The relics of the Cold War, a large auction in Los Angeles - Lifestyle

Let's call them 'relics', surely seeing the images of those objects makes us enter a time machine, back in the years of the Cold War.

The KGB museum, opened in New York in January 2019 and then closed due to the pandemic, has auctioned its objects.

Julien's Auction in Los Angeles is in charge of it: most of the memorabilia on sale on February 13, both locally in Beverly Hills, California, and via the Internet, were in the hands of real secret agents and reached the United States after the fall of the first Soviet bloc since the 1990s.

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Cold War Memorabilia

, a major auction in Los Angeles - Lifestyle

Here then is a false cyanide tooth and packets of cigarettes hiding a camera: the gadgets used by the Soviet secret services look like they came out of a James Bond film.

After all, miniature cameras were all the rage among KGB spies during the Cold War.

They lurk in every piece of clothing and objects imaginable: elegant women's handbag, belt buckles, shoe brush, birdhouse, signet ring and even a tie.

Another great classic of the secret agent outfit, microphones, which could be hidden in ashtrays, pens or porcelain plates.

Specializing in "pop culture", in particular objects that belonged to famous people or related to the world of music, sport and cinema, Julien's Auctions has made with these auctions "a leap into the historical market of sales and we are looking

"Kody Frederick, one of the sales managers, told AFP.

"

," says Frederick.

"The people who created these objects really

" he notes, comparing the "giant cell phone" for sale, "as big as six bricks" and destined to stay in a car, to our current smartphones.

Among the exhibits, a replica of the poison-tipped umbrella used to kill Bulgarian author Georgi Markov, a dissident murdered in London in 1978. This famous

is estimated at between $ 3,000 and $ 5,000.

Equally emblematic of spy films, the cyanide-containing false tooth really existed.

"The tooth was designed to break if bitten in a certain way, so that captured agents could end their lives if necessary to avoid being tortured and provide compromising information," says Julien's Auction.

One copy will go on sale in Beverly Hills for an estimated price of between $ 800 and $ 1,200.

Initially announced, other potentially deadly gadgets - a tube of lipstick and a pen designed to fire a bullet - will not be auctioned due to California gun laws.

Spying enthusiasts can fold over a myriad of items with a compartment for microfilm or other documents: cufflinks,

coins or even "rectal capsules."

To complete this sale, Julien's Auctions will also put other Cold War "memorabilia" under the hammer, such as a

1942

school bulletin

, letters signed by himself or by his partner Fidel Castro, of which the one outlining his prediction to infiltrate Havana (estimated between $ 1,000 and $ 1,500) or some items related to the period of the American-Soviet space race.