The Bengtsson Family Endowment Fund

In 1999, husband and wife John and Margareta Bengtsson donated their entire estate to the museum in Halmstad to create a fund for the acquisition of museum objects. John Bengtsson was a devoted collector of antiquities, particularly silver, and he and Margareta had together created a beautiful home. The objects he collected at auctions and shops were numbered and recorded in a log book just as in a museum. Some of these objects were added to the museum’s collection, such as a grandfather clock from Torup made by Carl Nilsson (1787–1850) of Släthult, Jönköping. The revenue from the fund has been used to purchase objects such as an originally painted vernacular cabinet from Tygaredsstugan in Knäred and a silver ladle made in Laholm for Skottorp Castle.