Most all the jewels of the Hesse treasury found in old Kronberg Castle were returned to their rightful owners. But some of the priceless pieces still are missing. The settings—many of them fashioned by Europe’s greatest artisans—were lost forever. They had been cut to pieces and melted into gold wire.
16
THE CHISELERS
Chiselers are constantly seeking ways to avoid paying customs duties. And the female of the species is just as clever and persistent as the male—or, as is more often the case, just as dumb. In the early 1930s, the chiselers found it extremely profitable to smuggle watch movements into the United States from Switzerland. Smuggling reached such proportions that it helped to virtually destroy the American watch industry. The situation became so grave that the Federal government appealed to the Swiss government to cooperate in a program to control the illegal traffic in watch parts. An agreement finally was reached on a treaty whereby the Swiss devised a system of numbering the watch parts and assigning code numbers to importers as a means of discouraging illegal imports.
The treaty helped to wipe out much of the commercial smuggling of watch parts. Despite these efforts the traffic continued through the years to be a profitable venture for smuggling gangs who often persuaded housewives, businessmen, and tourists to act as carriers.
Mrs. Elizabeth Schmidbauer, the plump, middle-aged wife of a restaurant owner in Munich, Germany, was one of those who became a dupe for a watch smuggling gang in 1954. And her trip to the United States to visit a relative—a trip for which she had planned so eagerly and for so long—became a nightmare for her and her family.
The nightmare began in Munich when Mrs. Schmidbauer told friends at her husband’s restaurant that she was going to America with an aunt, Mrs. Anna Obermaier, who was then visiting in Germany. She talked of the clothes she would need and her intention of buying two new suitcases for the trip. Among those in the restaurant who listened with interest to Mrs. Schmidbauer’s excited chatter was a regular customer named Moritz, with whom the Schmidbauers had been on friendly terms for many years.
Two days before her departure from Munich, Mrs. Schmidbauer answered a knock at her door and found that the caller was Moritz, who was carrying two new suitcases. “I heard you say you needed luggage for your trip,” he said, “and here it is.”
Mrs. Schmidbauer invited Moritz into the living room. Over coffee and cakes he told her that he was willing to pay her fare to the United States if she would do him a favor: deliver the suitcases to a friend in New York along with a small parcel.
“What is in the parcel?” Mrs. Schmidbauer asked.
“Watch movements,” Mortiz said. “If you will take them through customs it will save quite a bit of money. I am ready to pay your fare to the United States if you will do this favor for me.”