I met an old guy this past weekend with his own museum.
He's the neighbor of a good friend, who was over for dinner.  The topics of history and weapons came up, and he mentioned that he had a collection, himself.  
He warned me that it wasn't the "modern stuff" that I like, but I wanted to have a look, anyway.

Down in his basement, past some SERIOUS doors, was a room that looked like a hunting lodge from the Middle Ages.  Wood beams, massive Hearth, stone walls.
The most amazing thing I've ever seen.
MUCH more extensive than the Metropolitan Museum's collection.  None of it was behind glass, it was all on the walls on hooks, so that you could handle the pieces.
1. The largest collection of Scottish "dirks" in the US (a thousand, at least).
2. Broad swords, daggers, foils, Claemores from the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
3. One broad sword with arabic on it was from the crusades.
4. Hundreds of muskets and rifles. Some were ornate, others battle-weapons with bayonets.  Hessian, Brit, early American, French, you name it.  15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
5.  dozens of matched sets of duelling pistols.
6. Odd weapons made for ship-board fighting, and fending off mutinies: one was a double barrel shotgun that had a springloaded bayonet.  another was a 4 barreled breach-loading "duck-foot" pistol, that shoots the rounds in a fan pattern.
7. the most modern weapons were a water cooled, belt-fed Vickers, and a WWII Jap Machinegun.

I handled them all (it's fun to dry-fire a pair of 400 year old duelling pistols).
I drooled.
The collection has to be worth, at the very least, 10 million dollars.

This fellow is also a prolific painter, and has 70 novels (historical fiction) published.  My God...

The collection was just a little hobby of his.

OMGarsh!

How totally cool.  

...these little old guys next door...
...you never know.

Man, I hope you were nice to the guy. Maybe you'll get a return invitation.

I would love to see that collection. To actually hold history in your hands! What an opportunity!

If you go back, can I go with you?

Please?

I know you can't tell us who he is, but if you cold please reccomend some good reading......
(Seriously, I would love to read some of his books, if he is as serious about his writing as his collecting they must be good books. Heck, I'd also like to support one of the few authors that loves RKBA).

[red][size=6]WOW[/size=6][/red]

Very impressive collection. I bet you could spend a whole week there & still want to go back again.
You lucky dog!!

ColtShorty

GOA KABA COA JPFO SAF NRA

"I won't be wronged,  I won't be insulted
and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do
these things to other people and I require
the same from them."

I heard that the U.N.
is encouraging all nations to start large gun collections for the public.
I can't wait to see the one the U.S. puts on display, it should include everything he had AND MORE.
OH BOY OH BOY... I can't wait.
[:P][:P]