Super collector Per-Johan Weidolf: Part 1

Some are content collecting one or two specialties – but not Per-Johan Weidolf from Växjö.

He had around forty different areas of interest and devoted his life to building an extensive collection, which Växjö Auktionskammare now has the honor of auctioning off in a series of upcoming themed auctions.

For many years, Per-Johan was chairman of both the collectors’ club Virdarna and the Växjö Philatelic Society. He made a major contribution to preserving the value of memory and how objects can serve as powerful links to the past. He called himself a super-collector and was a well-known voice on Radio Kronoberg, where he presented different collecting themes week by week. In an interview with Smålandsposten, he once said: “Much of what I collect comes from nostalgia – things that were around when I was a child.”

Per-Johan had a near-fanatical interest in the narrow-gauge railway between Växjö and Västervik and collected anything connected to that line. But his interests didn’t stop there – he also collected postcards, stamps, comic books, fire-fighting memorabilia, banknotes and coins, dog tax tags, movie tickets, FIB’s Golden Books, Wahlströms youth novels, phone cards, telegrams, stock certificates, train tickets and timetables, phone books, film star cards and collectibles, maps, medals, razors and blades, calendars, promotional items, radio licenses, matchbox history, brewery labels – and much, much more.

Still, his deepest passion likely lay in collecting postcards from Växjö and the surrounding area, along with postmarks from the same region.

We begin with a themed auction featuring large parts of his postcard collection – a treasure trove for dedicated collectors. Among the lots you’ll also find collectible cards, telegrams, and items relating to railway and postal history.

In the coming months, we’ll be presenting additional themed auctions with comic books, coins and banknotes, stamps and postmarks, and a special auction covering various other areas of his vast collection.

Good luck with your bidding this spring!