If one may quote the ever-present Strindberg in some fashion, it is with "a feeling of wild joy" that one approaches the Spring Arms Auction at Stockholms Auktionsverk Magasin 5.
There the auction house's knowledgeable specialist has got their teeth into just over 120 lots now presented to us. As usual, the selection is drawn from several eventful centuries, which guarantees a varied assortment of distinguished pieces.
A delicacy of the aforementioned kind is the lot of Italian merit orders. The same goes for the pair of flintlock pistols signed G De Cologne and the combination gun – an Austrian 18th century piece with double octagonal barrels.
A comfortable contrast is provided by the English flying overall. Another is the 17th century helmet with a rounded skull. And then there are uniforms, cartridge boxes, a courier tray, a sabre with a Caucasian grip, three wakizashi, bayonets, cutlasses, percussion revolvers, a delightful adjutant's sabre, all manner of curiosities – the bag for farrier's tools probably counts as one – photographs and a little painting.
