The Gunnar Ekström Collection

17. May 2023 14:41

Gunnar Ekström (* 29 December 1883 - Stockholm, † 23 July 1969) worked in mechanical engineering from the beginning of the 20th century, and founded his own company “Maskin AG Gunnar Ekström” in 1927. His great economic success enabled him to build up one of the most important private collections of Swedish coins ever formed. In doing so, the collector always paid attention to excellent preservation, and also improved the quality of his pieces by buying already existing coins, if he could find them in more beautiful preservation. From the beginning of the 1920s until his death in 1969, Ekström was one of the most important customers at the leading Swedish and European coin dealerships and at their auctions. Several times the enthusiastic numismatist also succeeded in acquiring complete collections -- in particular the Swedish coins of the German collector Hermann Vogel (1841-1917) of Chemnitz in 1926, and the former collection of Israel Berghman (1864-1945) in 1950, which Berghman had sold to the American brewer Virgil Brand (1861-1926) of Chicago in 1921 through the mediation of the Amsterdam coin dealer Jacques Schulman (1906-1991). (For more on the acquisition of the Swedish coins from the Brand collection, see the essay by Magnus Wijk, “Gunnar Ekström och Brandskatten”, in: Samlad Glädje, Uppsala 2009, pp. 213-244). After Ekström sold his company in 1945, he was able to devote even more time to his great passion, coin collecting.

Throughout his life, Ekström also supported public numismatics in Sweden, in particular the Royal Swedish Numismatic Collection (KMK). With this in mind, Wera Ekström (1897-1986) decided after the death of her husband to sell the enormous coin collection, and to use the proceeds to endow the newly-established Gunnar Ekström Foundation for Numismatic Research (“Gunnar Ekström Stiftelse för numismatisk forskning”). The widow was advised by the Stockholm numismatist and auctioneer Bjarne Ahlström (1938-2017), who was commissioned to auction the collection. The Ekström collection was auctioned off in eight parts at the Stockholm Ahlström auctions between 1975 and 1987, generating total proceeds of almost 16 million kroner for the foundation.

The Gunnar Ekström Foundation (www.gunnarekstromsstiftelse.se), established in 1974, has as its main tasks the establishment of a Swedish professorship in numismatics and monetary history, and the distribution of grants and contributions for research projects and (occasionally) also for purchases of rare numismatic objects by the Royal Swedish Numismatic Collection (KMK). Since 1979, the professorship funded by the Ekström Foundation has been continuously occupied (Brita Malmer 1979-1992; Kenneth Jonsson 1992-2019; Jens Christian Moesgaard since 2020) and has been embedded in the Numismatic Research Group (“Numismatiska Forskningsgruppen”) at Stockholm University since 1988. With the help of funding from the Ekström Foundation, Swedish numismatists have been and are still able to make groundbreaking progress in research and teaching – far beyond the borders of Sweden – especially in medieval numismatics.

It is remarkable how fruitful private initiative and the purposeful interaction of coin collectors, coin dealers and

scholars can develop. There are similar examples in other countries: for example, the support of the Dresden Numismatic Collection by the Osnabrück collector couple Gerhart and Marianne Rother through the mediation of Fritz Rudolf Künker. In numismatics, all of those involved should pull together, even if this idea has sometimes been called into question by some segments of the public sector in recent years.

When the auction of the last eighth part of the Ekström Collection was approaching in May 1987 (Auction Bjarne Ahlström 35), the Foundation decided to purchase a representative selection from this segment at auction in order to fill a display case in the magnificent new premises of the Swedish Numismatic Collection opposite the castle, which was to commemorate Gunnar Ekström. From 1997 to 2017, these 84 objects were displayed on the second floor of the Royal Coin Cabinet at Slottsbacken 6. Now that the Royal Numismatic Collection had moved to the History Museum in the Östermalm district, there was no longer any possibility of displaying the showcase again. The Foundation therefore decided to auction the 84 objects once more and return the proceeds to the Foundation.

We would like to express our sincere thanks for the trust placed in us to auction the coins of the Swedish possessions and the gold medals from the Ekström Collection, which the Swedish King Gustav III once gave to his cousin, the Hereditary Prince of Oldenburg, in 1780. The other coins of the Kingdom of Sweden from the Ekström showcase will be auctioned by the company Myntauktioner i Sverige AB (MISAB) this coming autumn.

Dr Andreas Kaiser

Osnabrück, 25 April 2023