Lawsuit over Panzer IV ownership continues

The Portola Valley Almanac is reporting that the lawsuit against the Collings Foundation brought by Vulcan Warbirds over ownership of a Panzer IV tank continues.  The Panzer IV tank was part of the Jaques Littlefield collection, which was given to the Collings Foundation after Mr. Littlefield passed away in 2009.  Last year Collings Foundation auctioned off part of the collection to pay for a building to house the rest of the collection.  Vulcan Warbirds, which is headed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, had made a bid during the auction which was rejected for not meeting the reserve price.  After the auction ended, Vulcan Warbirds claims to have made an agreement with a representative of the auction house to buy the tank for 2.5 million dollars.  Collings foundation says they did not agree to sell the tank after the auction ended nor did they receive the 2.5 million dollars.  According to an LA Times article, the tank in question was built in 1944 and used as part of the German effort during World War II. It was eventually bought by Syria in the 1950s. The Israelis captured the Panzer in 1967 during the Six-Day War and used it to train soldiers before retiring it to the Israeli Armor Museum.  In 2003 it was purchased by the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (Littlefield Collection.)

The original auction listing for this Panzer IV can be viewed here.