Military uniforms, moustache-curling-tong warmers, perfume bottles, hundreds of airsick bags, antique tins and powder compacts – you name it and the Den of Antiquity – Junk and Disorderly, a private museum in Glencairn, has it.
The museum belongs to retired rear admiral Arne Söderlund, who has been collecting all manner of paraphernalia since the late 1950s.
It is open to the public by appointment only and entry is free. However, donations are welcome and are given to the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) or DKMS, formerly the Sunflower Fund.
He grew up in Kimberley and says he has always had an interest in history and collecting.
His Swedish grandfather, Carl Söderlund, worked for the railways in Kimberley, and his mother’s family had strong ties to De Beers, the mining company founded by Cecil John Rhodes in 1888.
His great-grandfather, Nathaniel Brown, a teacher and Anglican church minister, worked as a representative for Rhodes during the elections in Barkly West and was instrumental in the establishment of Kenilworth, a village for De Beers employees, in Kimberley in 1887.
“My entire family was involved in the history of Kimberley. Both my maternal grandfather and an uncle were chief evaluators at De Beers.”
The museum started with things his grandfather had kept in storage and his father, Ken Söderlund’s World War II, SA Air Force and, later, Kimberley Regiment uniforms and other military items.
“People knew I was collecting things, and they started bringing me items from the Second World War, historic items from Kimberley, and old flags.”
Other items were found at car-boot sales, antique shops, and through his many travels.
After joining the navy at the age of 17, he left all his collectibles in Kimberley, and his father donated some of them to the Kimberley Museum.
In 1970, after he married, he resumed collecting and retrieved some of the items left at his childhood home.
He and his wife, Lyn, relocated 18 times during his career and every time he looked for a house with one or two rooms extra to accommodate his ever-growing collection.
The museum’s items are not for sale, and he says that whenever he gets a particularly interesting one, he researches it. One of his most interesting artefacts is a katana, a Japanese sword, which was surrendered by the Japanese officer in command of Singapore’s Changi Prison in 1945.
There there is the club blazer of one of the greatest Springboks of the 1930s, Gerry Brand; a collection of beer cans; maps dating back as far as the 1500s; and more than 1000 antique South African tins including full range of Mazawattee tea tins.
“I have some tins here that no one can remember,” he says.
His collection of beer bottles includes one from Stag Breweries, once owned by Charles Glass.
A collection that he believes you will only find in his museum is that of more than 800 airsick bags from about 350 airlines.
“The only way you can get them is by getting onto a plane, and people know I collect them so they bring them to me.”
His most recent vomit bag comes from Scoot, a Singaporean low-cost airline.
One room in the museum is filled with military memorabilia, including a large collection of naval-ship models and uniforms from various service branches.
There are antique telephones and gramophones and a rather large collection of chamber pots and bedpans.
Another item includes a camp chair made by a Boer War prisoner Johannes van der Walt while being held in a POW camp on Saint Helena from 1900 to 1902.
A more gruesome exhibit is a silver-lined drinking cup fashioned from the skull of a young girl. According to Admiral Söderlund, the cup comes from northern China.
For more information about the museum or to visit it, call Admiral Söderlund at 021 786 3283 or email angel45@iafrica.com
