01/12/2025
Posted • □ 1930s new-in-box nickel flasks from the stock of a Jewish refugee who fled N**i Germany
I'm drawn to objects with stories as well as things with relevance to our own time - and these are both.
Samuel Feuerstein got out in time. As a German Jew, he rightly saw the ascendant Third Reich as an existential threat to his family. As others equivocated, he left his factory, property, and everyone he knew behind, packing up what little merchandise he could bring with him to begin a new life in the United States.
Despite America's own antisemitic immigration policies at the time, Feuerstein's foresight saved his family. Meanwhile, his factory - which manufactured nickelplate flasks - was almost certainly requisitioned by the N**is to equip their war machine.
All that remained of his formerly livelihood were a stack of boxes containing his products, each neatly wrapped in tissue paper and stamped "Germany" in red ink - all discovered undisturbed in a New England warehouse decades later.
Today, an ascendant racist regime is intent on banning asylum seekers and refugees. What's more, some Americans are faced with becoming refugees themselves: friends of mine with trans kids are seriously considering fleeing the country to Canada.
Containing relevance for us today, the flasks are in their original boxes, 6.5 inches tall, and ready to use or keep sealed as found frozen in time.
$185 each. All proceeds from the sale of the first four will benefit the International Rescue Committee
Available. Message for details.
"Unboxing" features dozens and dozens of as-found boxes, circa 1760-1960, at the ready for you to open on Fridays and Saturdays, 12-5pm at Old as Adam, 507 Main in Warren, RI.