Salaams all ~ Here I have extracted the relevant detail from a web source
http://transantique.com/articles/view/id/365/ on the subject of Lazarino Kominazzo ~ it was a fairly badly engineered translation and I hope I have polished it up a little.
Catoire de Bonkur After his father withdrew from life as a rather successful merchant Catoire inherited his massive fortune. He also tried to carry on business, however, he was not interested in the fathers business, and he soon completely departed from it. The fatherly inheritance substantially stimulated Bionkur's interest in collecting where originally he collected ancient engravings and rare books.
He soon became fascinated in the art of weapons collecting. For two decades Bionkur brought together one of the largest private weapon collections in the territory of Russia. Especially valuable there were ancient target guns and fowling pieces. Documentary certificates on the first acquisitions of the weapon of Catoire de Bionkur are lost, however, thanks to the correspondence now researched, and by reverse engineering the exhibits by checking through various auctioneering logs and notes it has been possible to pinpoint many of the acquisitions.
Bionkur had excellent relations with many known collectors and dealers in antiques. He spent a lot of time in Europe where he familiarized with the antiquarian weapon market and came into contacts to known weapon firms. The faultless knowledge of an environment and wide friendly relations with antiquaries helped Catoire de Bionkur to replenish the collection by choosing unique samples of the weapons.
In 1903 in a Paris auction Bionkur acquired fourteen first-class guns and 3 guns created in France, Italy and Spain. Total amount of his purchases exceeded four thousand francs. Among the rarities acquired by the collector, there was a unique silicon gun created by the Madrid master in 1731, and also an Italian gun of the middle of the seventeenth century with the wheel lock, made by the famous master
Lazarino Kominazzo. Bionkur was the frequenter of weapon shops across all Europe. He recorded in the smallest details all the information on the exhibits which he would later hand to the museum for cataloguing.
Catoire de Bionkura's life, the known collector and the patron, ended absolutely suddenly in Paris. All exhibits of his collection in 1913 were transferred to a museum for scientific and public use.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
