About me

My Journey into the Subject

Although I had been casually collecting militaria since I was nine, at 13 I decided I wanted to collect more of it. I had a particular fascination with and interest in gas masks and helmets, though I had no specific theme beyond whatever I could get my hands on cheaply. In 2018, when I was 16, my mother and I took a trip to Scandinavia (and Estonia), specifically Finland, Sweden, and Denmark (and Estonia), which left a profound impact on my perception of military history. I felt deeply fascinated by the region and its seemingly niche and overlooked military history, and aspired to learn and see more.

In the following months, I invested much of my spare time researching the Swedish and Danish military. This was quite difficult to properly research, given that very little information was available in English online regarding their history and equipment. That Christmas, I decided to spend all my Christmas money on some kind of Scandinavian uniform. My goal was to acquire a Danish M. 1923 uniform, as I had grown especially interested in the invasion of Denmark in 1940, thanks to the Danish film April 9th. However, after realizing that doing so would be nearly impossible, I opted instead to buy a Swedish m/1959 uniform, which I thought was quite neat. It included an m/1937 mod III and net, stridssele/S webbing, an m/1959 canteen, an m/1965 bayonet, and a Skyddsmask 51—a decision I am very thankful I made in hindsight, and one that would send me down a rabbit hole I am still tumbling down today.

Realizing that Swedish militaria was what I wanted to pursue more in-depth, I instantly jumped at the opportunity to acquire more. After saving up for some time, I managed to get hold of an m/1926 helmet and an m/1921 high helmet. Eventually, I went to eBay—which was, at the time, the only sales resource for Swedish militaria I could find—and bought an m/1939-58 uniform, an m/1900-12 ammunition belt, an m/1896 bayonet, an m/1929 canteen, and an m/1939 rucksack. Although in hindsight this "WWII Swedish kit" was quite poorly done, I felt incredibly proud to have assembled such a kit and felt a strong urge to assemble more. After doing some photoshoots in the kit and posting them on Instagram and Reddit, I hit a wall once again, realizing that my ambition to complete and collect more would become very limited in the United States. So, I opted to focus on some secondary interests, such as East German and Communist Romanian militaria.

It was thanks to my decision to post my dreadfully inaccurate Swedish WWII “m/1939” kit on Reddit that I would meet two people who would prove to be incredibly important in my path towards Swedish militaria: Svante, a younger and very passionate Swedish militaria collector from Sweden, with whom I would spend much time discussing the subject, and Hampus, who approached me on Reddit to discuss Swedish militaria with me. Meeting them both created a bridge—a connection between the country I felt so fascinated by and the country I lived in that was so far away. Undeniably, the formation of that bridge and the generosity these two friends of mine showed me so early on helped me get hooked on the subject. Suddenly, I found myself able to access more information, more research resources, particularly digitaltmuseum.se, which to this day proves incredibly helpful, and more unique and fascinating militaria, and it would only snowball from there.

After struggling to find accessible and digestible information online regarding Swedish militaria and history, I became quite intrigued by the idea of creating some sort of resource or guide to help other like-minded, curious people learn about equipment and history. I decided to start making educational collection posts on my Instagram about Swedish militaria. These informative posts proved quite popular, even amongst Swedes, so I continued posting them alongside some uniform photoshoots.

Quickly, I came to realize that if I was to become a source of information, I needed to make sure the information I was spreading was correct, both for my own sanity's sake and, of course, for others' sake. Sure enough, I learned that some of what I had learned and been told was incorrect or misunderstood, and I found this quite agitating. It became a great passion of mine to try and prevent the spread of misinformation where I could, and to make sure what I was learning and sharing was of quality. It's only natural to make mistakes, and of course, at the end of the day, we are only human; however, this issue has been a very personal one to me, which I still hold dearly to this day.

It was around this time that my Instagram started getting recognition, and more and more people, particularly Swedes, began to support and engage with me. Notably, a fellow collector and friend named Emil came to be one of my biggest supporters early on; he was a major inspiration and motivator. I was also approached by a fellow collector from Sweden named David. David quite generously became one of my earliest suppliers of militaria, most significantly selling me a proper field m/1939 uniform for my WWII kit, which I proudly displayed on a mannequin for years to come. David introduced me to Anders, a militaria store owner in Stockholm and the operator of the Stockholm Militaria Fair, who has helped me acquire so many pieces, even to this day. I felt so deeply committed to Swedish militaria that I decided to abandon and sell off most of my other non-Swedish collection pieces so I could focus on what I felt most passionate about.

I had begun making friends and meeting likeminded people all over the internet, but after some time, I came to the realization that it might be helpful to create an internationally friendly community place where both friends and likeminded people could unite to discuss and share their collections, information, kits, and more. So with that mission in mind, I created a Discord server for Scandinavian collectors in general, with the main ambition to make it accessible to English speakers. This Discord server would prove to be one of the best decisions in my life. From it, I not only met far more likeminded people and was able to express my findings and interests more, but I also met some of my best friends.

Two particularly important people I met in my time in the Discord community are my friends who go by the online aliases "Zip" and "CN." Both Zip and CN have been some of the largest advocates for what I do, the biggest supporters, and, of course, have been nothing but fantastic friends. CN has provided and assisted immensely with my research, particularly regarding my passion for Försöksmodells and in general equipment development, as well as being a very generous donor and provider to my collection effort. Zip has been an incredibly helpful and quite talented helper in acquiring items for my collection, as well as a great, equally passionate discussion and collecting partner in crime. These two friends, amongst so many others, propelled me to levels and places which I would’ve never dreamt being in just a mere hobby.

After some time, I began playing with the idea of starting proper reenacting. Although wearing kits was nothing new to me, the idea of living history was both appealing for personal intrigue, as well as an excellent way to educate both myself and others on the experiences of soldiers and the history. I was quite uncomfortable with the idea of rolling around in original uniforms, and given the niche and rare natures of some of the uniforms I did want to wear, I decided that I would have to get some of them reproduced. After discussing with my collecting friend Samuel, I was pointed to contact a tailor named Johan, which, unknown to me, would not only open me up to a new friend but also create an expensive passion for tailoring, as well as a deep appreciation for the craft. Both his talent and enthusiasm, as well as his ability to convince me to pursue reenacting more than I had originally anticipated, have opened a new and very exciting path for me and this hobby.