2F

Why do you think the ‘Poland Spear’ never left Poland, apart from during WWII, and even then it was returned?

I don't even have a guess on this one. Maybe it was counterfeit. The Nazis never willingly returned anything.

I was thinking it must be counterfeit.

>2 Olivermagnus: is right the Nazis never returned anything of value, maybe it is worthless and a counterfeit.

Perhaps they could not see any value in it for themselves and failed to realise its symbolic value for Poles as a factor in uniting the population as indeed the Catholic religion as a whole did.

The Poles viewed it as something most scared. To them it was symbolic...but no real monetary value...at least not at that time. The Nazis didn't see any good reason for them to want it.

This seems a surprise to me as I’m sure on the open market it would still get a good price because of what it was claimed to be. Always some private collector out there that would want it to feed their ego. Surprisingly really that it has not been taken at any point sooner given Poland’s history.

I’m guessing no other invaders took the spear seriously, due to its unprepossessing appearance. It appears everyone, including the Nazis who gave it back, thought it was a worthless piece of iron.

>5 Maura49: >9 Sergeirocks: These seem like the most plausible explanation. Though I would like to see Cotton solve how the Spear was recognized when in Nazi hands, then returned to Poland. *That* would make an interesting story.