A secret treasure chest belonging to one of the prominent Nazis beneath Adolf Hitler has been sold for £15,000 below the auction price.

The Führer’s deputy, Reich Marshal Hermann Göring, was gifted a lockable iron casket for his 50th birthday by Alfred Freyberg, group leader of the infamous SS paramilitary.

Göring was known to have amassed a substantial personal collection of stolen artwork during the war, often forcibly taken from Jewish owners.

The casket went under the hammer on Friday in Germany with a suggested starting price of £21,500. However, it was sold for only £5,300 at the Hermann Historica auction house in Munich.

It is understood Göring kept his favorite diamond rings, tie pins and gold cufflinks in the chest, which is topped with an imperial Nazi eagle.

The casket was forged by the locksmith Erich Priebsch in the eastern city of Leipzig. As a special gesture to try and please Göring, Freyberg ordered Priebsch to decorate the casket with Göring's family coat of arms.

The certificate of authenticity reads: "The iron chest was manufactured on behalf of the city of Leipzig and approved by the examination board of the Leipzig Chamber of Crafts on December 16, 1942."

Critics have argued that selling goods belonging to Göring is particularly controversial given that he oversaw the systematic confiscation and "Aryanization" of Jewish businesses and properties. Jewish-owned businesses were forcibly transferred to non-Jewish Germans, often at a fraction of their actual value.

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The items have gone under the hammer (Photo: Hermann Historica GmbH Grasbrunn)

This policy aimed to economically exploit and dispossess Jewish individuals and families.

Born on January 12, 1893, in Rosenheim, Germany, Göring served as a fighter pilot during World War I. He also became one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates on joining the Nazi party.

The Hermann Historica auction house has gained a controversial reputation over the years because of the wide range of Nazi memorabilia it has sold.

Once, it sold a silk dress belonging to Eva Braun fetched £3,962 and a top hat belonging to Adolf Hitler was sold there for a staggering £43,072.