Die Sammlung Frey - Waffen aus Württemberg

| 17 Thus reads the entry dated 10 July 1936 in his family regis- ter, which was a source of deep-rooted pride. Despite having being born into a family of craftsmen, main- taining close ties with craftsmanship throughout his own career and being a lifelong connoisseur of a well-made piece, business was to shape his future professional life. As he was born during the "white" years, Karl Frey was not eligible to enlist. He thus had little affinity with weapons during the war or military service; instead, he discovered them through shooting as a sport, then as a collector. A keen sports marksman, adept in the use of both modern and his- torical firearms, he won numerous championships, includ- ing the title of district champion with a muzzle-loading per- cussion pistol. With his meticulous passion for historical arms and almost pedantic observation of legal require- ments, he amassed an extensive collection of weapons, accessories and knowledge. As a Württemberg citizen, his obvious area of expertise was his home territory, needless to say, primarily weapons produced by the Württemberg arms manufacturer Mauser in Oberndorf am Neckar and its sur- roundings. Quite apart from his tremendous interest in weapons and their engineering, he was equally fascinated by their histori- cal background. Karl only had to pick up a firearm to be able to bring its history to life, based on its manufacturer's marks, proof marks and unit stamps. Many of the pieces in his collection, even those that might seem insignificant at first glance, had remarkable stories to tell – they had wit- nessed the Boxer Rebellion, experienced the Boer War first- hand or bore the Star of David next to the Wehrmacht acceptance mark. Karl Frey was just as generous with his exhibits as he was with his knowledge. Parts of his collection were studied in expert circles, illustrated in books and magazines (Vollmer, württembergische Infanteriewaffen, DWJ) and used by fel- low collectors as reference pieces, while he himself assisted not just authors but also forensic investigations with his expertise. A great deal of this knowledge was never actually written down and thus has been lost for ever with his passing. Let us hope that his collection, accumulated with such devotion and diligence, will now pass into new, equally worthy hands. It is with a heavy heart that the family is parting with this collection, trusting that the future owners of the objects will take the same pleasure in them as did the father, grandfather and husband Karl Frey. A Württemberger by birth PREFACE Karl Frey war mit seinen Exponaten genauso großzügig wie mit seinem Wissen. Teile seiner Sammlung waren in Fachkreisen zu sehen, wurden in Büchern und Zeitschriften (Vollmer, württembergische Infanteriewaffen, DWJ) abge- bildet, dienten Sammlerkollegen als Vergleichsstücke, wäh- rend er mit seinemWissen nicht nur Autoren, sondern selbst kriminaltechnische Untersuchungen unterstützte. Vieles von diesemWissen aber hat keine Niederschrift gefun- den und ist mit ihm für immer von uns gegangen. Hoffen wir, dass seine mit ebensolcher Liebe und viel Fleiß aufgebaute Sammlung nun eine neue, würdige Heimat finden wird. Die Familie trennt sich schweren Herzens von dieser Sammlung, in dem Vertrauen darauf, dass die künftigen Eigentümer der Sammlungsstücke genausoviel Freude daran haben mögen wie der Familienvater, Großvater und Ehemann Karl Frey.