Displaying your collection, circa 1968

[Jeff Pringle]

I recently got a copy of “Gammelt Jern,” a catalog of E. A. Christensen’s weapon collection by Ada Bruhn Hoffmeyer published in 1968, which contains these photos of how Mr. Christensen had his weapons arranged…nice!

[olikara]

Where is the collection now?

[josh stout]

Visits from the grand kids must have been exciting :D
Josh

[Lee]

Much of it is now in the Nationalmuseet (http://www.nationalmuseet.dk) (National Museum) in Copenhagen.

[Lew]

Much of it is now in the Nationalmuseet (http://www.nationalmuseet.dk) (National Museum) in Copenhagen.

Lee

I would have thought that you had most of these on display at your house? ;) :D

See you at the show :)


Lew

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Jeff,
When we had finished printing the catalogue EA invited me, the editor and a few others for dinner. That was the first time I saw the collection 'live', it was a fantastic collection.
Jens

[Marc]

I'm envious... :)
Jens, did you meet Ada Bruhn, there? She was already living in Spain when the catalog was printed.

[Jens Nordlunde]

No Marc, Ada Bruhn was not at the dinner, I suppose she was in Spain.
One thing you must remember is, that EA, in 1968, had collected for more that 50 years. He had a eye for quality weapons, European or Oriental, and he could afford to buy when the right weapon came up for sale.
Did you know that the first catalogue showing EA's collection was published in 1935 in Vaabenhistoriske AArboeger I - both catalogues are, unfortunately, in Danish, as they were a yearbook for the Society's members.

[Jeff Pringle]

Hey, Jens - that must have been a great evening! I didn't notice your name on the title page until now. Any chance the old negatives could be dug out of storage, and a large-format, coffee-table style reprint of this volume be produced? :D

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hey Jeff, I am afraid that both negatives and the photos are lost - remember it is more than 40 years ago the book was printed and both EA, the photographer, and most of the editors and other helpers are dead years ago.

[Mark]

More dha (on the table in the second photo).:)

[Tim Simmons]

Pretty patterns, any learned legacy?

[Marc]

I saw this book for the first time in the library of the Hoffmeyer Institute, been looking for it ever since, not exactly easy to find :) Congratulations :)

[Jens Nordlunde]

Marc,
It will, no doubt, be difficult to get the book. It was only printed in a small number for the members of the Society, just like The Indian Sword, Danish edition.

[Andrew]

More dha (on the table in the second photo).:)


I think those are Japanese, Mark.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Yes, Andrew is right:).
Jens

[Jim McDougall]

What a fantastic photo Jeff! Thank you for sharing it!
I think we all are trying to teleport ourselves into that room to see the weapons closer, and wish we were there in another time.....Jens, you were so incredibly lucky to have seen this.

I have a very fond memory of many years ago (with only pictures in my mind) when a visited a very prominant collector who lived in an old mansion. It was very much mindful of one of the old film noire movies. In entering this really spooky old house, I was led into the living room where an old Persian carpet was pulled back, revealing a trap door. Down an old iron spiral staircase, I descended into the most breathtaking array of full suits of armour, tables and walls of swords, knives, guns from hundreds of years ago. I will never forget it, especially the entire scenario!

Thank you again Jeff for bringing back wonderful memories! :)

All the best,
Jim

[rand]

What a fantastic photo Jeff! Thank you for sharing it!
I think we all are trying to teleport ourselves into that room to see the weapons closer, and wish we were there in another time.....Jens, you were so incredibly lucky to have seen this.

I have a very fond memory of many years ago (with only pictures in my mind) when a visited a very prominant collector who lived in an old mansion. It was very much mindful of one of the old film noire movies. In entering this really spooky old house, I was led into the living room where an old Persian carpet was pulled back, revealing a trap door. Down an old iron spiral staircase, I descended into the most breathtaking array of full suits of armour, tables and walls of swords, knives, guns from hundreds of years ago. I will never forget it, especially the entire scenario!

Thank you again Jeff for bringing back wonderful memories! :)



All the best,
Jim

Was it a very heavy round door?

rand

[Jim McDougall]

Yup it was! Just like the movies!!:) LOL!
No, this wasn't the 60's and there werent no purple haze!!
Actually, you could lift it with one hand.

All the best,
Jim

[Jeff Pringle]

You are welcome, Jim! :)
I didn’t even know of this book’s existence, but found it while searching for Hoffmeyer’s other hard-to-find book on the medieval two-edged sword, lucked out and got them both. :cool:
If Jens doesn’t mind further copyright infringement, I can post some scans of selected plates from the volume. :) The Eastern weapons get fewer close-ups than the European stuff, but there are a couple nice arrays of swords from the Near East.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Jeff,
I don't mind at all, besides I don't have the copyright:).

[Jeff Pringle]

Well, you have a personal connection to the book, which seems better than copyright anyway. ;)
It’ll be a week before I can do any more scanning; but in the interest of sharing academic information from a generally unavailable source, here’s one, many thanks to the Våbenhistorisk Selskab for producing the image and volume in the first place! :)