Considering that this is really a private collection, all assembled in recent times, the scope is quite impressive.

It is a testament to what is possible through a combination of passion and sufficient financial resources.

I am not aware if anyone has gone through the effort of cataloguing and publishing the collection. If not, hopefully someone eventually does.

There are, as has been noted in the past, some items in the collection that are of dubious origins. A careful study by the right experts should be able to separate the genuine ones from the fakes.

To be fair, most of us have probably acquired some fakes inadvertently as part of the learning process in collecting. If we could collect on the scale Baumann did, we would probably end up with a good number of questionable items as well.

My favorite questionable item in the whole collection is the sword with the fantasy silver hilt, pattern welded blade and Omani scabbard.

Someone went as far as to add an inscription in gold on one side, and an Alexandria arsenal dedication on the other side. Then the whole thing was assigned to Eastern Europe, and one actually has to admire the imagination of whoever produced this sword.

Recent examination revealed some fakes in the Wallace collection, so nobody is immune and a fantasy sword by itself is not the end of the world. The problem is that it puts into question all the medieval swords and one cannot help but wonder what parts of them are genuine and what may have been recently added to enhance value, such as symbols and inscriptions on the blades.

We are now almost through with the first hall.

After some early and important firearms, there is a little hallway dedicated to the 30-year war.

The hallway takes us to a small room, full of archaeological finds of weapons dating from the Dark Ages...

...all the way through antiquity to the stone age.

And just when I thought this was it, it turned out there is another large hall full of nice hunting weapons, which seems to be the norm for every German museum.

The quality was just as impressive as the quantity.

The highlight is a mameluke sword that belonged to Jerome Bonaparte, and a hunting sword that was Marie Antoinette's.

This is where the tour and the journey ends. Hope you enjoyed the pictures, even if some of the items in the Baumann collection are dubious.

:eek:

Crazy that this is a private collection. I can barely imagine ever owning even one of these medieval swords or renaissance rapiers in my life. Barely... but I can try! :p

I know this museum's collection rather well and I think that a good part of it belongs to a well known dealer of southern Germany!