Bares for Rares (ZDF): Dealer falls in love with almost 200-year-old trick safe

Created: 01/10/2023 16:01

By: Sophie Brosch

Love at first sight in the dealer room at "Bares for Rares" (ZDF): When Julian Schmitz-Avila unveiled the almost 200-year-old trick safe, it happened to him.

But he is not the only one who is enthusiastic about the Biedermeier antique.

Pulheim – Horst Neuhoff (81) from Bergisch Gladbach found the almost 200-year-old safe in his parents' basement.

What the retired geophysicist knows about the antique is engraved on its lid: "H.

Schmidt, 1823, Stralsund.” The heir does not know where his parents got the safe from.

In the ZDF flea show "Bares for Rares" (broadcast on December 30, 2022) he wants to learn more about the piece of furniture.

Bares for Rares (ZDF): dealer battle over trick safe from 1823

After the namesake Horst Neuhoff and presenter Horst Lichter got to know each other, expert Sven Deutschmanek explains the special find in the cellar to both of them: It is a trick safe with different locking mechanisms.

Only those who know them can open the chest from the Biedermeier period.

The expert demonstrates that it rings when opened.

"The safe was made for private use," says Sven Deutschmanek.

It was riveted by a blacksmith.

The lock, which the expert values ​​alone at 350 to 400 euros, is also handmade.

Overall, Deutschmanek, who recently became similarly infatuated with a racing driver's watch, estimates the value of the trick safe at 1200 to 1500 euros.

Horst Neuhoff, who had expressed a desired price of 450 euros, is overwhelmed: "Where can I support myself?"

Exclamations such as "Oh" and "Ui" can also be heard in the dealer's room, where Julian Schmitz-Avila unveils the trick safe in front of his colleagues.

The dealer from Bonn is immediately enthusiastic.

"For me personally, you are bringing the most beautiful object with you today," says Schmitz-Avila to Horst Neuhoff, who counters quickly: "Then show yourself generous."

Photo gallery: The strangest and most expensive exhibits at "Bares for Rares" (ZDF)

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Dealer Steve Mandel opens the auction with a bid of 400 euros.

Elisabeth Nüdling from Fulda (Hessen) was not there this time.

The bidding war that seller Horst Neuhoff had hoped for finally breaks out between Wolfgang Pauritsch and Julian Schmitz-Avila.

"I fell in love," admits the latter and offers 1350 euros.

The trick safe was handmade in Stralsund in 1823 and was intended for private use.

© ZDF-Mediathek/Screenshot: Fuldaer Zeitung

The deal fell through for Wolfgang Pauritsch, and Horst Neuhoff gratefully accepted the offer from the Bonn dealer.

"It was fantastically beautiful," says the retired geophysicist, who wants to use the money to go over the Bergisches Land in a hot-air balloon.