Insights into the History of the Collection

Paymaster Koch

(details unknown)

Unfortunately, there isn't any verifiable background information on the identity of Paymaster Koch, neither on the roll of honour nor in the City of Freiburg's files and the museum's archives. It is therefore impossible at the present time to identify the person in question and verify any details of his life.

According to the inventories, the objects donated by Koch to the museum in 1900 were collected in the German East Africa colonies (present-day Tanzania with the exception of Zanzibar, Burundi, Rwanda and parts of Mozambique).

Koch Donation

According to the museum's inventory, the objects donated by Mr. Koch come from the Bagamōyo hinterland in Tanzania in the then German colonial area of German East Africa (present-day Tanzania with the exception of Zanzibar, Burundi, Rwanda and parts of Mozambique). The collection was transferred to the museum on 1 May 1900. There is no information about the background of the collection, its acquisition on site and, indeed, its scope. The preserved objects were mainly pieces of jewellery belonging to the local population. However, it is no longer possible to determine how valuable Koch's donation was or why his name was immortalised on the roll of honour. Twelve objects from this collection still form part of the museum's ethnological holdings.

Hookah pipe, East Africa, 19th century, inventory number I/0998, Photo: Axel Killian
Hookah pipe, East Africa, 19th century, inventory number I/0998, Photo: Axel Killian
Arm bangle, Bagamoyo, Tanzania, 19th century, inventory number I/1094, photo: Axel Killian
Arm bangle, Bagamoyo, Tanzania, 19th century, inventory number I/1094, photo:  Axel Killian
Ring, Bagamoyo, Tanzania, 19th century, inventory number I/1114, photo: Axel Killian
Ring, Bagamoyo, Tanzania, 19th century, inventory number I/1114, photo: Axel  Killian