They were made for him as his eyesight began to fail as the Second World War dragged on.
But few photographs of Adolf Hitler in his reading glasses exist because he regarded them as a weakness and believed it would undermine his authority with his subjects.
Sixty-six years after the end of the war, however, the glasses are in the news as they come up for sale in a major auction of the Nazi leader’s possessions.
Rare sight: Adolf Hitler pictured using reading glasses at the breakfast table - he regarded their use as a weakness. It is not known if these are the exact pair set to fetch £5,000 at auction
To compensate for not having to use glasses as a result of his worsening presbyopia, from 1933 onwards he had all his speeches and official documents written on a special typewriter with large print and huge line spaces.
Expected to fetch £5,000, the glasses come in their original black leather case with dark blue velvet embossed with the name of the Ruhnke opticians in Berlin which made them for him under great secrecy.
The spectacles form part of a large cache of Hitler memorabilia going under the hammer later this month. Other objects include a large silver cigarette case with a starting price of £9,500.
Hitler was a non-smoker but the cigarettes were offered to visiting dignitaries at his Reich Chancellery in Berlin before Allied bombers turned it into brickdust.
An eagle clutching a swastika flanked by Hitler’s initials is on the lid.
Frameless lenses: The reading glasses, mostly free of scratches, and shallow, black leather case lined with dark blue velvet and manufacturer's inscription 'Optiker Ruhnke' on the lid.
Some £4,600 is the starting bid for a lamp from his apartment in Munich at Prinzregentplatz - today a police station - and five pieces of cutlery with his personal monogram have a reserve price of £1,700.
Most serious collectors have their eyes on a precious gold watch that was given to Hitler as a gift in 1929 and which was found on his body in the Fuehrerbunker in Berlin after he committed suicide in 1945.
A COMMON BY-PRODUCT OF AGEING
Hitler suffered from presbyopia, a degenerative condition in which the eye finds it harder to focus on nearby objects.
The condition is believed to be caused by degeneration of the eye's lens, and is a very common effect of ageing, affecting millions of people over 50.
Presbyopia is nearly always rectified by reading glasses, but those who start to wear glasses in middle age are often unhappy about doing so.
Hitler is certainly not the only person to have felt self-conscious about his specs.
It has a starting price of £9,000 but could fetch more than twice that price.
Another major piece with a reserve price of £20,000 is a gold and emerald badge bearing the swastika which he received on his birthday, April 20, 1942.
Other items coming under the hammer include his sugar tongs from his study at his mountain retreat, the Berghof, valued at £1,100, a salt cellar with his initials on the top valued at £1,700 and a signed copy of his book Mein Kampf for which starting bids begin at £5,000.
The book is of enormous historical importance as it is dedicated to Rudolf Hess, his companion in Landsberg Fortress where he was imprisoned in the 1920’s for trying to overthrow the state.
'To my faithful fortress companion Rudolf Hess, dedicated by Adolf Hitler, Munich, 17 October 1925,' it reads.
Hess went on to become Hitler’s deputy before he flew to the UK in wartime in a bid to secure peace with Churchill and the Fuehrer thereupon pronounced him mad and disowned him.
The Hermann Historica Munich auction house, one of Germany’s most reputable, is behind the sale and says all the items have been authenticated and come from a wide variety of sources.
It says that all bidders will be vetted before sales are completed because it doesn’t want the objects falling into the hands of neo-Nazis.
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