Waffenschmidt Collection

The diverse and high-quality collection of the Cologne entrepreneur and Saturnfounder Friedrich Wilhelm Waffenschmidt (1925 – 2017) will be put up for auction atthis year’s spring auctions at Van Ham. About 130 art objects from the most variouscategories will be presented at the auctions “Modern“, ”European Applied Art“, and”Fine Art“. The extraordinary collection has a total value of 2.2 million euros.

In 1961, Friedrich Waffenschmidt founded the electronic market “Saturn“, where he focusedon low prices and a wide range of products. His successful business concept and catchy sloganslike “Die größte Schau der Welt“ (“The largest show in the world“) made him the biggestGerman retailer of records in the 1970s and 1980s and a role model for numerous managersand CEOs. Under the motto of variety, Waffenschmidt assembled his elaborate collection of art,which is endued with high-quality works from several centuries and numerous genres.

With the compilation, the passionate collector oriented himself by the legendary collection ofthe Cologne car dealer CEO Walter Franz, whose collection was characterised by an elaborateknowledge of art and subtle aesthetics. Over the years, Waffenschmidt thus assembled exquisiteworks, which are of art historical value. When, according to the Bild newspaper, the largestpart of the collection Walter Franz was auctioned off by Lempertz Auction House during the“largest auction of the post-war era” thus far in 1984, some high-quality exhibits passed intothe property of Waffenschmidt.

Through them Friedrich Waffenschmidt could soon meet his demand of a universal cabinet ofcuriosities. It is thus no coincidence that paintings from classical modernity belong to the highlightsof the collection. Moreover, epochal silver works as well as a museum collection of armscharacterize the offer of the applied arts.