Company history

Harald Rauhut has been organizing Ruhrbrief brand auctions in Mülheim since 1988.

from small beginnings, starting with the first small auction in the private living room, right up to the current two large offices "Werdener Weg" and "Reich Presidential Road", the auction house Harald Rauhut developed into one of the most important stamp auction houses in Germany.
Seven auctions are auctioned for a few million euros every year - with constant sales growth.

At the beginning of January 2012, the Rauhut auction house took over the long-established Kruschel auction house in Berlin and has been operating under the name ‘Rauhut & Kruschel’ since 23 January 2012.

Harald Rauhut was already dedicated to philately as a schoolboy and collected stamps. He soon realised that he wanted to turn his hobby into a profession. Twenty-five years ago, he was able to realise his plan and organised the first Rauhut auction in his private premises. However, as this was not to be the only auction, Harald Rauhut opened his first office on Muhrenkamp in Mülheim a.d. Ruhr a short time later and held the auctions in the ‘Altenhof’. His name became better known and more and more consignors had their stamps successfully auctioned through the Rauhut auction house, and the number of customers and auctions per year increased steadily. In the spring of 1998, Harald Rauhut therefore moved his company headquarters to an old manufacturer's villa from the turn of the century at Werdener Weg 44. From then on, Rauhut was able to present its own auction room. Since 2006, the Rauhut auction house has had a further 700 square metres of premises in the Ruhr-Reeder-Haus (side extension, Reichspräsidentenstraße 21-25 in Mülheim a.d. Ruhr), although the company headquarters are still at Werdener Weg 44, and can therefore offer its customers a first-class service.

Since January 2012, the Rauhut company has been trading under the name ‘Rauhut & Kruschel’. Mr Rauhut not only has a 25-year business relationship with Kruschel, but also a long-standing personal friendship! Even as a schoolboy in the late 1970s/early 1980s, he was impressed by Walter Kruschel's unique auction offerings from the old German states and his lot descriptions, which were so different from those of other auction houses. The auctions of the ‘Romanow’ collection in 1975/76 (a prominent collector from the neighbouring town of Essen in Mülheim hid behind this pseudonym), as well as the auction of the Tomasini collection (‘Fürstenberg’ in 1981/82) and the large Ressel warehouse, right up to the last Kruschel auction in 2008, are legendary.

Rauhut & Kruschel’ ensures the continued existence of the good name Kruschel, while maintaining the company's tradition of always placing a special focus on classic German collecting areas.

This also opened up new, additional customer groups for consignors. Our company's own card indexes and comparative collections have grown enormously as a result of the takeover of the Kruschel holdings.