Optimus began life in 1899 at a place called Kungsholmen in Sweden, initially to market their brand of stoves and blow lamps. Like so many of these companies, they have gone through various chameleon like changes over the years, in an attempt to stay ahead of an ever changing market. Ownership passed between various holding companies during the late 1900’s until the company ceased to exist as such in 1991. Fortunately for the collector, lots of Optimus stoves remain from their heyday, and dating from the 1950’s this type 22 is one of them. In the days before electricity was widely available, paraffin stoves like this one were aimed at the domestic market, with other, lightweight ones specifically designed for the outdoors. Optimus seemed to have aimed this type of stove at the expedition market, for use at base camps in the Himalayas for example. There was also a big military market and we think this one was used by the Swedish Army since Mick Tighe acquired it whilst on a trip to Sweden. It was in a very bad state of repair and has been restored to almost new condition, though we used a can of spray paint designed for cars —- think we’ve got the colour pretty close to the original and the whole thing looks great.