Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very rare example of a formal pattern Silver dessert fork, made for the personal use of the Reichsminister of Foreign Affairs and convicted (and executed) War Criminal Joachim von Ribbentrop. Like other examples, this fork originates from a collection of tableware and linens "liberated" from his household during the capture and occupation of Germany. Ribbentrop, although adopted by his aunt, had no qualms about also adopting his formal lineage and the heraldry that came with it. High level NSDAP members were always on a quest to validate their power and superiority.

The handle of the spoon bears the correct German hallmarks, including the "Crescent and Crown" (Halbmond und Reichskrone) next to 900, for a silver content of 90%. To the right of this is the G inside a 6 pointed star maker marking of Jakob Grimminger of Schwäbisch Gmünd, a high quality and desirable Silverware maker (Silberwarenfabrik) founded in 1895. This is a known maker of von Ribbentrop formal pattern silverware, and we have seen several examples like this, including a cake fork.

The fork itself looks to be a dessert fork, and measures 5 5/8 inches in overall length. It is marked at the end of the flared handle with the von Ribbentrop family crest (from 1882) in high relief. It looks like it may be a separate piece bonded onto the handle, and matches the pattern exactly, as seen on other examples. The fork shows some light wear and swirling, and also has a lovely tarnished patina, which we have left intact to preserve the history.

The personal relics of von Ribbentrop are definitely not often encountered, especially sine his influence waned as the war progressed, and his position became unneeded. A very interesting piece of Third Reich memorabilia!

Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of NSAP Germany from 1938 to 1945.

Ribbentrop first came to Adolf H's notice as a well-travelled businessman with more knowledge of the outside world than most senior NSDAP members and as a perceived authority on foreign affairs. He offered his house Schloss Fuschl for the secret meetings in January 1933 that resulted in AH's appointment as Chancellor of Germany. He became a close confidant of AH, to the disgust of some party members, who thought him superficial and lacking in talent. He was appointed ambassador to the Court of St James's, the royal court of the United Kingdom, in 1936 and then Foreign Minister of Germany in February 1938.

Before World War II, he played a key role in brokering the Pact of Steel (an alliance with Fascist Italy) and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (the NSDAP–Soviet non-aggression pact). He favored retaining good relations with the Soviets, and opposed the invasion of the Soviet Union. In late 1941, due to American aid to Britain and the increasingly frequent "incidents" in the North Atlantic between U-boats and American warships guarding convoys to Britain, Ribbentrop worked for the failure of the Japanese-American talks in Washington and for Japan to attack the United States. He did his utmost to support a declaration of war on the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor. From 1941 onwards, Ribbentrop's influence declined.

Arrested in June 1945, Ribbentrop was convicted and sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials for his role in starting World War II in Europe and enabling the Holocaust. On 16 October 1946, he became the first of the Nuremberg defendants to be executed by hanging.