Measuring 14 inches wide, 7 1/2 inches tall and 8 inches deep, this chest is constructed from hardwood that has been shaped and carved to simulate an iron-banded rough hewn chest in the German folk art style, with stag horn accents and a set of four short stag feet. Each side features a stag handle with the center carved into a one inch long bear's head, and the lid has a golden Nazi eagle flanked by gold "H" on a silver oval with an oak leaf engraved gold border inside a stag panel. The interior is divided into a pair of lead-paneled boxes with solid lids and horn handles, and the lid is lined with red velvet, bearing a plaque engraved "UNSEREM REICHSFUHRER SS/MEINEM LIEBEN PARTEIGENOSSEN/Heinrich Himmler/ IN HERZLICHER VERBUNDHEIT/DR. ROBERT LEY 7. OKT. 1938" (Our Reichsfuhrer-SS, my beloved party comrade… In heartfelt solidarity…). A World War One aerial artillery spotter with a doctorate in chemistry, Ley joined the Nazi Party in 1924, angered by the French occupation of the Rheinland and lured in by the transcripts of Hitler's testimony at his trial for the Beer Hall Putsch. While sympathetic to the more socialist faction of the Party, he sided with Hitler in everything, which gave him a certain immunity to criticism for his erratic and unstable behavior. Said behavior, speculated by some historians to be the result of a brain injury suffered when shot down by the French during the Great War, included a large quantity of drunkenness, womanizing and graft. When he was made head of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labor Front), a Nazi-organized trade union that collected dues from every working man in the country, the graft became quite extreme, using union dues to pay for an assortment of real estate, cars, and a private train. Among Ley's brain children was Kraft dursch Freude (Strength through Joy), a recreational organization for German laborers, and the "KdF Mobile", better known as the Volkswagon, an abortive plan to sell cars to factory workers on an installment plan; 340,000 workers paid in, no cars were delivered. While his importance waned when Organization Todt displaced the DAF as chief labor organizer, 1938 saw Ley in his prime of power and influence, and fanciful gifts to other leading members of the Nazi Party would be well within his means.

Fine overall. A few sections of black filler used to cover the screws holding the stag on have chipped away, a few mended cracks are present in the front corners, and light handling marks are visible overall. A pair of cracks are forming at the rear, one in each corner where the sides interface with the back, and a few other smaller cracks and splits are visible at the seams. The lid plaque is very good, with a mixed aged patina on the silver. The inner lining is good, with the handles glued in place and some bending of the lids. Overall a fine emulation of an antique Germanic chest, attributed to two of the top men in pre-World War II Nazi Germany