Collector donates half-century-old collection of 4,000 piglets to support flood victims

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Retired collector Rudolf Lausberg from Cologne is auctioning off his 58-year-old collection of piglet figurines, comprising of about 4,000 pieces, to help flood victims of the Ahr river.

Countless different miniature pigs and objects in piglet design could be seen in display cases and on shelves. The collection, which was started with his late wife, was visible in footage recorded in Cologne on Tuesday.

According to Lausberg, the fascination began with his wife Hannelore when her family received a piglet for her birth in the town of Berlinchen in 1939 and she cared for it until she had to flee East Prussia.

Lausberg said estimated he had spent between €10,000-20,000 ($11,500-23,000) on the pigs over the years, and said they were worth an “inestimable value, I cannot estimate it.”

“I wanted to donate them to people who were so damaged by the water flooding along the Ahr and then maybe make them happy from the proceeds of the little pigs,” he added, saying he thought it could be his and his wife’s purpose in life.

The 85-year-old decided to dissolve the entire collection and called on all those interested to set a price of their own that they would pay for a collector’s piglet, thereby donating it to the flood victims of the Ahr.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Rudolf Lausberg, Collector and widower (German): “The idea came about when my wife was born in Berlinchen, district of Soldin in East Prussia, in 1939. They were given a pig as a kind of natural donation - there was no money back then. Then she had a pig, and she got so used to it when she later had to flee to Germany with her mother - until I met her in Cologne in around 1960. In 1963, I married my wife. Then we went for a walk along the high street and there was a porcelain pig in the shop window, and my wife’s memory of this pig, which she had had as a small child, came back. My wife started this passion for collecting, when I we married in 1963. Since then - I have been married to my wife for 58 years - you can imagine what has come together here in all these years. It all came out of that.”

SOT, Rudolf Lausberg, Collector and widower (German): “We bought these pigs when we were at flea markets or when we were on holiday. The children gave us presents, or her mother - with pigs. And so this collection grew and grew. Since 1963 and the marriage you can imagine it - 58 years collecting the pigs.”

SOT, Rudolf Lausberg, Collector and widower (German): “You can be busy dusting the piggies from morning to night, around the clock. Sometimes I go there with a feather duster and gently wipe over the piggies so that nothing happens to them. That would be my job.”

SOT, Rudolf Lausberg, Collector and widower (German): “It is practically an inestimable value, I cannot estimate it - it could be 10,000 or 20,000 - there is a lot of money in it that we had invested and just give it away - well I have pigs that my wife has in the children’s room, that are also a few hundred - and I wanted to donate them to people who were so damaged by the water flooding along the Ahr and then maybe make them happy from the proceeds of the little pigs.”

SOT, Rudolf Lausberg, Collector and widower (German): “I have made an agreement with the Protestant church in Gelsenkirchen, with Pastor Wolke - with whom I also conducted my wife’s funeral - who wants to help me to distribute these little pigs, which I want to donate to the Ahr Valley, together. I will then provide a large pig and the money that comes in will be donated. I will not say how much a pig would cost, you should decide for yourselves what the pig is worth to you, the money put into the pig. I will then donate it to the victims of the Ahr who were all surprised by the flooding. That would be my purpose, perhaps my wife’s purpose too.”

#NRWFloods #NRW #Germany

Video ID: 20211110-020

Video on Demand: https://ruptly.tv/videos/20211110-020
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