The unusual collection of a KGB Museum that has not survived the pandemic is up for auction

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Julius Urbaitis

, a Lithuanian-born collector and consultant on the HBO series

, had a fixation on those spy gadgets that were used during the Cold War.

He had been kneading the most unusual objects for three decades.

A

shaped pistol

, a belt with an

included

and even a replica of the so-called

, the macabre contraption believed to have been used to assassinate the dissident Bulgarian Georgi Markov.

We have seen it in the movies: the button is pressed and the needle comes out, injecting a small but lethal amount of ricin into the target.

Just two years ago he decided to display everything in a brand new museum.

But perhaps the first problem was its location.

The KGB Museum of Espionage was not installed on the banks of the Moskva River, but near the Hudson.

Specifically in

one of the most coveted neighborhoods in Manhattan.

In one of those New York brick and iron buildings that Urbaitis considered Soviet-style.

"Even the architecture of the exterior facade has a Soviet style. This will help you to immediately recognize the museum even from across the street. Behind these doors are all the secrets of the KGB spies," it announced at its opening.

Indeed, visitors could see from a steel door that belonged to a KGB prison to tape recorders hidden in rings or cufflinks, or a railway sign announcing an "Infected Area" and used to identify radioactive areas.

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The museum opened its doors just as

, the series about a Soviet spy family infiltrated American society in the 1980s, triumphed at the Golden Globes. But also amid the already very contemporary tension that exists between both countries for the controversy of

in the

According to Urbaitis, his collection of

was and is historical and apolitical.

What he did not count on was the

.

The collector has just announced the definitive closure of the museum.

FROM RUSSIAN ASTRONAUTS TO FIDEL CASTRO

Now, all those objects go up for auction.

Julien's Auctions will be in charge of selling them to the highest bidder in an event both online and in person to be held on

.

In total, more than 300 batches that will delight the lover of espionage history.

It is "the largest collection of KGB-specific spy items in the world," Julien's Auctions reports.

The star lot appears to be a

capable of producing around 590 billion possible combinations and which is estimated to reach $ 12,000 (about 10,100 euros).

The museum's collection will be auctioned alongside other

, including a T-shirt worn by

astronaut Donn Eisele

on

or a Soviet space program coffee mug signed by

cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev

.

Also the notes from the

institute

and a letter signed by

in 1958 in which he reveals his plans to enter Havana.

A whole trip to the past for lovers of intrigue.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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