London - A prescription for sleeping pills issued to former Nazi deputy leader Rudolf Hess during his brief custody in Britain was Tuesday auctioned for 750 pounds (1,200 dollars). The mixture to help insomnia was prescribed while Hess was imprisoned in the Tower of London for three days and nights in May 1941, following his failed attempt to secure peace between Germany and Britain in a solo flight to Scotland.
Written by London chemist A.R Rowe, the pharmacist's slip was sold by Eldreds Auctioneers of Plymouth, south-west England, to a museum.
The auction house said it had expected the item to sell for a maximum of 300 pounds. "We are very pleased that we managed to sell for 750 and we certainly had a lot of interest," said a spokesman.
The buyer was not disclosed, but Historic Royal Palaces, which operate The Tower of London, said it had not put in a bid for the prescription.
Hess died in August, 1987, in the former allied Spandau jail in what was then West Berlin.
