Lot 30
30
Charlie Chaplin
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buy… Read more
Charlie Chaplin

Details
Charlie Chaplin
A 1st World War German Cuirassier helmet presented to Charlie Chaplin by the U.S. government in appreciation of his support of the war effort, the helmet decorated with white hand-painted lettering: Presented To CHARLES CHAPLIN By The U.S. GOVERNMENT In Appreciation Of His Valuable SERVICES In The Liberty Loan Campaign 1918 and stamped inside C.E. Junker, 1916; accompanied by a black and white press still of Chaplin addressing a Bond rally in Wall Street in 1918 (printed recently)
Literature
ROBINSON, David Chaplin His Life and Art, London: Collins, 1985, pp. 244, 721-2
BESSY, Maurice Charlie Chaplin, London: Thames & Hudson, 1985, p.156
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.
Further details
VARIOUS PROPERTIES

Lot Essay

In 1918 Chaplin produced a propaganda film for the Liberty Loan Committee called The Bond in which his brother Sydney played The Kaiser wearing a helmet very similar in style to the one in this lot. The film ran for approximately 10 minutes and was distributed free throughout the U.S. in the autumn of 1918. According to Bessy, this presentation helmet is not the actual one used in Chaplin's film, although it is a genuine German helmet. Chaplin originally gave it to Robert Florey, who in turn gave it to Maurice Bessy.


See: Souvenirs Chaplinesques - Un film de Simon Dargolls recontés par Maurice Bessy.

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