[ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] im jamie colby, and today i am in berkeley, california, home to the Famous University and once the epicenter of the Hippie Movement of the 1960s, hardly the place id expect to find this strange inheritance, which attracted the attention of the fbi. My name is tom marek. When my Brother Robert died in 2015, he left me an arsenal of weapons swords, knives, guns, hatchets, you name it. Hi, tom. Im jamie colby. Hi, jamie. Im tom marek. Its so great to meet you, but i have to be honest. From what ive heard, your inheritance is a little disturbing. Its quite unique. Well, lets take a look. Oh, my god, this is not for real i am totally creeped out right now. We have axes. We have knives. We have mallets. Guns. There are a few guns in here. Floor to ceiling, in every nook and niche big and small, sharp and blunt. Intricate rows of knives, arrays of swords, hoards of hatchets. Talk about axes of evil you have to look at this more as an art display. I mean, my brother compiled this collection over his entire life. And he lived here . He lived here. In this room . His tvs in here, his bathroom is in here, and his bedroom is in here. Wheres his bed . I dont see a bed. Up in the rafters. I know that our show is strange inheritance, but this is truly weird. You had to know my brother. He was a little strange, but he was my brother. Robert marek is born near San Francisco in 1958. Hes the second of four boys. Tom is the youngest. We had a great childhood. I mean, we were four male children, one year apart, and we egged each other on. Was there anything about your brother that stood out early on . He was a little bit of a clown. My brother was into pyrotechnics. We had weapons, bb guns,. 22s. Nice arsenal. It just was a fun house for a young man growing up. As a teen, robert is fascinated by stories of war, gore, and weaponry. He and bruce horton become friends in high school. He could tell you about conquerors going back 4,000 years and and give dates and names. He loved to read this stuff. After high school, robert joins his buddy bruce at uc berkeley. He doublemajors in art and art history, with a focus on the craft of ancient weaponry. We kind of formed our own little clique. In the art department, pretty much everybody was weird. Of course, theres weird, and then theres weird. While his classmates draw, paint and sculpt, robert fashions weapons from scratch. And so begins his collection. How on earth did your brother learn, not just to make a knife, but to make swords and hatchets . One, reading up on it, because he really enjoyed reading and the history of weaponry, and, second, from experimentation. He had bought knives and swords. He had seen how they were assembled, and he decided he can do it better. In his senior year at berkeley, robert channels his vision into edgy performance art. Here he is blowing fire for the camera. We had a performanceart group called the architects of doom. Bob was like the armorer for us. We basically beat the crap out of everything. [ all yelling ] after College Robert does odd jobs masonry work, medical data entry, even serving subpoenas. All the while, he dedicates more and more of his time to collecting weapons and making them. How accurate was the historical part of what he did when he would make them . His knives had to be able to fool an expert. The composition, the iron had to be correct. The way the handle was mounted with rivets had to be correct. How many really great knife makers are there out there that can do what he did . Probably about forty or fifty. Thats it . In the world. In the world . In the world. Im here at klockars Blacksmith Shop in San Francisco, meeting with renowned swordsmith francis boyd. He knew robert and shows me how much effort goes into a single knife. Im no robert, but i think i can do this. Okay, so grab it. Got it, got it. You got it. Now slide it under there. Okay. And push it all the way up and then just hold it level. Okay, hold it. Go that way. Okay, its too cold. Pull it out. Its really hard work, folks. After reheating our steel, francis teaches me how to hammer it into a blade. All along the edge. Now flip it over. All right . Now hammer along there. Youre a very patient teacher. Right, right, always move the work, always hammer in the same place. Yes. Yes, i got a yes but im nowhere near done. It will take days of filing, polishing, and sharpening, so francis shows me what our crude weapon can eventually become. And theres the finished knife. If you turn this in the light, youll see a pattern in the metal. Where you see this thing along the edge, its as hard as glass. This doesnt just happen in an hour. No. You saw how many knives he had collected and made over the years. How many hours did he spend . His whole life. You know, like a painters got to paint, sculptors got to sculpt, a knife makers got to make knives. Theres no way out. Where did he work on them . At my mothers house. We had a lathe and drill presses and all this equipment my brother could use. Its not long before her sons hobby attracts unwelcome attention. A mother does not want the fbi knocking on her door asking about her son. The fbi . The fbi. But first, our strange inheritance quiz question. The famous Swiss Army Knife was not originally manufactured in switzerland. Was it made in. The answer after the break. Its a highly contagious disease that can be really serious. Especially for my precious new grandchild. Its whooping cough. Every family member, including those around new babies, should talk to their doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. Caspers truly changed our lives. A mattress of unparalleled value. Love at first night. grunts im a softer, happier, friendlier version of myself. surps drink perfect sleep changes people. kisses baby transform your life at casper. Com try their mattress for 100 nights with Free Shipping and returns. Casper. So, where was the Swiss Army Knife originally manufactured . In 1891, the swiss army needed a folding knife that could also open cans and disassemble a rifle. The fish scaler, ballpoint pen, and led light came later. A boy fascinated with battles of yore grows up to be an expert craftsman of deadly weapons. Some he makes from scratch, like this battle axe. Others, he buys for their historical value, like these World War Ii Navy knives. In 1986, 28yearold robert marek is still living at his mothers house near San Francisco. He doesnt know it, but his eccentric hobby has landed him on the radar of federal law enforcement. What happened . My mother answered the door, and there were two fbi agents there. And they told her they wanted to interview my brother, and she asked why. And they explained to her that they had done a profile on the unabomber. At the time still unidentified, unabomber was the fbis code name for a domestic terrorist who sent mail bombs to his victims. He killed 3 people and injured 23 others. The unabomber had an association with uc berkeley, apparently was thought to be intelligent, and also worked with wood. And my brother was an artist who went to uc berkeley. He worked with wood. Did they bring him in for questioning . The following week, they came back to interview him, and my brother was never terribly open about how the interview went. He was a little embarrassed by this episode, but quickly they ruled him out as a suspect. The following year, in 1987, robert moves into this house in a quiet berkeley neighborhood, where he can live by himself, surrounded by all his weapons. Did he have friends . Well, you know, again, as an artist, you could call him a starving artist. A lot of his friends were on the edge, too, financially. They were just unique people, the type of people that make life interesting. His neighbors recall the first time robert has them over for dinner. What was your reaction . I was in shock because it was these beautiful wood walls, but floor to ceiling axes, knives. Cannons. Cannons. Guns. Oh, my. Yeah, and so after we got in and the door closed, i kind of felt like we were never coming home. Instead, robert serves them a delicious gourmet meal hold the fava beans and nice chianti. Do you think he got a kick out of peoples reaction. Was that part of it . You know, probably. He was proud of his collection, but he wanted to overwhelm you. That was his goal. For the next 20 years, robert does what makes him happy. He fashions weapons lots of them and collects them, too. He covers the walls of his house row by row, layer by layer. While his weapons collection grows over the years, he and his brother tom, a straitlaced financial planner, grow apart. I moved up to washington state, and as a brother we just separated. Then, in july 2015, tom receives some distressing news. I got a phone call from a female friend of his, who told me he was in the hospital. And at the time they thought he had a ruptured appendix, which he did have. And later on they found out it was cancer. Robert is diagnosed with stageiv cancer throughout his body. How did he react to his diagnosis . He was a little scared. He wanted more time in life. The doctors thought he would have a couple more years. But just three months after that diagnosis, robert passes away. Hes only 57. I dont believe he was ready to go. He had more work in life, more knives to make, more pieces to add to his collection. So, it was very sad. You had to be close to him to see the full person who he was. Otherwise its just a snapshot, and yeah, hes strange, but hes an incredibly unique person, and we wont see another one of him, maybe ever. Robert names brother tom his principal heir, but he doesnt forget about his close friends. I thought he was very generous, to leave money to people he knew late in life, college friends, people he cared about. After his brothers death, tom visits Roberts House for the first time in more than a decade. I was just shocked, and i was overwhelmed. I had seen photographs, but they only show one wall or one segment of the collection. I would imagine that if he spent this much time collecting, he probably kept very detailed records . I wish he had, but no, he did not. So, do you have any idea what you have here . I really dont. But this guy will take a stab at it. There could easily be a hidden jewel buried somewhere. Next. Heres another quiz question for you. Whats the name of these weapons built by robert marek . Are they. The answer when we return. 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It was my brothers life, but i dont think i could have been prepared until i walked through that door. Hed like to honor his brothers wishes. We had a hearttoheart talk in the hospital. He would have preferred it to go to a museum. He would have preferred it to go to a single collector. But its clear thats a tall order. And he gave me permission to auction off his collection. He realized that was the most likely outcome. It is sad to me. Its my brother. Its a collection of artwork that he created. Toms not sure how valuable the collection might be, or how to sell it, so he contacts michaans auctions in alameda, california. They send in their sharpest mind worldrenowned antique weapons expert greg martin. Is this a onceinalifetime collection . Oh, i believe it is. You dont find collections like this, compiled by the maker and the collector rolled into one. Greg tells me thats what makes this inheritance so unique. Its a combination some historical items robert purchased, but most he made himself. This axe, this is a handmade piece that he forged and pounded out. Wow. This is really i think very interesting. These are all classic renditions of the bowie knife. So, did he research these in order to get them so accurate . He would have had to. But i was going to point out, one of the characteristics of a bowie knife, one of them, is a clippoint blade. What does that do . And clippoint blade, sharpened, like this one, if youre having a knife fight or something, it becomes handy when you pull back. So, both parts of this blade are blade. Thats right. This is sharp and this is sharp. And its not just blades of every size and shape. Robert also dabbled in gunsmithing. Now, this is a serious piece of metal. No kidding. That robert was working on and evidently he was making himself a very bigbore gun of some sort. Thats really heavy. I understand robert was a real big guy, and, i mean, i can barely get it up. Greg also pulls some of the historical items that robert acquired. This is a very interesting gun. Its beautiful. It looks like a small gun, but it is a bigbore gun. This carries a very big, powerful cartridge, and this is known as a howdah gun. What year do you think . 1880s, most likely. So, greg, what do you think this ones worth . Between 1,500 and 2,500. Do you have an idea in your mind of what this collection might bring . Piece by piece, if you, i think it would probably bring a quarter of a million or more. A quarter of a million . Yeah. Really . That much . Toms ready to find out. So, its off the walls for more than 5,000 weapons, headed to auction. 2,500, go 2,750. 2,750 is now the bid. Go 3,000. Thats next. Whats your strange inheritance story . Wed love to tell it. Send me an email, or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. Parodontax, the toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. 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Now in kids chewables. Now, back to strange inheritance. Its september 2016, and tom marek is pleased. A small slice of his strange inheritance a 5,000piece weapon collection amassed by his Brother Robert is up for sale at michaans auctions. They did a very good job setting up my brothers display. Beautiful bowie knives i think people will appreciate and a number of rifles and pistols. We will begin todays auction. First up, three of roberts handmade weapons modeled after the medieval mace and horsemans hammer. Well start the bidding on this lot at 100. 100 is bid. Thank you. 100 is on the telephone. 190 is now the bid. Go 200. 190, go 200. 200 is bid there. Last call, 200. [ Cash Register dings ] on down the line, this early plains tomahawk one of Roberts Historical pieces goes for 250. Next, a rare civil war collins hospital knife sells for 550. This japanese gunto sword cuts in at 700. Lot number 23 is a rigby english double rifle. 1,000 is there. 1,000, now the bid goes. 1,100 i have. 1,200 is bid. 1,200 is now bid. Now, this one could go somewhere. Rigby is a soughtafter manufacturer founded in ireland, and this rifle, circa 1900, is in excellent condition. 1,300 is there first. 1,400 is seated. 1,900 is here, 1,900. 2,000 will be next. 1,900 is the bid on the telephone. 2,000, new bidder. Now the bid goes 2,250. 2,250 is bid. 2,750 is there. Go 3,000. Last call 2,750. [ Cash Register dings ] remember that bigbore english howdah pistol greg showed me . When it comes on the block, tom switches from seller to bidder. Yeah, i got it. Thats because hes his Brother Roberts principal but not sole heir. So, if he wants to keep any of the weapons, hell have to buy them himself at auction. Will get you there. 1,000, 1,100s your bid. 1,100. 1,200 is bid here. Yeah. Its too rich for toms blood, as the pistol squarely hits its appraisal target. Last call. [ Cash Register dings ] tom will be more tenacious when bidding starts on some of roberts expertly crafted bowie knives that greg showed me back at the house. The bid there. Is there any advance on 130 . 140. 140 is up front. New bidder. 140 now the bid. No advance on 140. Up front at 140. Last call, 140. [ gavel bangs ] [ Cash Register dings ] i didnt get one of the pistols i wanted. It went for too much money, but i got a couple of beautiful bowie knives that my brother made. Ill bring them home, put them in my cabinet, put them on the wall. Ill remember my brother. In total, the sale of just 30 items nets 11,400 bucks. Considering there are about 5,000 more still set to go to auction, it seems like that estimate of a quartermillion dollars is well within reach. Im happy. I think this will do him honor. And for the heir in this strange inheritance story, honoring his brother has always been the point. The money, ultimately, is beside it. This was a lifelong passion. Not many people can do what they want in life, and he did. I mean, he made it work, without much money, but he put together an amazing collection, and he was proud of what he did. I bet youre all wondering, did robert ever actually use any of those weapons in his collection . Turns out he did. Back in his college days, he took care of the landscaping around his mothers house. He mowed the grass, weeded the flower beds, and when it was time to trim the hedges, he did that, too. His tool of choice for that job . You guessed it, a sword like this one from his collection. Im jamie colby for strange inheritance. Thanks so much for watching. And remember you cant take it with you. Musclebound heroes. My dad said, if im gonna do conan, its gonna be done my way. Curvy vixens. When i look at the female characters that dad did, mom was okay with that . The da vinci of fantasy art. This entire visual genre traces back to this one artist. How much did it sell for . About 1. 1 million. But when hes gone, a real battle takes shape. How bad did it get . Im not close to my brother anymore. Even today we dont talk. Can the next generation save the family and its fortune . I think i was like their last hope. My grandfather deserves to live on, and what better place than comiccon . [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ]