has the beautiful scene of the Kindle standing in front of the gate and it of course has the Third Reich eagle hovering in the air above. It is quite a beautiful piece of jewelry on its own.

 No.3 Frau Troost's Onyx Signet Ring. Along with these two magnificent rings was a beautiful onyx ring that belonged to Frau Troost. It is a beautifully designed silver ring (835) with an onyx top with the GT monogram for “Gerdy Troost.” The design is simple but elegant for an elegant lady. Without a doubt, this shows very fine jeweler's craftsmanship. Weight 9g with  dimensions 30mm x 20mm.

How these rings fell into the hands of a famed Munich auction house, we cannot venture a guess but they are decidedly original and precious and will be featured in a soon to be published book on Rings of the German Reich.  In 1950, during Germany’s “de-nazification” phase, Frau Troost was sentenced not to work for 10 years and was fined 500 Deutschemarks...Why? Well she was a friend of Adolf Hitler!  Later she again took up her beloved work. She always stood up for her convictions as a German patriot totally unrepentant as to her admiration and respect for her Fuhrer and the N.S. Movement. She was always an upstanding (real) German and a worthy artist. Adolf Hitler once said in 1942 “I have known four exemplary women: Frau Troost, Frau Wagner, Frau Scholz Klink and Leni Riesenstahl."  So it is a fact that hardly any finger rings could be more historically important than these two pieces. Pricey? Well, that can be expected when considering an investment in something as important as this. Remember, not only are they gorgeous, but the issuance was as we have stated, extremely limited as far as the honor rings are concerned, but here we have two of the most important jewelry pieces of the Third Reich.

PRICE: $12,500.00 (Sold as a pair only)