Name Craig Gottlieb Role Antique dealer | Education Cornell University | |
 | ||
Occupation Historian, antique dealer, author, reality TV personality Books The SS Totenkopf Ring: Himmler's SS Honor Ring in Detail, Gau Badges of Hitler's Germany Similar People Richard Benjamin Harrison, Chumlee, Rick Harrison, Corey Harrison | ||
Craig Gottlieb Talks about President's Day
Craig Gottlieb (born 1971) is an American militaria and antique dealer. A regular on History Channel's television program Pawn Stars, Gottlieb is known for uncovering notable military artifacts, including Adolf Hitler's desk set, on which the 1938 Munich Agreement was signed, Benito Mussolini's hat, and Hitler-owned paintings of the dictator's parents. In January 2014, Gottlieb discovered and purchased what he believes may be a false passport belonging to Auschwitz concentration camp physician Josef Mengele.
Contents
Early life
Craig Gottlieb was born in Miami, Florida. His grandparents on his father's side emigrated from Russia around the turn of the 20th century. He attended high school at Gulliver Preparatory. His father was a World War II veteran and his mother was raised Protestant but converted to Judaism after marrying his father. The family celebrated major Jewish holidays, but were not very religious.
Career
Gottlieb focuses on rare and valuable military antiques in his dealership and auction operations. In 2010, Gottlieb discovered the desk set used by Adolf Hitler to sign the Munich Pact of 1938. Procured from Hitler's Munich office by 2nd Lieutenant Jack McConn in 1945, it had been with their family ever since. Gottlieb also has sold a pair of paintings of Hitler's mother and father; they had been lost since the end of World War II, but Gottlieb discovered them in southern California in the hands of the family whose relatives had removed them from Hitler's Berghof. In 2011, he sold a Luger pistol once owned by Howard Hughes and used on screen in the 1930 film Hell's Angels. In 2012, Gottlieb handled the consignment sale of materials connected with the long imprisonment of quixotic former Nazi leader Rudolf Hess. In October 2013, Gottlieb uncovered what he believes to be the Italian passport of Josef Mengele. The document, possibly used by Mengele to escape imprisonment and flee to Argentina in 1949, was uncovered by Gottlieb through a contact in Buenos Aires. His most recent acquisition is a group of artifacts belonging to Adolf Hitler, including the dictator's hat, uniform, medals, and other personal effects. On November 1, Gottlieb sold Hitler's personal copy of Mein Kampf, one artifact from the group, for $28,400.
Gottlieb serves on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Media
In 2012, Gottlieb first appeared on the History reality TV show Pawn Stars, in the episode "Family Feud," which first aired May 28, 2012. He has since appeared on more than 25 episodes, and became a regular on the series.
Prior to being brought on as a regular for Pawn Stars, Gottlieb appeared on episodes of Auction Hunters, a reality show on the SpikeTV cable network in the United States, as an expert in military antiques and collectible weapons.
On March 25, 2014, National Geographic announced Nazi War Diggers, a documentary series set in Eastern Europe, featuring Gottlieb as one of four principal cast members. The show was pulled indefinitely on March 31, 2014, as a result of criticism by archaeologists. The network has since cleared the production of any wrongdoing and has apologized to the cast for what happened. In August 2015, the show debuted on Discovery Channel in Poland. The show is scheduled to air on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom in January 2016.